The Process of Problem Solving

🔊 So how do you problem solve? This is a question I got asked after my previous video on problem solving and there are many answers to that question. The are many great problem solving techniques you can use 

✅Some are great for large issues

✅And some are great for day to day activities 

Over the years I’ve used many problem solving techniques to great success and my favourite are 

💥DMAIC

💥@SA Partners 4 Step 

💥Toyota 8D and while they are certain differences. These problem solving techniques have some very important commonalities 

✅ 1. Define the problem are be specific when I would ask different 10 stakeholders in a business what their biggest problem was, I would get 10 different answers. As that is their perception. Perception is important, it acts as a guide to start looking but it’s more important to get specific

One of the biggest reactions I see in business is that we are too busy and people conclude that the answer is, They need more people 

That may be part of the solution, but why are people too busy? This is the cause of the issue, not the root. This is where defining the problem is key

In the video I discuss my favourite problem solving technique at this stage – 5W1H

✅ 2. Find ROOT Cause

Not the point of cause, the bit everyone sees.. 

Problems go deeper than that.. And I’ve worked on problems in companies that have existed for decades. Fixing the point of cause is just putting a bandaid on the problem. That’s an important 1st step – to stop the issue there and then. But you don’t stop there, you figure out why it happened. This is called 💥CAPA💥Corrective And Preventive Action. If you don’t do the preventative element, this problem will come back to haunt you. TIme and Time again!!

The problem solving technique I like here is the 5 Whys

When I ask people if they have heard of it, they say no. I then ask, do you have kids? If they say yes.. They get it then. Kids have this innate curiosity to keep asking the question WHY till they fully understand and can’t ask any more questions

It’s the same here, and it usually takes no more than asking the question WHY 5 times to get to the root cause. I discuss a simple example in the video of how to apply it

There are other tools I use a lot depending on the size and gravity of the issue. 1 of my other favourites is process mapping – where you map the process of where you believe the issue happened and you build a list of possible issues at every step. It’s an amazing tool, but that’s for another day

Problem solving techniques don’t  have to be complicated – in fact the simpler you keep it the better the results. If you have started using these techniques, I recommend you start. If you have any questions, please let me know.

Have a great day

#futurestateacademy #systemsthinking #business #problemsolving #rootcauseanalysis #performance