Problem Identification - A Process
Have you ever deployed your
best team to resolve a problem and have the team execute flawlessly,
only to find that the problem that was solved did not address the
customer’s real need? This common scenario is often the source of
widespread customer dissatisfaction and is all too prevalent in today’s
nonprofit business environment where valuable resources are needlessly
and inadvertently wasted because problems are not accurately
identified.
Given the fast pace of change
in today’s market and the high volume of information that inundate
leaders on a daily basis, it is essential to have an approach for
identifying key organizational issues. Problems often arise at the
senior leadership level and those leaders need to suppress their
natural inclination to immediately solve the problem. The tendency to
react (Ready, fire, aim) often leads to less creative solutions that
may not meet the real need. It is critical that a structured, deliberate
approach be taken to solve complex problems in order to arrive at a
solution that will allow effective collaboration among all the key
knowledge experts, so that they can generate useful ideas and achieve
the desired result.
A Structured Approach to Problem Solving: Creative
Problem Solving Buffalo™
Accurately framing the
problem is the most important step of the Creative Problem Solving
–Buffalo (“CPSB”) process. It is imperative to understand the problem
and what makes the CPSB process effective is that it provides a
structure, language, and tools for targeting opportunities. The problem
identification framework under the CPSB model begins with the ‘Task
Appraisal Process.” The Task Appraisal Process has four elements:
- People – Are the right
people working on the tasks; do they have the authority and
responsibility to take action; what level of sponsorship is being provided; do the people have the necessary knowledge and skill to address the problem?
- Outcomes – Is there a clear understanding of the desired outcome; is a current process being improved or are a new process being created;
what are the most and least important aspects of the problem; how
is the outcome that is desired different from what exits
currently?
- Context – What has been tried before to address this issue; does it link to the strategic priorities; are there the necessary resources (time, money, people, etc)?
- Method – How familiar are the people with the problem solving tools/methods that will be used?
The Task Appraisal Process can be applied in a wide range of scenarios. Here are a few examples:
- Interviewing clients to evaluate and determine which problems to address and more effectively position services.
- Leading a group of cross
functional leaders to develop a consensus on the important issue
to solve and streamline the engagement.
- Improving or repairing relationships with a previous client or organization.
Identifying the Problem
To lead customers in the
problem solving process, it is important to determine the customer’s
level of understanding of their problem. The selection of appropriate
tools and techniques to facilitate the process will depend on the
specificity of the issue.
- Are they broad challenges or opportunities? (e.g. “My grant process takes too long.”)
- Do they need to close the gap between current and future state?(e.g. “How can we better understand the grant approval process?”)
- Do they understand their current state? (e.g. "Can
we articulate the current cycle time, how much does it cost
today? Do we have the data to support our current assumptions?")
Tools and Techniques
Structuring and framing the
issues at the front end of the process is critical to successfully
implementing the process. This approach provides users with a variety
of tools ranging from idea generation to action planning and these
tools used in conjunction with the process guidelines allow the user to
achieve the desired result. The power is in the execution and the
tools for executing the process are categorized into three areas:
-
Generating ideas
– Incremental change or step change will determine the
appropriate and most productive use of the nine available tools.
-
Focusing
- There are eight tools that can compress a large quantity of
options or others that are suited for in-depth analysis and
development.
-
Facilitation –
It is a leadership role. They need to know how to use a range of
creativity methods, tools, and techniques as well as manage group
dynamics and move the group toward the desired outcome. The
highly skilled facilitator will understand, plan, and manage the
process to reach the desired outcome.
A structured approach along
with the proper tools and techniques can result in solving numerous
issues that organizations face on a daily basis. It may take a little
more time on the front end to identify the correct problem, but the
ideas and solutions generated by the team will meet the needs and
desires of your customers.
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