Problem-solving can often feel overwhelming and sometimes chaotic \u2013 a complex series of moving pieces and personalities.\u00a0 Imagine receiving a call from your boss.\u00a0 She informs you that there is a serious issue but is confident that as the subject-matter expert, you will quickly resolve the problem.\u00a0 Amid a crisis, it is always advisable to take a step back, quickly assess the situation, and ensure you completely understand the issue.\u00a0 Make sure you understand the real problem before jumping into action and potentially adding additional fuel to the fire.<\/p>\n
Quickly survey the problem, taking note of the symptoms that have been reported, who reported the issue and what is being impacted.\u00a0 You will often find the symptoms aren\u2019t very accurate and may not be relevant, but they can help point you in the right direction.\u00a0 Once you have listened and observed the symptoms, survey the environment surrounding the problem, remembering that everything has a context \u2013 a physical context and a process context (the activities surrounding it).\u00a0 Then, assess the situation, the impacts, implications, other people involved, etc.\u00a0 You now should have an understanding of what the big picture looks like.<\/p>\n
The facts and symptoms about the situation and \u2018what\u2019 happened are interesting, but you can\u2019t begin formulating an action plan (without just taking a shot in the dark) until you understand the evidence.\u00a0 This is when you validate what you have already heard, apply your knowledge about how things work, your experiences of similar situations you\u2019ve encountered in the past and organizational wisdom.\u00a0 Also, it is critical to capture what potentially could be impacted but is currently not impacted.\u00a0 As you look at the big picture, it should now be more than a bunch of shapes and components \u2013 you should be able to understand and explain how the various pieces interact with each other.<\/p>\n
Here is where you start building confidence.\u00a0 Through the first few activities, you\u2019ve developed an understanding of situation and how the pieces of the puzzle are supposed to fit together, which enables you to go on a quest for the source of \u2018why\u2019 the situation has failed.\u00a0 As you take the symptoms that were identified and trace them back through the chain of cause and effect, you will likely either encounter either an obvious \u2018ah-ha!\u2019 moment or run into a dead end.\u00a0 Either of these is a sign that you\u2019ve exposed something meaningful.\u00a0 What you are looking for is the \u2018true cause\u2019 of the problem \u2013 the combination of situations, activities and events that (when combined) caused the problem to be initiated.<\/p>\n
With perseverance, you will have identified the true cause of the problem, by developing an understanding of the what, how and why the problem occurred.\u00a0 You are now ready to solve the problem.\u00a0 The more diligent you are with understanding the true-root cause, the more likely you are to initiate actions that will lead to success in resolving the problem.\u00a0 If you were to forego these steps, the best you could expect is to get lucky with a guess, but you are more likely to take an action that makes the situation worse.<\/p>\n