The One-Screen Tour
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This one page is a short overview of the entire site. I hope it motivates you to sample a little more, but perhaps you only have time and energy for a brief snack. Just know that a buffet awaits you. |
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Attending to the process If you spend your day solving problems, then problem solving is your most important process. |
The typical approach to solving a problem is immersion, followed by feeling overwhelmed, followed by desperation, followed by obsession with taking action. And some people just skip the first few steps and jump immediately to proposing solutions. For some, their statement of the problem is actually their suggested solution: "The problem with our sales force is they do too much order-taking and not enough listening." Or, "Legal and Engineering wouldn't be fighting so much if they had strong leadership." We are so focused on the problem to solve that we seldom see the problem solving process itself. The cumulative experience of myself and
my colleagues (hundreds of companies and
almost a hundred years of consulting) leads
us to believe that problems come
in only eight
types, and if you mis-identify the relevant
type for a given problem, there is a high
likelihood that subsequent efforts to resolve
it will be futile. It seems that the most
important step in robust problem solving
is to capture the essence of the problem,
not to move immediately to the best solution. |
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The benefit What if we were not "inventing" a new process with every problem? |
Most problem solving efforts are incredibly inefficient, simply because everyone is singing from a different song book. They have different, and often conflicting views of how to proceed. The clash in roles or in sequence of thought leads to false starts, friction, and lowered quality of outcome. Imagine if everyone had the same template for how to proceed? What if everyone understood the different phases and the steps to follow in each? What if executives knew when to be active and when to step back? What if everyone knew the essential components that had to be included in a complete solution? In such a circumstance, people could put their time and energy and talent into solving the problem, and not waste it in bumping into each other and their different notions of how to proceed. That clarity is exactly what can be achieved
with a thorough understanding of the problem
types. Each type brings with it a definition
of what a solution must contain, what features
of the problem cannot be ignored, and what
roles everyone should play in the effort.
The type invokes an outline of the most
effective process to pursue. |
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Leadership and Problem Solving Good problem solving is not just a skill set; it's a system. It requires a culture. |
Perhaps the most frustrating feature of problem solving in an organizational setting is that it tends to get worse over time. Some skills ripen with practice (like driving a car), but in a large group setting some practices just get sloppier (are your meetings getting better every year?). For many companies, "fire fighting" easily becomes standard operating procedure. Everything is a "work around" or gets "walked through by hand". The discipline of sound problem solving starts with the leadership. They need to understand how to initiate and support good problem solving. Not only is their role critical, it is equally critical that they pull back at the right step in the sequence. When the leadership plays their appropriate role, they set up three ongoing conversations in the organization:
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