Great entrepreneurs have the uncanny ability to come up with convenient, fast and elegant solutions to the challenges at hand. Be they the pain points in the market or their intra-organization issues. We all know that for a successful business, problem-solving is a highly critical skill. Companies hire and invest in people who are good at identifying and resolving a problem before it affects their success.
If you think that entrepreneurs are problem-solvers by nature, that’s not true. You have to develop and nurture this valuable ability with time and effort. Even seasoned entrepreneurs can overlook the root causes whilst trying to come with a great solution. While channel surfing on my Windstream TV, I came across an interesting TED talk about effective problem-solving strategies. And that changed my perspective. Sometimes, valuable advice comes from least-expected sources!
If you are rigorous to learn about these strategies, they are going to improve the said skill in you immensely. Your chances of resolving the relevant problem, generating handy solutions, pinpointing the root causes, and choosing the ideas/solution with the greatest potential impact can increase.
5 Steps to Structured Problem Solving
- Pin and Define the Problem.
- Identify the Issue and Brainstorm Ideas.
- Generate Hypothetical Solutions.
- Conduct Analysis.
- Implement Your Solution and Review Results.
This five-step strategical procedure can help you define the root causes, break them up in their core components, prioritize solutions, and conduct your analysis.
Pin and Define the Problem
Define the issue in question clearly. Consider multiple perspectives to look at that problem. See the picture from every angle. What would be your CEO’s take on its solution? How would your customers see it? What about your front-line associates? A problem can seem different to different people.
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Also, don’t ignore the causality. It’s common to try to solve the symptoms without getting to the real disease. And by fixing symptoms, you can never make the root cause go away. Defining a problem involves seeing it from different lenses as discussed. Remember, gaining clarity on the issue at hand is pivotal. You cannot proceed without it. So, make sure you exactly know what is it that you are trying to solve.
When you are able to pinpoint the problem, you will establish a clear goal for yourself.
Identify the Issue and Brainstorm Ideas
Proceed to the breakdown of the problem you have identified to its subcomponents. For instance, if it is a profit-related problem, it gets broken down to cost and revenue issues. The revenue then further breaks down into volume and pricing issues. The cost further breaks down to variable cost, fixed cost, semi-variable cost, and so on. As you go on identifying all the possible potential problems, your chances to get to the root cause start skyrocketing.
This procedure brings a structural format to your problem solving allowing you to be deliberate in your analysis and investigation. Once the issue is identified, you are in the solution phase. Brainstorm ideas to effectively solve the problem at hand.
Generate Hypothetical Solutions
You are done brainstorming ideas to solve the problem. At this stage, the solution is still premature so don’t put it into action. If it is a hard problem where you have identified multiple small issues building up to a big problem, you will have to take a systematic approach toward resolving it. Identify all the possible solutions for every small and big issue at hand.
Consider these solutions as hypotheses. You will need to:
- Prioritize.
- Analyze.
- Evaluate.
Follow these three steps to know which of those solutions could turn out to be the most effective one. Prioritize a solution and then prioritize your efforts. If you look at our current problem-solving strategies, they are not focused and waste a lot of time and effort. We go on trying to prove and disprove all hypotheses without focusing on the ones that can offer the highest ROI. Focus your efforts on the most meaningful solution without wasting time is disproving all others.
Conduct Analysis
Stop twitching! You’re almost there. Remember that analysis has to be a focused effort particularly designed to evaluate your primary hypothetical solution. It can end in proving or disproving it. If it’s a valuable and effective solution and has the required impact, you may not have to consider the next hypothesis. It is possible that you will not find the best idea on your first shot. Don’t worry, at least you are contributing to reaching the right one.
Remember to focus on the right analysis and not all the analysis. The effective approach would be focusing all your efforts on proving or disproving your first hypothesis. Don’t get stuck in the variety and end up in analysis paralysis. You will get answers quicker if you focus on one at a time.
Implement Your Solution and Review Results
Now that you know the ideal solution, it’s time to implement it. The perfect execution will involve some careful planning. Often, it is iterative and involves various short cycles of implementation with testing as well as feedback. Do not try to get it just perfect the very first time. Keep reviewing the results and impacts of the implemented solution to make it more effective. I always tell my team members to evaluate every step just like they evaluate the performance of one of the Optimum packages triple play that we have in our office. That shows them the significance of every step of the strategy.
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