BASIC PROBLEM SOLVING WHITE PAPER 21 JUNE 2013 PHILIP COOMBS

OVERVIEW The fundamental skill required in Business Improvement and business life in general is problem solving. Once a problem has been identified a solution must be found and solutions must consist of strategies and actions. This guide provided you with some basic problem solving tools which will become life-long skills to help you develop strategies and actions that are right for you to address your problems. Once you understand these tools. a) Practice them every day b) Teach them to your family The basic tools we have selected are: a) b) c) d) e) f) g) h) i)

One Page Plan Now Where How Gap Analysis Mindmapping Issue Ranking 5 Whys Force Field Analysis Decision Making Matrix Strategic SWOT

This guide will provide you with the following for each tool. a) Description of tool b) Worked example c) Blank template We will also provide electronic version of document & templates on our ‘USB key’. Become familiar with them, enjoy using them. These tools can help you make a big difference to your business and your life.

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ONE PAGE PLAN This is our base planning tool. You can use it to help develop a strategic approach to problem solving on any issue in your business or life. The one page plan utilises the now-where-how concept of developing strategies. Where are we NOW? As part of any change management process you need to look at where you are now. To measure improvement and monitor change we need to stick a peg in the ground. The Mindshop framework provides us with a better way of understanding where we are 'Now' in more depth and from a balanced perspective. There are many ways that you can conduct the Now analysis. The Magic Wand process is one way. The reverse thought from your wish list can be where you are now. Another way is to use the Mindmap tool. The temptation that arises from the Now analysis is to start fixing all the things that you find wrong. We say that is jumping from the Now analysis directly to the How. Why do people do this? Usually because the reward systems in organizations are focused on who is most visible, what things can we fix immediately and who is the cleverest? WHERE will we be in the Future? The Where part of the equation, is all about the performance outcomes or the results. The Where analysis involves establishing a vision and developing a sustainable competitive advantage. The key is to have a good understanding of where we are heading so that when we do get to the How we know what is important and what is not. HOW do we get there? We all get excited about the How because it means action. How do we get to where we want to be? This is about the drivers and enablers of performance. These are the actions that move us from the Now to the Where. We will explain the Force Field tool later to develop specific action plans.

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MAGIC WAND Normally one of the first and easiest tools that can be used in the any improvement process is the Magic Wand. The Magic Wand is a tool used to stretch the boundaries. It is the ideal way to think outside the normal square, interacting and brainstorming, just by ask the question: "If you had a magic wand, and you didn't have to worry about the how or the cost involved, what would you change about …………?" What would you change about yourself, friends, work, customers, products and services? It's not difficult developing a list of items using the Magic Wand analysis. Magic Wand Wish List for Personal Improvement - Example          

Have plenty of money Reach the top of the ladder at work Be fit and healthy Children in good boarding school Good Life Balance Invent something special that everybody needs No stress, be happy Go down in history for something good Read three books a month Parent-in-laws in another country

MINDMAPPING Mindmapping is one of the simplest, yet most powerful tools a person can use. Mindmapping is another great way to record where you are NOW. The Mindmap is a tool designed to help organize ideas by utilizing a technique that allows you to capture the natural flow of your ideas. It is a simple brain dumping process that helps stimulate new ideas and connections. It starts in the center of the page with the main idea and works outward in all directions, producing a growing and organized structure composed of key words and key images. This tool is ideal for situations where you need to understand all the elements in an issue. Mindmapping was developed by Tony Buzan in the 1970's as an aid for note taking in lectures.

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FIVE WHY’S When we take a problem solving approach we often never get to the root causes because our main goal is always to put out the fire. To engage ourselves in a continuous improvement process we must seek to learn what causes things to happen and then use this knowledge to advantage. We must ensure that you get to the root cause of all the problems. If you do not eliminate the root cause, then the problem will re-surface elsewhere. The 5 Whys process is a tool that allows you to get at the root cause of a problem fairly quickly. The Japanese have called this procedure the Five Whys because they ask why five times when confronted with a problem. Generally speaking by the time the fifth why is answered, they believe they have found the ultimate cause of the problem. Sometimes it may take a question less or a question more. The following example demonstrates the basic process:



The vehicle will not start. (the problem) 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

 

Why? - The battery is dead. (first why) Why? - The alternator is not functioning. (second why) Why? - The alternator belt has broken. (third why) Why? - The alternator belt was well beyond its useful service life and not replaced. (fourth why) Why? - The vehicle was not maintained according to the recommended service schedule. (fifth why, a root cause) 6. Why? - Replacement parts are not available because of the extreme age of the vehicle. (sixth why, optional footnote) Start maintaining the vehicle according to the recommended service schedule. (possible 5th Why solution) Purchase a different vehicle that is maintainable. (possible 6th Why solution)

FORCE FIELD ANALYSIS After you have used the Magic Wand and Mindmap tools, the next step is to use the Force Field Analysis. The Force Field Analysis is a tool used to help you develop action plans by discovering what can be done to double the impact of the positive aspects of an issue and at the same time halving the things that are impacting negatively on it. This is another good tool to use to assist you to find HOW you are going to get from the NOW to WHERE you want to be using the Now-Where-How tool as your roadmap. It enables you to identify the action plans and strategies you need to consider. Use it to drive strategies into action. Change will not occur when the positive and the negative forces of an issue are equal, or the negative force is stronger than the positive force. For change to occur and the issue to move forward, the positive forces must overpower the negative forces.

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ISSUE RANKING Issue Ranking is used when you need to sort out the vital few from the trivial many. There are hundreds of issues you have to deal with in your business at any one time. They could be in areas such as Marketing, Operations, Innovation, Human Resources and Finance. Issue Ranking is designed to help you focus and prioritize the Key strategic issues you have selected, so you can select your top three issues to work on (we feel this is the maximum you can work on at any one time). There are three methods available for use in issue ranking: 1. Tick method – each person has 5 ticks – the issue with the most ticks are the priorities 2. Want to method – tick ones you want to do 3. Factor ranking – score issues against criteria

Select issues in your business that you feel are the most relevant NOW and score them each out of ten against the three factors of Growth, Profit and Ease of doing. Select issues in your business that you feel are the most relevant NOW and score them each out of ten against the three factors of Growth, Profit and Ease of doing. 3. Which three issues have the highest total score? Develop Action Plans for your key issues. Example of Factor Ranking Criteria Issue

Growth Profit

Ease

Total

product offering

7

8

8

23

presentation material

7

8

8

23

lead generation

8

8

5

21

web site

4

4

6

14

secretarial resources

7

7

7

21

office facilities

3

3

7

13

business plan

8

8

8

24

sales process

8

8

8

24

getting on with it

10

10

10

30

dedicated time focus

10

10

7

27

.. List the top 3 issues (those with the highest totals above) below: 1. Dedicate the appropriate time 2. Just get on with it 3. Sales process and material ( including product offering /presentation material )

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DECISION MAKING MATRIX As part of any Improvement Process many decisions must be made. The Decision Matrix is tool designed to pass your decision making process through a selection filter and reduce the subjectivity of the decision.

Implementing your decision is critical. A good decision poorly implemented results in failure. Keep making decisions until you get it right, in that way you can never fail. Timing is also a critical factor in the implementation. Experience and intuition help. If you make a decision and then find it is wrong don't despair, just make another decision! Remember, in order to learn, you must be prepared to make mistakes.

Example of a Decision Matrix for ‘Job Opportunities’ ALTERNATIVES CRITERIA New Knowledge Career Path Salary Fun Environment Total

Weighting

Option 1

Option 2

Option 3

Current Job

New Job

Own Company

30

25

15

18

20 30 20

15 18 19

12 19 17

15 10 12

100

77

63

55

The order of importance and value to the issue. When they are totalled together they must score 100 points. You must choose your own criteria and weightings. Scoring each option helps you decide which option is ‘best’. The higher the score you give to each of the alternative choices, the higher value you give it. The score cannot be higher than the weighting score you have allocated. For example if you look at ‘Fun Environment’ above in the Decision Matrix you will see that ‘Current Job’ scores 25 out of a possible 30 points. This means you consider it to be the most fun. The lower score represents the least fun. Implementing your decision is critical. A good decision poorly implemented results in failure. Keep making decisions until you get it right, in that way you can never fail. Timing is also a critical factor in the implementation. Experience and intuition help. If you make a decision and then find it is wrong don’t despair, just make another decision! Remember, in order to learn, you must be prepared to make mistakes.

GAP ANALYSIS The Gap Analysis tool allows you to determine the gap between where you are 'Now' and 'Where' you want to be on certain factors of a problem. The factors where the largest gaps appear are those to focus on. STEP BY STEP GUIDE 1.

Draw on the white board or use the standard form attached, a matrix with 5 columns (as per example below).

2.

Determine the factors of the issue you are looking at by asking those in your group. Write them one after the other in the 'factors' column.

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3.

Now ask the question and rate it on a scale of -5 to +5 scale, with -5 being low and +5 being high. For example "Where you see the business in relation to growth?" Now. Don't do the Where score yet, complete the rating on all the Factors for Now.

4.

Now ask the same questions for the Where column but ask: ''Where, realistically would you like to be?''

5.

Once all the ratings are in place go through and subtract the 'Now' from the 'Where' rating. So if Where was +4 and Now was +2 the gap would be +2.

6.

Work through doing this calculation for each factor and stand back and determine what factors have the largest gaps

7.

Put a tick next to those three factors with the largest gap and state that these obviously are those that need the most attention now so these will be the focus.

8.

Now you can move onto developing a Force Field Analysis on each of the three factors to determine the actions that need to happen to get change occurring.

This tool takes practice. Remember, the more you practice the better you get. .

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STRATEGIC SWOT The Strategic SWOT Analysis is a tool used in the development of strategy. This is a good tool to use to assist you to find how you are going to get from the NOW to WHERE you want to be with your personal development using the Now-Where-How tool as your roadmap. While the development of strategy can be quite complex and difficult to do using one tool, we have found the Strategic SWOT Analysis to be quite useful in starting the process. The value of the Strategic SWOT Analysis is very much dependant on the quality of your SWOT items. They must honestly reflect your competitive strengths and weaknesses. It makes sense to work on jobs that suit your personal strengths and where your weakness is not overly exposed or not an issue. It must also be based on a real understanding of opportunities and threats. The process you use is very simple. Develop about four strengths (what's great about you or what you do well), weaknesses (what you do badly or are lacking), opportunities (where and what are they?) and threats (what are your barriers). Be methodical and objective - don't leave anything out. Be realistic and brutally honest. Try to work it out from all viewpoints. Intuition can often help you develop the strategies so take time to develop your ideas. Carefully examine the strengths and then the opportunities and ask yourself the following four questions. Write down the ideas (strategies) that come to you.    

How can I use these strengths to maximize these opportunities? How do I use these strengths to overcome these threats? What do I do to make sure that these weaknesses don't spoil these opportunities? What if these weaknesses combine with these threats, what corrective action will I need to take?

New opportunities may be uncovered, problems put into perspective, nasty threats revealed, real strengths you can cash in on, weaknesses you can address. Then you can work out exactly what you need to do to make your ideas a success. STEP BY STEP GUIDE The process you use is very simple. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

7.

Draw a blank matrix with the words Strengths, Weaknesses across the top and Opportunities and Threats on the side as shown above. Develop about four Strengths (what's great about your idea or what you do well) Develop about four Weaknesses (what you do badly or are lacking) Develop about four Opportunities (where and what are they?) Develop about four Threats (what are your hurdles). Carefully examine the strengths and then the opportunities and ask yourself the following question. "How can I use these strengths to commercialize these opportunities?" Write down the ideas (strategies) that come to you. For the other three quadrants the process is the same but the questions are as follows   

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"How do I use these strengths to overcome these threats?" "What do I do to make sure that these weaknesses don't spoil these opportunities?" "What if these weaknesses combine with these threats, what corrective action will I need to take?"

7.

The value of the Strategic SWOT Analysis is very much dependant on the quality of the SWOT items. They must reflect the competitive strengths and weaknesses and be based on a real understanding of market opportunities and threats. Be realistic and brutally honest. Try to work it out from all viewpoints. New opportunities may be uncovered, problems put into perspective, nasty threats revealed, real strengths you can cash in on, weaknesses you can address. If we are not honest in our selection, we will not get honest strategies! The Strategic SWOT is a great way of pulling your idea apart to see if it really can realize all that potential. It may help you work out what changes you need to do to make your idea happen. What strategies combine the elements of your strengths and opportunities to overcome your weaknesses and threats? Look for new markets, new processes, new people and even new core values. Intuition can often help you develop the strategies so take time to develop your ideas.

8.

You will now have a number of strategies. Which three will give you the biggest impact? Develop them as strategies for your organization.

Example:

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