The Process of Problem Solving

How we problem solve is not the same to all. As a team, how effective are we when we see it differently?

When a problem arises, most people act intuitively to fix it.  After all, we are born problem solvers.  This can range from simple daily recurring problems (“why is this always happening?”), to more complex issues, like a competitive edge, or production delays and outages.

Regardless of scope and severity, there are common elements of problem solving that make resolution more effective and efficient.  Given we approach problem solving differently, including defining the real problem, how do we ensure our collective problem solving is effective and efficient? Further, do we even attempt to measure that ability?

Here are few take-aways as observed from decades of experience helping organizations problem solve, and more generally, improve business process.

Seek root cause – objectively

You may have heard of asking “why, why why” until you establish root cause.  A caveat for this tact is not sounding like an interrogation unit.  Repeating “why” as a knee jerk response becomes old quickly – especially if it is focused on one individual.  To make the fact seeking more palatable interject it with “how and what”.  How is this helping/hindering…?  What is the relative impact…?”. These help to break up monotony but also provide context and substance when prioritizing further investigation or remedy.

Keep your eye on the ball

Where are we going and does this fit our agenda?  Does it support the master plan, and if not, should we continue to pursue?  Of course you have to have a clear “master plan” to be able to address it.  Enough said here.

Award problem solvers and avoid the blame game

Describe what failed, not who failed, and focus on how it may have been avoided.  Make the problem out to be the process not the person, and how you may alter the process to prevent a person, any person, from generating the same missteps. Finger pointing is a significant source of fear and emotional dysregulation in a group and defensive tactics detract from focusing on moving forward.

Own the Problem

Encourage (everyone) to take responsibility for the problem in their respective areas of responsibility.  Isolate potential issues in the upstream processes.  It may have been that the underlying objective was not as clear as it could have been.  It’s an upstream problem with a downstream outcome.

Foster Accountability

Have a regimented and documented process to clearly state the problem, state the ideas and the concerns, highlight the fixes with expected outcomes, and put everyone’s name on it that contributed - to the fix, not the problem.  Include a post-implementation review process to extract lessons learned – especially if it didn’t fix the problem.  This gets back to the ability to measure you teams success rate at problem solving.

Encourage multiple solutions

Multiple options tend to stretch the thinking out to a more practical approach and help ensure different viewpoints are considered.  It also helps with management buy-in knowing considerations include sensitivities and risks such as budget, timeline, safety, customer cred, HR policy, culture, etc.

Avoid problems to begin with

Sounds obvious, but this proactive attitude goes a longer way than thought.  An even playing field whereby colleagues focus observations and ideas void of a problem, puts the team in a favorable position to foresee upcoming issues or gaps.  They adjust to its current and future environment – before it becomes a problem.  This is not a light exercise and should be accommodated at all staffing levels.  Have a matrixed mechanism to exchange findings across staff positions and interdepartmentally.  This fosters collaboration and creativity as the working group(s) are not subject to the time pressure of a five-alarm fire.  Under these conditions it reduces knee-jerk decisions that lead to other failings, or in the least, not address root cause.

Summary

Problem solving is a process including the effort to avoid them in the first place.  It starts with recognizing an issue, assembling the right team, discovering root cause, and making recommendations to correct it.  Bonus goes to the those that prevent one from happening – and consider affording and rewarding that time and effort.

To the extent you can establish problem solving/avoidance as a manageable and measurable process, your team will become more proactive, reactive and change-effective over time.  In the end, it should be fun, and most of all, an effective culture of sustainable and continuous business improvement – the ‘holy grail’ for any business.