Part of what makes new employees valuable in problem solving is actually what makes it harder to work with them in general as they get acclimated to their new workplace. They just don’t share the assumptions and culture of the organization with everyone else. That can make it hard to explain thin...

New employees will end up asking a lot of questions about why things are done the way they are. Those questions reveal situations in which the initial reason why a procedure was put in place no longer holds.

These questions can also bring to light cases where people were sure they know why...

New employees also bring a different base of knowledge than the one that has been applied to the problem so far. Even if describing the problem doesn’t change anyone’s view of what needs to be solved, this new knowledge has value. New employees should be encouraged to suggest things they know tha...