Problem Solving and Decision Making are vital Leadership Skills that every Business Professional need to possess to handle Business Problems / Challenges / Opportunities optimally. It is a well-known fact that Problem Solving and Decision Making have been used interchangeably, so let us first understand what makes them different and yet coherent at the same time.
Consider these Business Scenarios:
Scenario 1:
You have joined as the manager of a team of 10 Members; the team has members of experience 2 years, 3 Years and 4 Years who have been working together for the last 2 Years as a performing team.
The team has been working with a flat hierarchy with no Leads since the last 2 Years since most of them joined together and they have performed with the same team dynamics. You believe you need a Lead to work effectively with a team of 10.
Would you:
A. Identify the most competent and most experienced team member as the lead of the team so that there are no acceptance issues by all, and then take things forward.
B. Conduct One-One with all, and understand their views on team dynamics and leadership potentials to plan the development of leaders in the team from a long term perspective.
C. Recruit a lead for the team with over 7 Years of experience, so that the team will not have a problem accepting a senior and proven person as their lead.
D. Make the top 3 members undergo a leadership development workshop and observe their competencies for the next 3 Months to designate the top Member as the Lead.
Scenario 2:
Your team is made up of a lot of young graduates and you feel It is important to innovate new ways of engaging them better to improve their effectiveness at Work.
What in your view, are the best ways of engaging them for performing consistently and effectively at work?
A. Organize office parties once a month with good food and music, so that everyone feels fun at the workplace.
B. Reward top performers with cash awards for each quarter.
C. Provide salary bonus every 6 months for the most efficient team members.
D. Recognize the top performers in the presence of all team members and peer teams for the value they have added to the Organization.
Scenario 3:
As a Lead you have 5 team members working with you in a critical 6-month project. 2 Months into the project the Senior Member – Alka has a conflict with one of the Junior team Members – Asha. Their personal differences have made an adverse impact on the Workplace equation, and now Aman does not want to work in the project unless Asha is replaced. Both Alka and Asha are Key assets and Highly competent performers who have added a lot of value to the project and the Organization.
How would you handle this conflict?
A. Let go of the 2 members and replace them with equally competent members in the next One Week, as you feel the replacement at an early stage of the project may not have a high impact on the project.
B. Let go of Asha, as you feel she is replaceable being a junior member of the 2 and in her place bring a more experienced and competent team member and have the knowledge transfer done in 2 weeks time, for smooth execution of the project.
C. Have a conversation with both the members, and make it clear that the project is critical for the Organization, and to be completely focused on the deliverable and the project Goals, for which it is essential that they collaborate and work together.
D. Have a common team meeting and make a strong statement that the project will not tolerate any conflicts which can dilute the focus of the project, and any such instances shall have the adverse effect on their Performance Feedback and Growth.
As a Business Professional, It is common that you are facing Business Scenarios such as these every day. In the course of handling these Business Scenarios, you will observe that your approach entails a Process, Choices and Outcomes.
The Process is called “Problem Solving” and the Best Choice you make (among the several Alternate Choices) to handle the Business Scenario is called “Decision Making” and the Execution of Strategic / Operational / People / Technological Decision leads to desired Business Outcomes.
Having understood the Definitions, Let us understand the Process of Problem Solving and Decision Making. The difference and coherence of the two is best reflected by this famous quote by Robert Harold Schuller, Author and Motivational Speaker.
“Never bring the problem solving stage into the decision making stage. Otherwise, you surrender yourself to the problem rather than the solution.”
The Process is therefore distributed into 3 Stages: The Problem Solving Stage, Decision Making Stage and Execution Stage
Problem Solving Stage
Identification of the Problem
Definition of the Problem
Generation Alternate Options to Solve the Problem
Evaluating the Alternate Options
Decision Making Stage
Deciding the Best Option
Set the Clear Objectives to implement the Decision
Execution Stage
Implement the Strategic / Operational / People / Technological Decision
Evaluate the Implementation progressively
Measure the Outcome: Follow up to Share Success / Re-Calibrate
There are several Problem Solving and Decision Making Techniques that one could adopt, I would recommend the following 7 which can be deployed based on the culture/complexity of the problem/maturity of the Team.
Design Thinking – Human Centric technique to Problem Solving, it can result in highly innovative outcomes for any Business Context (Strategy / Process / Product / People / Customer )
Six Thinking Hats – The Very Popular technique, designed by Edward De Bono, to bring different perspectives within the Team based on personas – eventually bringing out Leaders out of everyone
5 Whys – A highly introspective technique that dives deep into unknown areas of the Problem
Cause & Effect Analysis / Ishikawa / Fishbone – Helps identification of Root Cause having explored the Causes & Effects from multiple dimensions People / Process / Technology / Business / Customer
Nominal Group Technique – A highly credible technique driven by a Facilitator that spans across Problem Identification, Generation of Solutions, and Decision Making by consensus by the Team based on Idea Generation, Brainstorming, Ranking of Options and Data Validated Choices.
Pareto Principle – Also known as the 80:20 Rule. Based on the premise that 80% of the Effects come from 20% of the Causes, this Technique helps in plotting the Pareto Chart to determine where one can derive the greatest outcome (80% of Benefits / Problems ) by focusing on the most important few (20% of Causes). E.g. 80% of sales come from 20% of clients / 80% of Business Performance is driven by 20% High Performers.
Cost-Benefit Analysis – Helps in making Data-driven decisions as it provides a Basis for Comparing Decisions, by comparing the expected cost of making the option with the total expected benefits.
Whatever technique(s) you may choose, it is important for the Leader / Facilitator in the Process of Problem Solving and Decision Making to remain objective, data-driven and be open to listening to inputs, perspectives, knowledge of People and information from Systems and sources of Data.
Problem Solving and Decision Making are vital Leadership Skills as they can coherently determine – The Course of a Team’s Development & Performance, The Road-map of a Product / Service, The Growth of a Business in its Market, amidst competition, with its Customer Base. On an everyday basis you may be involved in scenarios where you may be making a Strategic Choice or an Operational course of action or making a People Related Decision or Customer Related Decision or making a Technology choice – One may not be born with Great Decision-making Capabilities, however, it is a Skill that can be learnt and improvised over time using the right combination of techniques and most importantly by collaboratively working with People in making these Decisions complemented by Knowledge and Information.
If you would like to learn more about the “Problem Solving and Decision Making” Framework, do write to us at [email protected] or talk to us at +91-8042606666
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