What are some effective ways to use problem solving skills with stakeholders?

There may be many problems to a failure , identify the vital problem will help to solve the same. The below steps are key in the process of identifying the problem, 1. Collecting the data and facts from the stakeholder 2. Brainstorm and Analyse the collected information 3. Identify the vital problem which needs to be attended The above process will make sure the Stakeholders are progressing in the right path with clear understanding and ensure the vital problem is identified.

One of the things I've found working with Stakeholders is that they often are not clear on what the problem really is. I find the biggest challenge is to filter out their complaining, and to dig into the issue as well as the root cause. You need to identify if the problem is real, or perceived. This may involve some conversations with multiple individuals in multiple organizations. It's amazing what asking some questions reveals! Avoid allowing responses to be vague and follow up on everything to get a clear picture of what happens and when, and why it's a problem.

Once you know the problem you can drill into solutions. While there are multiple techniques of coming up with solutions, there is no perfect way to do it every time. Each problem will lend itself to a method on it's own, often based on the people involved and the level of maturity of the organization. Don't get fixated on using one method. The most important thing to remember is that you need to include key stakeholders to leverage their knowledge and experience.

Once the problem is identified, find the root causes through basic quality tools like Why-Why Analysis, brainstorming etc., This process is interesting and challenging to the Stakeholders to identify the accurate root cause. The successful result of this exercise is to generate solution for the identified root causes. The solutions should address the system and control gaps rather than the manual errors.

Once you have your possible solutions identified, you need to review them and identify which ones are most feasable based on cost, time, resources, etc. Then you have to list the pro's and con's of each. While sometimes a top choice is obvious there are often situations where there are multiple options. In these cases you need to engage your stakeholders and ensure they are on board with the options and have a chance to weigh in on them. If they are not part of the process you risk losing their buy in on the solution and it will impact the final success of the solution.

Evaluating the solutions with the Stakeholders before implementing will ensure the provided solution is simple, practical and permanent meaning which it can be implemented with right cost, space and within the optimum time. In this process the ideas shared in the team meeting shall be reviewed and challenged to get the best out of it. If the provided solution needs to be implemented by a different team the alignment between the solution provided team and the doer team is crucial to proceed.

In my experience, once the solution is identified you need to align it with both the stakeholders AND the team charged with implementing it. This often means having a meeting that level sets all members on the problem, the solution that has been identified, and all the tasks and activities the team will need to do in order to implement the solution. Ensure that the stakeholders are included and they come up with the necessary acceptance expectations. Putting all this down in a comprehensive list or plan that can be signed off by all the people involved, including stakeholders ensures that everyone is on the same page and the solution can start to be implemented.

Implementation phase is more important as the real actions start from this point. Team should derive a proper plan with targets. Management's role in this phase is crucial to materialize the plan. Empower the team with timely resources will make the team involved and give the energy to execute the plan effcetively. Progress and completion of actions planned within the targets will ensure the successful implementation.

Once the implementation is done capturing the data in the form of a report will help to analyze the results. The improvements can be measured firstly by elimination of the problem and the improvements in terms of efficiency and effectiveness. Recognizing the team's effort shall be the part of this process to keep up the team spirit. Appreciate the Individual and team with appropriate reward improve Total Employee Involvement.