Further Resources

The Tradie's Guide to Creative Problem Solving: Why My Plumber Is Better at Innovation Than Most CEOs

There I was, standing ankle-deep in sewage water at 6 AM on a Tuesday, watching my plumber Dave MacGillicuddy work his magic on what appeared to be the most catastrophic pipe failure in Brisbane's history. What happened next changed how I think about creative problem solving forever.

Dave didn't reach for his manual. He didn't call head office. He didn't schedule a team meeting to brainstorm solutions. He looked at my busted pipe, grabbed a bicycle inner tube from his van, some cable ties, and a tin of Milo (yes, Milo), and within twenty minutes had created the most elegant temporary fix I'd ever seen. The Milo tin became a junction piece, the inner tube sealed the gaps, and those cable ties held everything together like they were engineered for the job.

That's when it hit me: we've got creative problem solving completely backwards in the corporate world.

The Real World vs. The Boardroom

After seventeen years of running creative problem solving workshops for everyone from mining companies to tech startups, I've noticed something troubling. The further you get from actual hands-on work, the worse people become at solving real problems.

Your average tradie encounters dozens of unique problems every week. Pipes that don't fit. Materials that aren't available. Clients who've changed their minds halfway through a job. Weather that's turned their worksite into a mud pit. Each situation demands immediate, creative solutions using whatever's at hand.

Meanwhile, most business leaders I work with panic when their WiFi drops out during a PowerPoint presentation.

The difference? Tradies understand that creative problem solving isn't about following a perfect framework. It's about resourcefulness, adaptability, and the willingness to try something that might not work.

Why Business Problem Solving Fails (And It's Not What You Think)

Here's where most companies get it wrong: they treat problem solving as a linear process. Step one, step two, step three. Identify, analyse, implement. Beautiful flowcharts. Colour-coded matrices.

Complete rubbish.

Real creative problem solving is messy. It's iterative. It involves failure, pivot, failure again, slight success, complete disaster, then breakthrough. It's Dave with his Milo tin, not a consultant with a $200-an-hour framework.

I once worked with a manufacturing company in Melbourne that spent six months and $50,000 developing a "comprehensive problem-solving methodology" to address recurring quality issues. Their final solution? A 47-page manual that required three sign-offs before anyone could make a decision.

Know what their floor supervisor did instead? Put a mirror above the problem workstation so workers could see issues as they developed. Cost: $15. Time to implement: 30 minutes. Problem solved.

The Tradie's Approach: Five Principles That Actually Work

1. Use What You've Got Dave didn't have the perfect coupling for my pipe, so he made one. Business leaders wait for the perfect solution, the ideal budget, the right team structure. Tradies work with what's available and make it better as they go.

2. Test Fast, Fail Faster When Dave's first attempt with the inner tube didn't hold pressure, he didn't convene a review committee. He tried cable ties. When that wasn't quite right, he added the Milo tin. Three iterations in fifteen minutes.

Most businesses I know would still be in the planning phase.

3. Experience Beats Theory Dave's solution worked because he'd seen similar problems before. Not identical problems—similar ones. He combined lessons from a dozen different jobs to create something new.

Business schools teach case studies. Tradies live them.

4. Pride in Practical Solutions
There's nothing fancy about a Milo tin pipe coupling, but Dave was genuinely proud of that fix. It worked. It was clever. It got the job done.

Too many business solutions are designed to impress rather than solve. I've seen companies implement complex CRM systems when what they needed was a better phone manner.

5. Own Your Mistakes When tradies stuff up, they fix it. No blame game, no lengthy post-mortems about "learnings and opportunities." They own it, they fix it, they move on.

The Innovation Paradox

Here's what drives me mental about most innovation programs: they're trying to recreate what good problem solvers do naturally. You can't systematise creativity. You can't framework your way to breakthrough thinking.

But you can create conditions where creative problem solving thrives.

The best problem solvers I know—whether they're electricians or executives—share certain habits. They're curious about everything. They collect weird solutions from completely unrelated fields. They're not afraid to look stupid trying something new.

They also understand that most problems aren't actually new. They're variations on themes you've seen before, dressed up in different clothes.

What Actually Works in the Workplace

Stop trying to solve problems in conference rooms. Get out where the work happens. Talk to the people doing the job. Watch the process. Understand the constraints.

I worked with a Perth mining company that was losing millions because their trucks kept breaking down. Management commissioned reports, brought in specialists, redesigned maintenance schedules. Nothing worked.

Finally, someone asked the truck drivers what they thought.

Turns out, the mechanics had been using the wrong grade of oil for six months because purchasing had switched suppliers to save money. Cost of the wrong oil: $200 per truck. Cost of the downtime: $2.3 million over three months.

The truck drivers knew. They'd been complaining about engine performance for months. But nobody asked them.

The Dave MacGillicuddy Method

Dave's approach to my pipe problem is a perfect template for creative problem solving in any context:

Understand the real problem. My pipe wasn't just broken—it was broken in a way that meant the house would be uninhabitable until fixed. The real problem was time, not perfection.

Inventory your resources. Dave looked at what he had, not what he wished he had. Inner tube, cable ties, Milo tin, basic tools.

Think sideways. Instead of trying to find a pipe coupling, he created one using completely different materials.

Test and iterate. He didn't get it right first try, but he kept adjusting until it worked.

Plan for replacement. Dave's fix was temporary, and he was clear about that. It would hold for two weeks while proper parts were ordered.

That last point is crucial. Creative problem solving isn't always about permanent solutions. Sometimes it's about buying time, creating breathing room, or getting you through a crisis.

The Uncomfortable Truth About Expertise

Here's something that might upset a few people: the more expertise you have in a field, the harder it becomes to solve problems creatively within that field.

Experts know too many reasons why things won't work. They've seen too many failures of similar approaches. They're constrained by industry best practices and professional standards.

Dave approached my pipe problem as a practical challenge, not a plumbing orthodoxy examination. That freedom let him innovate.

This is why the best creative problem solving often comes from outsiders or from combining expertise from different fields. It's why some of the most innovative solutions in business come from people who "don't know it can't be done."

Making It Work in Your Context

You don't need to become a tradie to solve problems like one. But you do need to adopt some of their mindset.

Start small. Find problems that won't sink the company if you get them wrong. Practice the fast-iteration approach. Build comfort with imperfect solutions.

Stop trying to solve everything in your head or in meetings. Get your hands dirty. Literally try things.

And for heaven's sake, talk to the people actually doing the work. They know things that don't appear in any report or dashboard.

The Real Secret

The real secret to creative problem solving isn't creativity at all. It's the willingness to act with incomplete information. To try things that might not work. To look foolish in service of finding a solution.

Dave could have told me he needed to order parts and come back next week. That would have been professional, predictable, and completely useless.

Instead, he grabbed a Milo tin and fixed my problem.

That's not just good problem solving. That's good business.

The next time you're facing a challenge that doesn't fit your usual approach, ask yourself: what would Dave do? Then go find your own version of the Milo tin.

Because creative problem solving isn't about having all the answers. It's about having the courage to try solutions that don't exist yet.