Thought for the week: Problem Solving

by Richard Townsend, Corporate Learning Consultant
http://www.orglearn.org

As the new economy moves us from efficiently managing ‘things and money’, to effectively utilising ‘relationships and knowledge’, problem solving takes on a whole new dimension. Sure, problem solving has always been a major management task; however, if we look at a common list of the attributes required of a modern problem solver it becomes obvious that problems will need to be addressed by teams rather than individuals. The list is: a team worker, an original, independent, flexible, divergent & convergent thinker who can effectively elaborate and who possesses a clarity of written expression. This person also needs to be able to concentrate, be persistent, autonomous and accountable, with an innate ability to understand cause and effect relationships, evaluate the quality of ideas and have an appreciation of complexity. He/she or it must also be able to conduct research, organize and focus on the tasks at hand whilst respecting the abilities of others and be highly convincing.

Talk about “all things to all men”... if you meet someone with all the attributes above hire them immediately. So what about us mere mortals? Perhaps the following basic team problem solving process can give us a guide.

1. Define and document the problem. Check that the understanding of the problem is complete and shared by the team. Don’t look for a solution at this stage. Laborious perhaps, however, if the problem is only verbalised true understanding may be missed, i.e., we work like lightening can mean fast to some and inaccurate (never strikes twice in the same place) to others. Leverage on each member’s perspectives to effectively decide what the key factors are in the situation. Allocate individuals to actively search for the information necessary to really understand the problem.

2. Write down everything known about the situation. Begin with the information contained in the problem scenario above and add knowledge that individual members bring. A list of ‘unknowns’ or ‘maybes’ can also be helpful here. The fact that you prepare a list stops ‘the expert’ taking over and dominating the exploration’s direction.

3. Develop a definitive problem statement. A problem statement should come from the analysis of what is known. In one or two sentences the team should to describe what it is that needs to be solved. A willingness to revise the problem statement as new information is discovered is also essential.

4. Prepare a list of questions and actions. Document what the team thinks needs to be answered to solve the problem or ‘what do we need to know’ to move toward a solution. Questions may address concepts or principles or alternatively requests for more information (e.g. statistics) or reports on individual situations that demonstrate the problem. These questions guide searchers to the most effective information sources.

5. List ‘what should we do’. List actions to be taken, e.g., question experts, get on-line data; visit the department, customer or problem area.

6. Analyse the information. The team will usually need to revise the problem statement as the analysis proceeds; however, this is actually part of the problem solving process and should be encouraged. You may also identify more problem statements. At this point, the team can formulate and test hypotheses to explain the problem. Some problems may not require hypotheses; instead a recommended solution or opinion (based on research data) may be appropriate.

7. Deliver a solution. Deliver written recommendations, resolutions including predictions and inferences with supporting statistics data and rationale.

The steps in this model may have to be revisited a number of times. Some activities may also be undertaken simultaneously and constant revision should be undertaken as new information surfaces. Once again the problem statement should be constantly refined as the process proceeds and at each meeting the question should be asked... is the problem statement still accurate and appropriate?

Worth the effort...

NO... so is it back to more boring unstructured non-productive meetings that solve nothing?

To contact Ric mailto: rictownsend@yahoo.com