Effective Problem Solving in the Workplace

We experience problem-solving sessions as war zones, we view competing ideas as enemies, and we use problems as weapons to blame and defeat opposition forces. No wonder we can't come up with real lasting solutions! - Margaret J. Wheatley

The steps for effective Problem Solving

Identify the separate issues that make-up the problem

o  Define the problem concisely, accurately, clearly and be brutally honest about it

o  Different people may see the problem in differing ways, be aware of this is as you go into “problem solving” mode, as an individual or a team

o  Separate the listing of issues from the identification of interests as everyone will likely be pushing their own agenda

o  Understand the context surrounding the root-cause of the problem

o  Be clear about the up-stream and down-stream implications of the problem as it stands now 

Understand everyone's interests

o  Who are the players in the game, what are their biases likely to be and what’s in it for them

o  Interests are the needs that you want satisfied with any potential solution, we often ignore our true interests as we become attached to one particular solution, do not become a victim of your own bias

o  The best solution is the one that satisfies everyone’s interests, although be aware that trade-offs will may to be made in some form or another

o  Be an active listener, sideline any differences and listen to everyone’s perspective of the problem, as the way you see it, may be different to how others see it

o  Map out the stakeholder’s interests in relation to the problem and whom it effects and how

List the possible solutions (options)

o  Now is the time to do some brainstorming, applying some innovative or creative thinking will provide additional insights, this is the time to, “think outside the box”

o  When you have exhausted all potential solutions on the list, start prioritizing them and discard the ones that everyone believes are not practicable or valid

Evaluate the options

o  What are the pros and cons of each potential solution?

o  You are trying to reach a consensus, narrow down the list to five or six of the mostly likely solutions

Select an option or options

o  What is likely to be the best option, taking into account all that has been learned?

o  Is there a way to "bundle" a number of options together for a more optimum solution?

o  Start thinking about what the “criteria of success” is, what results are you expecting to get if you employ option; “a”, “b” or “c”

Record the results

o  Document the decisions that have been made

o  Document the three best solutions that have been collectively agreed upon

o  Document at a high-level (indicative) cost, time and resources required for the top solutions

Agree on how things will be monitored and evaluated

o  What’s the back-up plan in case things go south? (Make sure you have a fallback position in place, just in case)

o  Conditions may change, make contingency plans and agreements about foreseeable future circumstances or events, “if this happens we will do x”

o  How will the program of work be measured?

o  Have the risks been satisfactorily mitigated proactively?

o  Who will be involved and what will be their associated tasks and responsibilities

o  Prepare the business case or presentation to obtain senior management approval

Effective problem solving takes time and attention more of the latter than the former. But less time and attention than is required by a problem not well solved. What it really takes is a willingness to slow down. A problem is like a curve in the road, take it too fast and something bad is bound to happen.

“Creating something is all about problem-solving”. - Philip Seymour Hoffman

What Are Problem Solving Skills?

Problem solving skills are considered a soft skill, rather than a hard skill like obtaining a university degree. An aptitude for innovative and effective problem solving is highly prized by employers across the globe.

Analysis Skills

In order to solve a problem, you must first find the (root-) cause. This requires one to gather and evaluate data, isolate possible contributing circumstances, and pinpoint what needs to be addressed for a resolution.

Required Skills:

o  Active Listening

o  Data Gathering

o  Data Analysis

o  Fact finding

o  Historical Analysis

o  Causal Analysis

o  Process Analysis

o  Needs Identification

Generating Solutions to Achieve an End Goal

Once you’ve determined what is causing a problem, it’s time to brainstorm possible solutions. Sometimes this involves teamwork, since two (or more) minds are often better than one. It’s rare that a single strategy is the obvious route to solving a complex problem; devising a set of alternatives helps you cover your bases and reduces your risk of exposure should the first strategy you implement fail.

Required Skills:

o  Brainstorming

o  Creative Thinking

o  Prediction

o  Forecasting

o  Project Design

o  Project Planning

Evaluating Best Solutions

Depending upon the nature of the problem and your chain of command, evaluating best solutions may be performed by assigned teams, team leads, or forwarded upward to major corporate decision makers. Whoever makes the decision must evaluate potential costs, required resources, and possible barriers to successful solution implementation.

Required Skills:

o  Analysis

o  Discussion

o  Corroboration

o  Teamwork

o  Test Development

o  Mediation

o  Prioritizing

Implementing a Plan

Once a course of action has been decided, it must be implemented, along with benchmarks which can quickly and accurately determine whether it’s working to solve a problem. Plan implementation also involves alerting changes to personnel in standard operating procedures.

Required Skills:

o  Project Management

o  Project Implementation

o  Collaboration

o  Time Management

o  Benchmark Development

Assessing the Effectiveness of proposed Solutions

Once a solution is implemented, the best problem-solvers have systems in place to ascertain if and how quickly it's working. This way, they know as soon as possible whether the issue has been resolved or, alternatively, whether they’ll have to change their response to the problem mid-stream.

Required Skills:

o  Communication

o  Data Analysis

o  Surveys

o  Customer Feedback

o  Follow-through

o  Troubleshooting

Effective Ways Leaders Solve Problems

Through Transparent Communication

Problem solving requires transparent communication where everyone’s concerns and points of view are freely expressed. I’ve seen one too many times how difficult it is to get to the root of the matter in a timely manner when people do not speak-up.

By Breaking Down Silos

Transparent communication requires you to break down silos and enable a boundary-less organization whose culture is focused on the betterment of a healthier whole.  Unnecessary silos invite hidden agendas rather than welcome efficient cross-functional collaboration and problem solving.

By Encouraging Open-mindedness

Breaking down silos and communication barriers requires people to be open-minded. In the end, problem solving is about people working together to make the organization and the people it serves better. Therefore, if you are stuck working with people that are closed-minded, effective problem solving becomes a long and winding road of misery.

By having a strong solid Foundational Strategy

Without strategy, change is merely substitution, not evolution. A solid strategy must be implemented in order to solve any problem. Many leaders attempt to dissect a problem rather than identify the strategy for change that lies within the problem itself.

Problem solving is the greatest enabler for growth and opportunity. This is why they say failure serves as the greatest lesson in business and in life. Be the leader that shows maturity, acts courageously, and requires accountability. Applying each of these lessons can help you become a master problem solver. Each experience teaches us all new things. Embrace problem solving and the many unseen treasures it represents.

Refining Problem Solving skills

Problem-solving skills are important in every industry. There's no business that's immune to the regular onslaught of problems. Business managers and departmental managers may find that nearly every aspect of their daily routine centers around some type of problem-solving. When you're in a management position, one of the most important things you do is simply handle the day-to-day issues that arise for your employees.

Improving your problem-solving skills will give you a distinct edge both in a management job and in other positions within your organization.

You can hone your problem-solving skills by:

o  Practicing brainstorming activities such as mind mapping

o  Approaching everyday issues with a "what if" mentality, regularly testing new approaches

o  Keeping an idea journal where you jot down all your ideas, no matter how out-of-the-box

o  Working through logic puzzles, games like Sudoku and developing thought experiments in one’s mind’s eye

o  Following industry publications covering the latest technology and management strategies and techniques for common issues

How to Strengthen Team Problem Solving Skills?

o  Start working on team problem-solving by tackling smaller, easier to solve issues

o  Do not stress about failure, learn from it and move on, the ability to handle failure is important as failure is a precursor to success

o  Provide enough freedom and autonomy for employees to solve issues accordingly

o  Set high expectations, inspire your teams to excel at problem solving through ongoing team development, training and education

o  Teach your teams on the best ways to frame and express problems from multiple perspectives

o  Motivate the group to develop additional expertise through training and development

o  Motivate all the employees to “auto-form” a group when solving team-related problems, self-driven teams are high performing teams

o  Celebrate accomplishments and success and make it public within the organization

The Benefits of Team Problem Solving

Better thinking: During team problem-solving process, a person might think of certain solutions which can be used to solve such issue for a temporary basis. But in case of team problem-solving sessions a team or group of people will try to put in all their individual thinking in that particular matter so that they can get an answer and solution for their problem.

Better risk handling: It might seem a bit confusing for people that when it comes to risk, more people can handle a higher amount of risk. And that is very true because when a group person tries to handle the severity of the risk, it is quite possible that they can grow better in their professional outputs.

Therefore, team problem-solving methods can increase the risk factor in a very positive manner and moreover because of such team problem-solving ability, one can create better, more sustainable growth growth.

Better communication: Problems can be solved in a better way with proper communication between people. And when it comes to a team or a group of persons, then it is easy to understand that they can communicate better as compared to others.

Therefore, team problem-solving method increases communication and better understanding between a group of people and this ultimately helps to solve the issues as soon as possible.

Increased understanding: As it is explained earlier that team problem-solving methods can increase better communication between people from the same group and apparently such behavior can lead them to build better understanding between teammates.

Therefore, such type of understanding can help all the people from the group and their problem-solving ability. Moreover, this can turn itself as one of the advantages for the sake of organization and their growth.

Increased number of solutions: Most of the time while working in an organization whenever some sort of problem occurs, then the organization heads will consider their experienced employees to understand the problem and try to get the possible solution for such problems.

In this course of action, most of the people prefer their best working team to come with some best solution and that is why people and most of the companies prefer their team problem-solving abilities to look at the wide range of possible solution for a single issue.

Increases the team’s potential: There are some situations wherein which a person can face some uncertain situation in terms of their professional parameters, but at that point of time, that person needs to think wisely regarding the issue. And the level of thinking can increase the chances of his or her potential and ability in relation to a problem.

Similarly, when it comes to team problem solving, then it is quite clear that the level of problem-solving with the help of a team will definitely increase the chances of the team’s potential.

Develops a higher level of commitment: Most probably when a team or a group of people working on a project experiences some sort of professional problems, then it is the team’s responsibility to solve that problem as soon as possible. And eventually, the problem might possibly reach its end with the efforts of the team.

Therefore, at the end of every single issue solving process, the team presents its higher-level commitment towards the problem’s solution.

Reduces the possibility of bias: When a team performs a job or a task, then the efforts that the team have indulged in that task or project would be mainly considered as a team effort than an individual person effort. And eventually, the organization will reduce their bias behavior with certain employees of their company.

Therefore, it is definitely understandable that by involving team problem-solving technique the employee and employers of the company both can be comfortable with the working environment.

Greater productivity: As it is definitely expected that when a company or an organization works with their team efforts, then the company or an organization can experience a greater amount of productive output in terms of their profit margin.

Therefore, involving in good problem-solving skills and techniques can be beneficial for both the company and its directors. And eventually, this increases the profit ratio of the company which can ultimately increase the growth of the company.

Encourages creative ideas: As most of the team members working in a particular team will be equally provided a chance of presenting their own creative ideas while discussing something necessary for the welfare of the company. And in that process of creative ideas, a team baring potential employees can present their problem-solving ideas for the sake of the overall growth of the company.

Disadvantages of Team Problem Solving

As compared to the advantages of team problem solving, the disadvantages can deliberately present the difference of opinion within the working behavior of the team members.

Increased competition: Most of the time while working in a team a person’s individual efforts can be ignored because of the team. And that is because every team maintains its own team leader and every time if that team achieves some sort of excellence, then it is quite clear that the team leader will be acknowledged first.

In this process of acknowledging, the team members can be left out and that eventually brings up competition within the members of the team.

Level of confirmation: When it comes to confirmation of it regarding a certain task or project, a person needs to understand that it never helps if a person is involved in a group or is a member of a group. Therefore, it is very much necessary for every single person that he or she should know more about these team problem-solving abilities. Moreover, team problem solving is capable of a distinguished level of conformity.

Lack of objective guidelines: Most of the time it happens in the team working behavior that all the objective direction need not be followed because of the team-leader’s direction. In a team working behavior, it is clear to everyone that if a team needs to work according to the prescribed way, then they need to follow a certain type of objective direction.

That direction will not be available with the team problem-solving ability as the team leader leads all the decisions in the process.

Time constraints: Because of the team problem-solving methods, a person might not think about or bother about its timing. And that is necessary to understand, clear out all the fogs in a way. Time constraints are one of the disadvantages in the team problem-solving ability and method that never depend upon the number of people in the group.

People think that if a single group have a maximum number of members, then time constraints will be eliminated.

Unequal participation: It is not necessary that if a team or a group of a certain number of people are part of the group, then they need to participate in all types of work or task. Most of the time it happens such as a team member might be interested in being a part of something interesting, but the team doesn’t let him or her participate in such an event.

Similarly, this type of behavior creates unequal participation within the group and which eventually grow into something big in terms of drift and loss.

Unwillingness to participate:  Most of the while being a part of a team or a group some member might not feel interested to participate in all sorts of events or task assigned to that particular group, but the actual truth is that such type of behavior can bring up some sort of communal issue within the group.

Therefore, unwillingness to participate can be considered as a decision of a person who is a part of the group, but because of that individual decision, the whole team incurs some greater loss.

Lack of team spirit: Working in a team or a group takes a lot of team spirit, but some people totally lack behind in such type of criteria and because of that the team or a group damages its reputation.

And that is why a group must contain those members who are more than interested in the team working behavior and its environment. Therefore, while choosing a member of a team, a team leader must consider the level of comfortability in the participant about being a team player.

Group Think: Is where people strive for consensus within a group. In many cases, people will set aside their own personal beliefs or adopt the opinion of the rest of the group. People who are opposed to the decisions or overriding opinion of the group as a whole frequently remain quiet, preferring to keep the peace rather than disrupt the uniformity of the crowd.

In many cases, people end up engaging in groupthink when they fear that their objections might disrupt the harmony of the group or suspect that their ideas might cause other members to reject them.

Advanced Problem Solving Strategies

Delegate and Separate

Some team members work best on their own. Delegate a task (or a subset of a solution) to each of these people and watch them come into their own. Give them the opportunity to present their ideas verbally in an upcoming meeting, independent thinkers like to be able to present solutions.

Other employees don’t contribute when the most dominant team members get on a roll. To encourage shy individuals to contribute, put them in groups of two or three and ask them to work on a subset of your team’s challenge and write up a solution.

Quiet, more introverted individuals are capable of adding a tremendous amount of value to the problem solving process, it’s up to team leaders to make sure the right atmosphere is available to them so they feel free to make their contributions in a form comfortable to them.

Divide and Conquer

Instead of getting stuck in a complex (and interlocking) problem, separate the problem into individual issues. If you are a project manager who inherits an existing team (as a project manager) with a number of unresolved interpersonal dramas.

Do not drag everyone into a meeting and tell them to hash out their differences, work with individual conflicts, two people at a time.

If you’re tasked with optimizing an inefficient system, identify all the issues, sub-issues, and root causes of your vague overall challenge, address the general lack of productivity one issue at a time in a forthright straight forward manner.

Going to Extremes

When teasing out root causes and the logistical implications of potential solutions, examine both ends of the spectrum. Once you get enough data (and personal perspectives) from all angles of a problem (even extreme ones), you can narrow your focus in on the core issue.

Nothing takes your brainstorming team “out of the box” like going to extremes.

Engaging the Senses

If your team can’t seem to crack the problem-solving process, have them express the problem in new ways.

Have them draw the problem on your white board, role-play as the various components of a system, or teach the concept to someone with no experience in the area, a fresh new perspective can provide valuable insights to entrenched problems.

To see your blind spots and identify optimal solutions, you need a broad and unique perspective, develop your team’s trust level and encourage quieter people to speak up.

Your best solution could be in the mind of that team member who speaks awkwardly (or not at all). As a team leader/project manager, your role is to draw the very best from all of the people within the team.

Problem Solving Approaches

o  Abstraction: solving the problem in a model of the system before applying it to the real system

o  Analogy: using a solution that solves an analogous problem

o  Brainstorming: (especially among groups of people) suggesting a large number of solutions or ideas and combining and developing them until an optimum solution is found

o  Divide and conquer: breaking down a large, complex problem into smaller, solvable problems

o  Hypothesis testing: assuming a possible explanation to the problem and trying to prove (or, in some contexts, disprove) the assumption

o  Lateral thinking: approaching solutions indirectly and creatively

o  Means-ends analysis: choosing an action at each step to move closer to the goal

o  Method of focal objects: synthesizing seemingly non-matching characteristics of different objects into something new

o  Morphological analysis: assessing the output and interactions of an entire system

o  Proof: try to prove that the problem cannot be solved. The point where the proof fails will be the starting point for solving it

o  Reduction: transforming the problem into another problem for which solutions exist

o  Research: employing existing ideas or adapting existing solutions to similar problems

o  Trial-and-error: testing possible solutions until the right one is found