As business leaders we are bombarded with challenges that need to be addressed, situations that need to be improved, and problems that need to be solved.
Of course each challenge, situation, or problem is different. Nevertheless, there are some fundamentals of problem solving.
Click here to see the basics →
This post orginally appeared at David Shedd's Blog.
Define the Real Problem
This is the biggie. Ensure that you are solving the right problem. And ensure that you are solving the root cause of the problem and are not just treating the symptoms. There are numerous methods to determine root causes – cause mapping, fishbone diagrams, etc.
For me, the easiest is to use the Five Whys. Ask a question and to each answer ask Why? again. Doing this for five times should get you to the root cause of the problem, which may be very different from what appeared to initially be the problem.
Define the Real Problem
I have to repeat this because it is so important. Determine the real problem and solve it. Toyota is justifiably famous for its problem-solving savvy in perfecting its production methods.
According to Toyota, the key to their method is to spend relatively more time defining the problem and relatively less time on figuring out the solution.
Get the Facts
Dig deep and get the facts to truly understand the nature of the problem and the possible solutions. Do the analysis to let the facts do the talking instead of gut instinct.
As Wharton Professor Peter Cappelli says:
I tell my MBA students that whenever you are going with your gut, you are doing something wrong. In most cases, you can actually figure it out. So, you should sit down and figure it out.
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