Agile solutions to problems require strategic approaches.
On the face of things, identifying problems and finding solutions to them seem like everyday tasks that we do unconsciously. We use our cognitive abilities to quickly recognize that we have an issue that needs to be dealt with, our logic and reasoning to analyze and process the issue and our instincts and knowledge to find rational and optimal ways to get through, over, under or around the so called ‘problem’.
"If I had an hour to solve a problem, I’d take 55 minutes thinking about the problem and 5 minutes thinking about the solution." – Albert Einstein
We live busy lives and often we don’t stop to think about ‘problems’. What we immediately recognize as a symptom of problem, we set about trying to deal with it, to alleviate the pain in the short term. Pretty much like taking a pain killer for a headache or an aching joint. The trouble with this quick-fix approach is that the problem tends to recur and magnify in ways that are more difficult to resolve down the line.
Whether at work or in life we are confronted with events, people, circumstances that we regard as ‘problems’. They block the pathways or prevent what we consider natural flow, achievement of results, accomplishment of goals etc. The issue with a problem is that it generally presents itself initially through one or more symptoms, so trying to deal with the symptoms and not the problem itself can be a costly endeavor both in a personal situation or at work.
According to a report published by the World Economic Forum, 50% of the workforce will need upskilling by 2025 and one of the top 10 skills of tomorrow is critical thinking and complex problem solving.
So let’s take a moment to unpack the role of problem analysis. Problem analysis is the process of identifying and clearly defining the problem prior to finding ways to solve it. There are a number of different approaches you can use to analyze and solve problems. Here’s a case study and a simple illustration of how it works.
Diagnose the issues
Gather proof
Find the root cause
Define the problem
Brainstorm appropriate solutions
Implement the solutions
Monitor the results
#1 Diagnose the issues
The first step to identifying and solving a problem is to recognize the events that are causing disruption or undesirable results and observe these events carefully. These could be product failures breakdown in processes or even external factors that are out of your control. Acknowledging that these issue exist and need attention is critical.
Case:
The Sales and Marketing departments were at loggerheads. The tactical campaigns were taking too long to get to market. In the meanwhile, the competition was scooping up the lion’s share. The revenue targets were not being met. The commercial team was under pressure. There was frustration and escalation on a daily basis. The teams were pointing fingers and it was concluded that that certain personalities involved were incapable, difficult and obstructive.
#2 Gather proof that a problem exists
It’s easy to jump to conclusion if you take things at face value and make assumptions based on who shouts the loudest or needing to find a quick fix or not wanting to rock the boat. There needs to be concrete evidence that there is a real problem. Separate fact from opinion, consult all parties and get a balanced view of the issues, look for standard deviation and request data to back up the different and often disparate points of view.
Case:
The issues had persisted for several months with both teams adopting defensive CYB (Cover your backside) tactics. They had imposed SLAs and interventions that elongated the process. The stakeholders involved on both sides were backing off from taking any responsibility for any part of the process and differing to the other side for ‘approval’ at each stage. The pricing was being revised several times along the timeline to stay competitive. Every time the pricing changed a new approval process was triggered. The key result was an end-to-end process of 21 days and failure to meet the incremental revenue targets per campaign. This obviously had serious business impact.
#3 Find the root cause of the problem
So, problems are generally human, organizational, or physical. It is imperative to identify the underlying or root causes of a problem before it can be fully and accurately defined. It is best to start by asking the question ‘why?’. Here’s where the ‘5-whys’ root cause analysis comes in handy. It sometimes takes more than 5 ‘whys’ to get to the root of the problem so keep going until you hit the bottom.
Case:
Why did it take 21 days to deploy a campaign? – The brief was continually morphing.
Why did the brief continually morph? – The pricing kept changing and there were subjective changes to the copy, images and formats.
Why did the pricing keep changing? To stay competitive in a volatile market.
Why are there subjective changes made to the copy, images – The sales department want to have input.
Why does the content have to be approved at every stage of the process? To ensure that the information is accurate before the campaign is deployed.
Why isn’t the final pricing provided just before campaign deployment? That’s not the agreed briefing process.
#4 Define the problem
Once the root cause of the problem is unearthed it becomes possible to accurately define the problem. If you have a clearly written problem statement, that’s half the battle won. The construct below illustrates how to articulate and define the problem.
Case:
The problem of a lengthy campaign management process was affecting the sales performance, the results of which were continuous failure to meet revenue targets. The benefit of a solution would alleviate stress on both the marketing and sales departments, improve productivity and effectiveness of tactical campaigns and meet commercial objectives.
#5 Brainstorm appropriate solutions
Solution finding requires a collaborative approach and ideas from within the group of impacted stakeholders and some external un-biased objective observers or analysists of the problem. Using tools like process flows and prioritization matrices to find and consider suitable alternatives. For more complex problems that may have a number of different root causes a good tool to use is the fishbone diagram.
Case:
A collaborative process mapping exercise was initiated to identify the various stages in the process
Responsibilities were assigned to relevant stakeholders at each stage.
Sales responsible for providing commercial objectives, incremental revenue targets, product differentiators, pricing and revenue tracking.
Marketing responsible for audience profiling, channel mix, communication and campaign performance reporting
The new process included one round of joint accuracy checks by relevant stakeholders
Final pricing was released on the morning of campaign deployment
The new process from brief to deployment took a maximum of 3 working days.
#6 Implement the solutions
Implementing the changes requires buy in from a number of different stakeholders, collaboration and willingness to think differently about the problem, solution and outcome. Change is never easy and feels disruptive initially but when the results are positive the new way of working suddenly becomes more fun. A good tool to use is a Who/What/When matrix.
Case:
Simplification of the process eliminated unnecessary steps and rounds of approval.
Assignment of roles and responsibilities to specific team members ensured focus, commitment, agility, accuracy and quality standards.
Adherence to timelines by all stakeholders ensured the timely deployment of the campaign with real time competitive pricing.
#7 Monitor results
It’s always great to see a positive shift in performance, productivity through collaboration and commitment to finding the best possible solutions to problems. It’s important to capture learnings so that the challenges, wins and learnings can be quickly implemented in the future for similar issues.
Case:
The campaigns were deployed in a max of 3 days from being briefed
The offers were in market ahead of the competition
The incremental revenue targets were met and exceeded
The teams reported higher levels of cross-functional collaboration
The leaders reported better team dynamics and overall happiness
To analyze and solve problems is a strategic process
This process of problem definition and solution finding can be applied to many different scenarios including a new business idea or model. Testing a business or product idea in the early stages using this process is beneficial because it separates out the symptoms from the problem by getting to the root cause before jumping to a solutioning. The risk of not going through a strategic process of this nature is that you could end up solving for the wrong problem or worse still - creating a different one.
If it’s a new business idea you are thinking about, it is critical to be really clear on the problem you are solving for. Your niche, business model and business plan, product development and Go-to-market strategy will all be dependent on getting this right. I’ll be discussing these in greater detail future posts.
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Wishing you success, prosperity, personal growth and positive change.
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