Problem Solving: The Struggle and Solution

“A problem well put is half solved.”

― John Dewey

Have you ever been handed an emerging problem at work that you were tasked with solving quickly? Business moves at lightning speed now, but the pressure to solve problems fast can backfire. Sometimes, we’re in such a rush that we don’t even know what the problem really is, but start working to solve it anyway.

This causes leaders to lose time and waste energy implementing ineffective solutions that don’t address the actual problem. The pressure to find a fix ASAP causes leaders to overlook possible root causes in order to identify the true problem–and its best solution.

The result is wasted time and energy going in fruitless directions. Meanwhile, the problem remains, posing a threat to your organization’s survival.

Solving the Wrong Problem

Too often, a leader’s solution fails to resolve the stated problem. That’s because often, you’re working on the wrong problem.

A story: 

One of our clients once had a problem with hiring new staff. One HR executive charted out, revised, and relaunched the recruiting process to enable more effective and rapid hiring. Six months later, though, staffing data remained unchanged. 

A different team took a closer look. They discovered that in fact, people were being hired steadily–but other staff were quitting just as fast. For every person hired, another one quit. What this organization had was really a retention problem, not a hiring problem. 

This organization wasted years trying to solve the wrong problem. So the problem remained, despite all the effort and money expended creating a new hiring initiative, placing ads and retraining their HR staff. After finding the true problem, HR leaders were redirected to design a new employee-retention program. This initiative succeeded in improving retention, thereby resolving the high turnover that was sapping productivity.

Once the actual problem was identified, it was possible to create a plan to solve it.

What is Problem Solving?

When there’s a difference between the current state of things and the way you’d like them to be, you have a problem. Problem solving is the process of figuring out how to close that gap.

Read how the American Society for Quality thinks about Problem Solving

The Rewards of Learning Better Problem-Solving Skills 

There’s a world of difference between solving a problem and solving one well. Most leaders struggle to see a problem clearly in the crush of their daily responsibilities. News of failed initiatives dominate the business pages and news sites daily. Even if they can identify the most urgent issue, many leaders struggle to identify the best solution. 

Working on this skill is important because of the opportunity it offers to stand out. Resolving problems quickly and effectively translates to more revenue and profits for your organization–and that makes you a top candidate for promotion.  

You Can Learn to Identify Problems

How can you build stronger problem-solving skills? There is a process you can follow to correctly diagnose a problem, instead of assuming you understand the problem and rushing to a solution: 

• Define–What, exactly, is the primary problem? Define it as clearly as possible.

• Decompose–What’s causing this problem? List all possible potential causes.  

• Analyze–Carefully analyze all the potential causes. Which is the most likely culprit? 

• Act–Choose the action that best addresses the main problem.

By approaching problems in this systematic way, you are far more likely to identify your actual problem and to find the optimal solution.

Watch a Harvard Business Review video on a creative way to solve problems.

Every Rising Leader Needs to Solve Problems

Because so many leaders lack effective problem-solving skills, being an exceptional problem solver is an opportunity to stand out and move up at your organization. As your solutions roll out and it’s seen that you’ve successfully solved the assigned problem, senior managers come to view you as important to the organization’s success–and you’re the first one they think of for promotion.

With strong problem-solving skills, you have a path from line worker or team member into a leadership position. Junior leaders position themselves well to move up when they resolve problems facing their team.