problem solving techniques lean

Explore Lean Thinking and Practice / Problem-Solving

Problem-Solving

Explore the process that’s foundational to assuring every individual becomes engaged by arming them with methods they can use to overcome obstacles and improve their work process.

Overcoming obstacles to achieve or elevate a standard

In a lean management system, everyone is engaged in ongoing problem-solving that is guided by two characteristics:

Everything described or claimed should be based on verifiable facts, not assumptions and interpretations. 
Problem-solving is never-ending; that is, it begins rather than ends when an improvement plan is implemented. The implementation process is a learning opportunity to discover how to make progress toward the target condition.

Lean thinkers & practitioners understand that the problem-solving process is impeded if you make the common mistake of mechanically reaching for a familiar or favorite problem-solving methodology or, worse, jump quickly to a solution. 

Leaders and teams avoid this trap by recognizing that most business problems fall into four categories, each requiring different thought processes, improvement methods, and management cadences.

The Four Types of Problems

Type 1: Troubleshooting: reactive problem-solving that hinges upon rapidly returning abnormal conditions to known standards. It provides some immediate relief but does not address the root cause.

Type 2: Gap from Standard: structured problem-solving that focuses on defining the problem, setting goals, analyzing the root cause, and establishing countermeasures, checks, standards, and follow-up activities. The aim is to prevent the problem from recurring by eliminating its underlying causes.

Type 3: Target Condition: continuous improvement ( kaizen ) that goes beyond existing standards of performance. It may utilize existing methods in new, creative ways to deliver superior value or performance toward a new target state of improvement.

Type 4: Open-ended: innovative problem-solving based on creativity, synthesis, and recognition of opportunity. It establishes new norms that often entail unexpected products, processes, systems, or value for the customer well beyond current levels. 

By helping everyone in the organization to understand the importance of taking ownership of seeing and solving all types of problems, lean thinking & practice:

Engenders a sense of empowerment and autonomy in all workers, which in turn promotes engagement in and ownership of the work process
Enables organizations to overcome obstacles at their source, so they do not become more significant problems upstream

Ultimately, building a problem-solving culture creates a competitive advantage that is difficult for competitors to match.

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Home / Six Sigma / The 8 Essential LEAN Techniques You Need to Know

The 8 Essential LEAN Techniques You Need to Know

Lean management is one of the top tools that eliminate types of waste in any process. Lean techniques are typically used in a production environment, and most examples in Lean training courses will focus on applying Lean techniques in these kinds of processes. The reality is that Lean techniques can be used in any environment that uses processes. Free Six Sigma Green Belt Certification trainings briefly discuss Lean Techniques. Because Lean methods and the Six Sigma method go hand in hand. Lean is part of the Six Sigma approach to problem-solving as eliminating waste goes a long way to solving problems in any process . You can read more about Lean Project Management .

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In this article, will be going over 8 different Lean Techniques.

Lean Techniques #1 Kaizen

The purpose of KAIZEN is to improve work processes in a variety of ways . Kaizen is a generic Japanese word for improvement or making things better. KAIZEN was created in Japan following World War II. The word Kaizen means “Continuous Improvement.” It comes from the Japanese words “kai” which means “change” or “to correct” and “zen” which means “good.”

Lean Techniques #2 Poka-Yoke

The purpose of Poka-Yoke, the second of the Lean techniques, is to prevent the occurrence of mistakes or defects . It uses a wide variety of ingenious devices to prevent mistakes. An example is an automotive gasoline tank cap having an attachment that prevents the cap from being lost. Poka-Yoke is also known as Mistake-Proofing – the Japanese approach to “Mistake Proofing” in all aspects of Lean Manufacturing, Customer Service, etc. It employs visual signals that make mistakes clearly stand out from the rest. Its older name is Baka-yoke (foolproofing). Poka-Yoke is one of the most important Lean techniques.

Lean Techniques #3 5S

Of all the Lean Techniques, 5S is the one that is focused on organizing . The purpose of 5S is to reduce wasteful time and motion at a micro-level. It is an organized approach to housekeeping that ensures tools, parts and other objects are in known, optimum locations. Actually, it is a framework to create and maintain your workplace. 5S Stands for: Sort, Set-in-order, Shine, Standardize, Sustain. The act of sorting means that all unnecessary tools and other items are removed from the workplace. Set-in-order means that all necessary items are placed in locations that minimize waste of motion. For example, tools that are used frequently are placed close to the work station while tools that are used less often are placed in storage further away from the work station. Shine means that the workplace is kept in a clean and orderly manner. Next, standardize means that all processes in a workstation are standardized. Finally, Sustain means that the workers that use the workstation maintain the standard that has been set in the previous four S’s.

Lean Technique #4 KANBAN

The purpose of the fourth of the Lean techniques, KANBAN, is to schedule production and minimize work-in-process while encouraging improvement in many areas . KANBAN establishes a small stock point (usually at the producing WorkCentre) that sends a signal when items are withdrawn by a downstream process. The producing WorkCentre replaces the items removed. Kanban literally means signboard or billboard in Japanese. Kanban utilizes visual display cards to signal the movement of material between steps of a product process. It is a scheduling system for Lean and Just-in-Time. KANBAN was developed for the Toyota production system to find to improve and maintain a high level of production.

Lean Techniques #5: Just In Time

The fifth of the Lean technique is simply a production strategy that strives to improve a business’s Return on Investment (RoI) by reducing in-process inventory and associated carrying costs . To meet JIT objectives, the process relies on signals or KANBAN between different points in the process, which tell production when to make the next part. Just-in-time is actually a manufacturing philosophy that leads to “Producing the necessary units, in the necessary quantities at the necessary time with the required quality”.

Lean Technique #6 Jidoka

The purpose of Jidoka is to prevent problems on one station of a production line from building inventory and also to create urgency to find permanent solutions . Jidoka is the practice of stopping an integrated assembly or production line when any workstation encounters problems. Such stoppages create a crisis atmosphere that encourages immediate and permanent solutions. Jidoka means “automation with a human touch”. It implements a supervisory function in a production line and stops the process as soon as a defect is encountered. The process does not start until the root cause of the defect has been eliminated. Using Jidoka in a production process is a good example of using Lean techniques to eliminate waste.

Lean Techniques #7 Takt time

The purpose of Takt time is to balance the output of sequential production processes and prevent inventory buildups and shortages. It is the average time required between output units at a particular process coordinated with final customer requirements. Takt time is one of the Lean techniques in the Lean Toolbox. It is the frequency at which a product or service must be completed in order to meet customer needs. The formula for Takt time is: TAKT Time = Available Time / Required Output

Lean techniques #8 Heijunka

Heijunka is the last of the Lean techniques that we will be discussing in this article. Heijunka is the leveling of production by both volume and product mix. This system does not build products according to the actual flow of customer orders. Heijunka takes the total volume of orders in a period and levels them out so the same amount and mix are being made each day. It means Production leveling/smoothing. It is a technique to reduce waste that occurs due to fluctuating customer demand.

Lean techniques are used to create processes that have no non-value-add parts. Any part of a process that does not add value to the consumer is eliminated using Lean techniques. Applying Lean techniques is a strict and disciplined approach to modifying and maintaining processes that add 100% value to the client and do not waste any costs with non-value-adding steps. This has a positive effect on RoI. Following Lean techniques is a must for anyone who is responsible for a process. There will always be some sort of waste in a process and using Lean techniques will help to eliminate waste.

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How to Solve Your Problems With Lean Six Sigma (Free DMAIC Checklist)

Elisabeth Swan is the co-author of “The Problem-Solver’s Toolkit” and co-host of “The Just-in-Time Cafe Podcast.” She’s been a process improvement consultant, speaker, and innovator for over 30 years. She’s the Chief Learning Experience Officer for GoLeanSixSigma.com, a former cast member of ImprovBoston, and – if asked – may still be able to ride a unicycle.

Surgeon Atul Gawande made headlines when he told the world that a simple checklist could drastically reduce unnecessary deaths in The Checklist Manifesto .

Yet, checklists conjure images of forklift drivers on loading docks with clipboards counting boxes. How could they transform healthcare?

“ He has… produced a 90-second checklist which reduced deaths and complications by more than one-third in eight hospitals around the world – at virtually no cost and for almost any operation. ” – James Clarke, reviewing The Checklist Manifesto, Ulster Med J. 2011 Jan; 80(1): 54.

Aviation was transformed decades earlier when management and engineers at Boeing Corporation created the pre-flight checklist after the 1935 crash of the prototype Boeing B-17 at Wright Field in Dayton, Ohio. Checklists have become so essential to the airline industry that most crashes can be traced to the misuse or failure to complete a checklist.

A New York Times reviewer noted, “no matter how expert you may be, well-designed checklists can improve outcomes”. Since the purpose of process improvement is improving outcomes, Lean Six Sigma and checklists are natural companions.

To prove that, this Process Street blog post will show the relationship between checklists and lean six sigma, and provide you with a free DMAIC Improvement Project Tollgate Checklist that you can use right now.

Use the links below to jump to that section of the post:

Lean Six Sigma and the role of problem-solving

Lean six sigma & the checklist, introduction phase, define phase, measure phase, analyze phase, improve phase, control phase, checklists and lean six sigma, use process street to reduce error.

Or, if you just want the checklist, check it out below!

Let’s get started.

For those unfamiliar with Lean Six Sigma and process improvement, it is a structured approach for organizations to scrutinize how things are done, poke at data and processes to uncover waste and then cut out things like extra forms, out-dated approvals and other time-wasting steps.

It’s a customer-focused, 5-step problem-solving model that engages entire workforces to constantly seek a better way of doing things.

Proof of Lean Six Sigma’s influence is evident in today’s hiring practices. A poll by GoLeanSixSigma highlights that hiring managers prefer a person who is “ Green Belt Certified ” – having substantial Lean Six Sigma skills – by an almost 80% margin. In an interview with the former head of Twitter, problem-solving emerged as the top skill sought by today’s most influential hiring managers.

In other words, problem-solving (especially via Lean Six Sigma) is an absolutely vital skill.

If problem-solving is a must-have skill and checklists are key to good outcomes, then combining the two makes sense.

DMAIC – Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve & Control – is the 5-Step model for Lean Six Sigma and there’s a set of required tollgates at the end of each phase. These tollgates outline what has to be done in order to move the problem-solving process forward.

Using the tollgates as an outline, we created a dynamic Process Street template that you can use for free and run checklists from to track your progress!

Before you can start solving problems, you need a problem to solve.

Picking a process issue – and finding someone in leadership to support you – are two required tasks in this first tollgate. Scoping the project is important (bigger than a “just-do-it” and smaller than “solving world hunger”) but even more critical is finding a Sponsor.

Finding a Sponsor

In a poll asking Lean Six Sigma practitioners what they considered the biggest obstacle to process improvement success, “Getting Leadership Support” accounted for almost a third.

When we coach team leads who tell us they can’t find someone to back their project, we let them know, “No Sponsor, no project”. If nobody in charge has any skin in the game, there’s no point in attempting the process fix. Find a different project that leadership supports.

One thing that helps when searching for leadership backing is being able to explain what Lean Six Sigma is and why it makes a difference. Since the checklist template is dynamic we inserted a video in the Define Phase within the checklist item, “Enlist a Project Champion/Sponsor who will support you and the project”. The team lead can share the video with managers or directors who they consider Sponsor candidates.

lean six sigma dmaic checklist - project champion

There’s also a Project Selection Guide Template embedded in the checklist so users can take a project idea and put it through a few screening questions. Is it a repeating problem? Is there a way to measure it? The checklist serves as a reminder, a source of templates, supporting videos and other just-in-time guidance.

The next set of tollgate tasks cover the Define Phase of DMAIC. This is where problem-solvers clarify the problem, the process impacted and customers of the process.

There is a journey of discovery during this phase as everyone agrees on the issue to solve. One of the big challenges is the tendency of ambitious team leads—or equally ambitious Sponsors—to try to “shoot the moon.”

Shooting the moon

They might want to reduce cycle time, reduce defects , improve margins, and increase customer satisfaction all by next Tuesday. But a project that focuses on everything accomplishes nothing. It’s okay to measure the cost reduction that results from reducing defects. But pick one of those to be the goal. Success is more possible if you focus on one goal at a time .

It takes practice and discipline to develop a manageable goal statement. Another moon shot is aiming for perfection out of the starting gate. When we see a goal statement that claims the team will, “reduce defects from 25% to 0%” then we know there is a sizable risk of failure and disappointment.

That’s why the Define Phase of the checklist includes a Goal Builder Template along with a blog providing tips on how to create well-crafted goal statements.

lean six sigma dmaic checklist - goal statement

The primary focus of the Measure Phase is to baseline the process. If you’re trying to reduce defects, you need to know how you’re doing at that now. What’s your track record? You need to know the baseline of the process in order to measure whether or not you made a difference with your improvement when you get to the Improve Phase.

You need to know the gap, so you can close the gap.

The data’s in the system, somewhere…

One of the issues we run into in this phase is problem solvers assuming that data is sitting in a system somewhere waiting to be accessed. If they simply run a report, they’ll have the baseline. Check that off the list. But that rarely goes according to plan.

Maybe there’s system data, but was it entered with care? Is it reliable? We’ve seen teams struggle to use data that didn’t make sense. They could access cycle time data, but it didn’t take into account that the workday ended at 5:00. I had another team looking at why healthcare invoices had to be manually adjusted. They looked up the defect codes and the biggest category was “Other”. System data existed, but it was useless.

Most of the time, it helps to collect some data manually. In order to think through your approach, you need a Data Collection Plan. That involves listing the data you want and considering things like stratification factors—the “who, what, when, where” of data. If you’re looking at defects, should you collect data on defects by product? Defects by the fields on a form? Defects by customer type?

Within the task: “Develop a Data Collection Plan with Operational Definitions and create Check Sheets as Needed”, we’ve embedded a template (The Data Collection Plan) and a video to guide the process.

You’ll learn a lot by collecting the data firsthand, so if the perfect data set is not magically sitting in the system, it helps to have a plan.

Analyze is the crux of the DMAIC method. This is where learners drill down and discover the root cause of the process problem they’ve been chasing. Once you do that, you can solve the problem for good.

But if you have not determined the root cause then you might be solving a “symptom,” putting a bandaid on the problem or implementing a change based on a hunch. All of this means there’s a high likelihood the problem will remain and the efforts will have been in vain.

Finding the smoking gun

If you’ve always been told, “don’t bring me a problem, bring me a solution,” that’s an encouragement to jump right past this step into the fun of solutions. I’ve seen teams go with their assumptions regardless of what the data says or the process analysis reveals. I’ve seen Sponsors who tell teams what solutions they want to be implemented right from the get-go.

How do you stick with analysis long enough to find the smoking gun? The trick is to keep collecting the clues in the Cause & Effect Diagram , aka The “Fishbone Diagram”. It’s an aptly named tool, popularized by Dr. Ishikawa , which resembles a fish skeleton. Its construction allows teams to develop root cause theories around a problem as they build their knowledge of the process.

Each time they collect data, interview process participants on a Gemba Walk or map the process steps, they uncover potential reasons for defects. Making the most of the Fishbone Diagram is key but, during a poll, users reported where they fell short.

Solutions masquerading as problems

Over a third of respondents reported the issues of “listing solutions” on the Fishbone instead of causes. What we hear are phrases like, “the root cause is a lack of training”.

The problem with “lack of” anything is that it’s a sneaky way of putting a solution on the Fishbone.

The question is, “what is the training addressing?” Is it lack of user knowledge? If that’s the problem, could it be solved with helpful visuals, a simpler process? There are a lot of ways to address user knowledge before jumping to more employee training.

This is when you want to behave like the persistent detective – think Columbo, the classic 70’s TV icon. Every question helps you accumulate clues. People working through the process may have the answer without knowing it. The trick is to keep looking upstream until you find potential culprits. Dig past the symptoms.

To help with this phase, the checklist includes both a Fishbone Diagram Template as well as a video on how to get the most out of the Fishbone.

The Improve Phase is a long-anticipated step in the journey. It’s the step teams generally want to jump to from the start. Testing countermeasures, piloting solutions, watching the problem disappear, that’s the fun of process improvement. If you’ve done a proper job of Define, Measure, and Analyze, this phase falls nicely into place.

The ripple effect

The catch? Unintended consequences.

If you toss a stone into a lake you can see the ripples flow out from the center. The same principle holds true for process change. If you remove a step, change a form, skip an approval , will things fall apart? For that, we look to the Failure Modes & Effects Analysis or FMEA for short.

It’s a methodical way of assessing the potential for things to go wrong. It Involves deciding the potential severity and frequency of future problems and then mistake-proofing the process to prevent them. The technique originated at NASA since they couldn’t risk trial and error when sending men to the moon. By thinking through the risks of change they developed the kind of contingency plans you saw on display in movies like Apollo 13.

That’s why there’s an FMEA Template and a video on how to use it tucked into the main checklist from this post.

It’s okay to make changes. It’s simply key to think through the impact of those changes on other parts of the business.

Process Improvement can happen quickly and have a dramatic impact, but it’s critical to “stick the landing.” The Control Phase exists to see the improvement through to stability.

If teams move on and everyone takes their eyes off the ball, things may start to slip. What they need is the ability to continuously see the performance of the new process.

Sticking the landing

Have you ever tried to watch a game without a scoreboard? How would you know who was winning? Or how much time was left?

It’s the same with process work.

How does your team know how they’re doing? How do you stay aware of how the new process is performing?

By making the data visible.

Keeping an eye on Process Performance can be done with a single metric — you need to focus on one thing. If the goal was to reduce defects, then the single metric would be tracking the daily percentage of defects. A great way to measure success is with a Control Chart.

Control Charts are time charts. You might know them as Line Charts or Run Charts. They include a measure of variation so they are often referred to as “Run Charts that went to college”. They can be created in Excel , but they can also be drawn by hand.

Teams often set up whiteboards in the shared workspace to track things like defects. People can rotate responsibility for updating the chart. If people can see the measure and are responsible for it—they pay attention to it. What gets measured gets managed.

The Control Chart Template is embedded in the checklist for the Control Phase.

Process Improvement is a mainstay of Operational Excellence and checklists are simple but effective ways to make sure you get the outcomes you want. The following quote comes from the interim CEO/President of the Association for Manufacturing Excellence ( AME ).

“ I am a big fan of checklists for ensuring quality at the source. They serve an important purpose in reminding us of all that’s needed in a particular process or project. Without checklists, we risk missing or overlooking something by mistake. Checklists work best when ticking off items as they are completed, not en masse once the entire project is done. The key point is to use and follow them, not “pencil-whip” them from memory after the fact. While not foolproof, checklists can help us cover the details and result in more thorough, successful improvement efforts. ” – Jerry Wright , President, AME

Checklists have transformed healthcare, aviation, and countless other industries. Run this Process Street DMAIC Tollgate Checklist and make sure your next improvement effort gets great results.

Process Street is a powerful piece of workflow software that lets you crush the human error in your organization.

By creating process templates (like the free DMAIC checklist in this post) you can give your whole team a central location for them to see what they have to do, and how exactly they should do it.

No more confusion, no more errors.

Take advantage of our powerful feature set to create superpowered checklists, including:

Form fields
Conditional logic
Variable user permission levels
Exporting and printing templates
And much, much more!

Check out our intro webinar to see the app in action!

Stop leaving the success of your processes up to chance. Get started with a free trial of Process Street today!

How do you manage quality control in your business? Let us know in the comments!

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Ben Mulholland

Ben Mulholland is an Editor at Process Street , and winds down with a casual article or two on Mulholland Writing . Find him on Twitter here .

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What are Lean Problem Solving Techniques and Tools?

What is Lean Problem Solving?

Lean problem solving aims to solve complex problems efficiently by simplifying the problems, identifying the basic elements and main causes. The main goal here is to understand the essence of the problem and to produce effective solutions by avoiding unnecessary elaborations and complexities.

Lean problem solving involves analysing the problem by breaking it down into its component parts, avoiding unnecessary detail, and optimising the processes of data collection and analysis. It is used in many areas, including manufacturing, service industries and other organisations seeking continuous improvement and efficiency.

8 Commonly Used Lean Problem Solving Techniques

Just as the solution technique of each problem is different, here, as the size and area of the problems differ, the solution technique also changes. To give an example;

PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) Cycle

The PDCA cycle is an approach that guides the process of problem solving and continuous improvement. It includes the steps of planning, implementing, doing and acting. It helps to solve the problem from beginning to end.

A3 Reporting Technique

A3 reporting technique, also called advanced kaizen, is to summarise the problem in A3 paper format, identify the problem, identify the main cause, develop a solution plan and eliminate the problems by analysing this way.

5N (5 Reason Analysis)

5 reason analysis is the questions to be asked in order to accurately determine the root cause of a problem as the name suggests: what, where, when, why and how. Each correct answer to these questions will lead to the source of the problem.

Fishbone Diagram

This technique aims to create a cause and effect table about the problem. As in the 5N technique, the fishbone diagram establishes a connection between the main issue causing the problem and the consequences of the problem.

Pareto Analysis

It is a problem solving technique that considers that 20% of the existing problem is the source of the problem for the remaining 80%.

Six Hat Thinking Technique

It is a technique that makes meetings about solving problems more efficient. It is important in terms of organisational culture and meeting management.

Decision Diagram

Plans made for the measures that can be taken to eliminate possible problems depending on a detected situation. It is important in terms of risk management and decision making.

8D Problem Solving

8D problem solving is a technique used to effectively identify, analyse, solve and prevent the recurrence of a problem. It helps to solve complex problems effectively through a disciplined approach and co-operation. This method is widely used in many industries and is an important part of quality management and continuous improvement efforts:

Identify the problem
Team building
Emergency solution
Root cause analysis
Root cause and missing point identification
Application
Troubleshooting

There are many such lean problem solving techniques. They are all based on getting to the root cause of problems and creating long term, useful results. Each one can be selected as appropriate in different situations and one step closer to the goal of process excellence.

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Continuous Improvement vs. Operational Excellence

Continuous improvement and operational excellence are often confused. One wonders whether they are the same thing. Although continuous improvement and operational excellence are similar, they are not the same thing. Continuous improvement is making small, incremental improvements to business processes, products or services to reduce costs, eliminate waste, improve quality and maximize human potential. Its […]

What is Value and Waste in Lean Manufacturing?

In order for a company to gain and maintain a competitive advantage, it needs to be customer-oriented. This is why many businesses today are turning to applying Lean thinking to their business processes. The lean journey of businesses starts with defining value, that is, defining what customers are willing to pay for. In Lean thinking, […]

How to Measure Employee Performance?

Evaluating employee performance is an important step for businesses to achieve continuity and continuous success. This process, carried out by human resources, helps to increase the percentage of many positive criteria such as performance improvement, employee motivation and business success. Performance measurement may differ for different positions and business types. However, there are common and […]

The Importance of Employee Involvement in the Kaizen

Kaizen means “continuous change for the better” in Japanese. In this philosophy, which is applied to increase the efficiency of businesses and provide competitive advantage, employee participation is of great importance. Employees are at the center of the Kaizen process and their active participation directly affects the success of improvement efforts. In this blog post, […]

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Muda, mura and muri are referred to as waste and waste in Japanese. In the Toyota production system, waste integrity, which is referred to as the enemies of lean manufacturing, causes disruptions in transaction processes. In general, 3M constitutes the main causes of irregularities and wastes within the plans. Muda (waste), mura (inequality) and muri […]

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What is Lean Learning? Tips, Techniques, and Implementation

April 4th, 2024

Lean Learning is a powerful methodology that combines the principles of lean management with the art of continuous learning and improvement.

Companies and industries always need to optimize their processes to maximize their efficiency and deliver extraordinary value to customers.

Whether it’s streamlining manufacturing processes, enhancing product development, or optimizing business operations, the lean philosophy has proven its mettle time again and again.

Key Highlights

Understand the origins of Lean Learning and its roots in the Toyota Production System (TPS).
Explore the Lean Learning mindset, encompassing continuous improvement, waste elimination , employee empowerment, customer-centricity, and cultivating a lean culture.
Discover its powerful techniques and tools, including A3 thinking , problem-solving methodologies, visual management, just-in-time learning, and lean instructional design strategies.
Learn how to implement a comprehensive lean learning strategy by building a lean learning culture.
Insights from real-world case studies and success stories, demonstrating the practical application across various industries.
Envision the future of lean learning and its potential to change organizational performance, employee engagement, and customer satisfaction.

As we learn more about Lean Learning, it becomes increasingly evident that the true catalyst for sustained success lies in the ability to cultivate a culture of continuous learning and improvement.

Introduction to Lean Learning

It is in this pursuit of continuous improvement that the concept of “ Lean Learning ” is game-changing, and revolutionizing the way we approach learning and development within the organizational context.

Origins in Lean Management and Toyota Production System (TPS)

The roots of Lean Learning can be traced back to the pioneering work of the Toyota Production System (TPS), a manufacturing philosophy that transformed the automotive industry.

At the heart of TPS lies the principle of eliminating waste and maximizing value-added activities, a mindset that transcends industry boundaries and has since been adopted across various sectors.

Lean management, born out of the TPS, emphasizes a relentless focus on continuous improvement, respect for people, and the pursuit of perfection through the systematic identification and elimination of non-value-added activities.

This philosophy challenged traditional management approaches and paved the way for a more efficient, customer-centric way of thinking.

As companies embraced lean principles , it became apparent that the true catalyst for sustained success lay not only in optimizing processes but also in cultivating a culture of continuous learning and adaptation.

Lean thinkers recognized that empowering employees to identify and solve problems at the source was crucial for driving meaningful change and fostering a lean culture.

Lean principles applied to learning and development

It was this realization that sparked the integration of lean principles into the roots of learning and development, giving rise to the concept of Lean Learning.

By applying lean thinking to the way organizations approach training, skill development, and knowledge sharing, a transformative shift occurred, aligning efforts with the overarching goal of creating value for both the organization and its customers.

The core tenets of lean learning include:

Removing waste in the learning process by focusing on value-added activities that directly contribute to performance improvement.
Empower employees to identify their own learning needs and actively participate in the learning process, fostering a sense of ownership and engagement.
Supporting a customer-centric approach by aligning learning initiatives with the specific needs and requirements of both internal and external customers.
Continuous improvement through ongoing feedback loops, data-driven decision-making, and a willingness to iterate and refine learning strategies based on real-world outcomes.
Promoting lean culture and lean leadership principles , such as respect for people, teamwork, and a relentless pursuit of perfection.

By using these principles in the learning and development landscape, organizations can benefit, including increased efficiency, enhanced employee engagement, improved knowledge retention, and ultimately, better alignment between learning initiatives and organizational goals.

The Lean Learning Mindset

Lean learning lies in a fundamental shift in mindset – a departure from traditional, rigid approaches to training and development in favor of a dynamic, adaptive, and customer-centric model.

This mindset is rooted in the very principles that have driven the success of lean transformations across industries, and it is essential for organizations seeking to unlock the full potential of their learning initiatives.

Continuous improvement

One of the central pillars of the lean learning mindset is the unwavering commitment to continuous improvement.

In my experience working with organizations across diverse sectors, I have witnessed the power of fostering a culture that actively seeks out opportunities for growth and refinement.

Lean learning encourages a constant cycle of reflection, experimentation, and iterative enhancements, ensuring that learning strategies remain agile and responsive to the ever-changing needs of the business landscape.

This commitment to continuous improvement extends beyond the bounds of learning and development itself. It permeates every aspect of the organization, empowering employees at all levels to identify areas for optimization and contribute to the ongoing pursuit of operational excellence .

Waste elimination

Another cornerstone of the lean learning mindset is the relentless pursuit of waste elimination.

In the context of learning and development, waste can take many forms – from inefficient training processes and redundant content to misaligned learning objectives and underutilized resources.

By adopting a lean perspective, organizations can critically evaluate their existing learning strategies and identify opportunities to streamline processes, reduce non-value-added activities, and redirect valuable resources toward initiatives that drive tangible results.

Throughout my career, I have had the privilege of working with teams that have embraced the principles of waste elimination , and the impact has been transformative.

By challenging long-held assumptions and questioning the status quo, these organizations have not only optimized their learning initiatives but have also cultivated a culture of continuous improvement that transcends departmental boundaries.

Employee empowerment

Central to the lean learning mindset is the concept of employee empowerment. Traditional top-down approaches to learning and development often fail to tap into the collective knowledge and insights of an organization’s most valuable asset – its workforce.

It recognizes that employees are not merely recipients of training but active participants in the learning process, with unique perspectives and valuable contributions to offer.

By fostering a culture of employee empowerment, organizations can harness the collective wisdom and experience of their workforce, enabling them to identify pain points, propose solutions, and drive meaningful change.

This approach not only enhances the relevance and effectiveness of learning initiatives but also cultivates a sense of ownership and engagement among employees, further reinforcing the lean mindset.

Customer-centric approach

At the heart of lean learning lies a steadfast commitment to a customer-centric approach . Whether the customer is internal (employees) or external (end-users), the primary focus is on delivering learning experiences that directly address their specific needs and challenges.

This customer-centric mindset requires a deep understanding of the target audience, their pain points, and their desired outcomes, ensuring that every learning initiative is tailored to drive maximum value and impact.

In my experience, organizations that embrace a customer-centric approach to learning and development are better positioned to foster strong relationships, enhance customer satisfaction, and ultimately drive business success.

By aligning learning strategies with the evolving needs of customers, these organizations can proactively address emerging challenges, anticipate future trends, and deliver solutions that resonate with their target audience.

Lean Culture and Lean Leadership

Underpinning the lean learning mindset is the cultivation of a lean culture and the embodiment of lean leadership principles.

A lean culture values respect for people, encourages open communication, and promotes a shared commitment to continuous improvement .

It is a culture that empowers individuals at all levels to challenge conventional wisdom, question long-held assumptions, and actively participate in the pursuit of operational excellence.

Lean leadership plays a crucial role in fostering this culture by modeling the desired behaviors, setting the tone for the organization, and providing the necessary support and resources to enable sustainable change.

Effective lean leaders understand the importance of creating an environment that encourages experimentation, embraces failure as a learning opportunity, and celebrates successes – no matter how small.

These organizations have not only optimized their learning initiatives but have also fostered a collaborative, innovative, and adaptable workforce.

By adopting the lean learning mindset, organizations can unlock a wealth of opportunities for growth, innovation, and sustained competitive advantage.

It is a mindset that transcends traditional boundaries and empowers organizations to embrace change, leverage the collective wisdom of their workforce, and deliver exceptional value to their customers – both internal and external.

Lean Learning Techniques and Tools

While the lean learning mindset lays the foundation for a transformative approach to organizational learning and development, it is the practical application of lean techniques and tools that truly brings this philosophy to life.

Problem-solving and A3 Thinking

Lean learning lies in a relentless pursuit of problem-solving, a mindset that empowers organizations to identify and address root causes , rather than merely treating symptoms.

One of the most powerful tools in this endeavor is thinking, a structured approach to problem-solving that encourages critical thinking, data-driven decision-making, and a comprehensive understanding of the issue at hand.

The A3 thinking process involves documenting the problem, analyzing the current situation, identifying root causes, proposing countermeasures, and outlining a plan for implementation and follow-up – all on a single A3-sized sheet of paper.

This concise and visual format facilitates effective communication, encourages collaboration, and fosters a shared understanding among stakeholders.

Complementing A3 thinking is the broader discipline of root cause analysis, which employs a variety of techniques, such as the 5 Whys , fishbone diagrams , and fault tree analysis , to uncover the underlying drivers of a problem.

By addressing root causes, organizations can implement sustainable solutions that prevent recurrence and drive lasting improvement.

Visual Management and Communication

Effective communication and transparency are essential components of the lean learning journey. Visual management techniques play a crucial role in this endeavor, providing a clear and concise means of conveying information, tracking progress, and aligning efforts toward common goals.

One powerful tool in the visual management arsenal is the concept of True North goals – a set of overarching, long-term objectives that serve as a guiding beacon for the organization’s improvement efforts.

By clearly articulating these True North goals and cascading them throughout the organization, Lean Learning fosters a shared understanding of the desired outcomes and enables teams to align their initiatives accordingly.

Performance metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs) are another vital aspect of visual management, providing quantifiable measures of success and enabling data-driven decision-making.

By visually displaying these metrics and tracking progress over time, organizations can identify areas for improvement, celebrate successes, and make informed adjustments to their learning strategies.

Just-in-Time and Pull-based Learning

One of the core principles of lean learning is the concept of just-in-time learning – providing employees with the knowledge and skills they need, precisely when they need them.

This approach stands in stark contrast to traditional, batch-based training models, which often result in knowledge decay and a disconnect between learning and application.

By embracing just-in-time learning, organizations can ensure that employees are equipped with relevant, timely information that directly supports their day-to-day responsibilities.

This can take the form of microlearning modules, performance support tools, or on-demand resources that can be accessed at the point of need, enabling employees to immediately apply their newly acquired knowledge and skills.

Closely related to just-in-time learning is the concept of pull-based learning, which empowers employees to actively seek out knowledge resources they require, rather than having training pushed upon them.

This approach not only fosters a sense of ownership and engagement but also ensures that learning efforts are aligned with the specific needs and challenges faced by employees, resulting in more effective and relevant training experiences.

By combining just-in-time learning and pull-based learning strategies, organizations can optimize their learning initiatives, reducing waste and ensuring that valuable resources are directed towards initiatives that directly contribute to performance improvement and organizational success .

Lean Instructional Design and Delivery

The principles of Lean Learning extend beyond the acquisition of knowledge and skills; they also encompass the design and delivery of learning experiences themselves.

Through the application of lean instructional design methodologies, organizations can ensure that every aspect of the journey is optimized for value-added learning.

One key aspect of lean instructional design is the emphasis on blended learning approaches, which combine various delivery methods – such as classroom instruction, e-learning modules, and on-the-job training – to create a comprehensive and engaging learning experience.

By leveraging the strengths of each modality and tailoring the delivery to the specific needs of the learners, organizations can maximize knowledge retention, application, and overall effectiveness.

These immersive experiences not only reinforce learning but also foster a deeper understanding of the practical implications of lean principles .

Throughout the instructional design and delivery process, the focus remains on creating value-added learning experiences that directly contribute to performance improvement and organizational objectives.

By continuously evaluating and refining these processes, lean learning enables organizations to deliver training that is relevant, effective, and aligned with the ever-evolving needs of the business.

By leveraging these powerful lean techniques and tools, organizations can unlock a wealth of opportunities for continuous improvement, enhanced operational efficiency, and sustained competitive advantage.

Whether it’s streamlining processes, fostering a culture of problem-solving, or delivering just-in-time learning experiences, the applications of lean learning are vast and far-reaching, enabling organizations to adapt and thrive in an ever-changing business landscape.

Implementing a Lean Learning Strategy

Adopting the Lean Learning philosophy is not merely a matter of introducing new tools and techniques; it demands a comprehensive, strategic approach that permeates every aspect of an organization’s culture and operations.

Building a Lean Learning Culture

At the heart of any successful Lean Learning initiative lies the cultivation of a robust lean culture – an environment that fosters respect for people, encourages knowledge sharing, and promotes genuine employee engagement.

This cultural shift begins with a deep-rooted commitment to the principle of respect for people, recognizing that every individual within the company plays a vital role in driving continuous improvement.

Fostering an atmosphere of knowledge sharing is equally crucial. By breaking down silos and encouraging open communication, companies can tap into the collective wisdom of their workforce, enabling cross-functional collaboration and the free flow of ideas.

This not only enhances learning outcomes but also cultivates a sense of ownership and empowerment among employees.

Furthermore, genuine employee engagement is paramount to the success of a Lean Learning strategy .

When employees feel invested in the process, they become active participants in their development, contributing valuable insights and driving meaningful change from within.

Drawing inspiration from lean startup principles, organizations can embrace an iterative, customer-centric approach to learning, continuously refining and adapting their strategies based on real-world feedback and outcomes.

Lean Training and Development

Once a solid lean culture has been established, the next step is to align training and development efforts with the overarching Lean Learning strategy.

This involves implementing lean training programs that not only impart knowledge but also cultivate the skills and mindsets necessary for sustaining a lean transformation.

At the core of this effort lies the development of a comprehensive lean learning strategy that serves as a roadmap for the organization’s learning initiatives.

This strategy should encompass a range of objectives, from process optimization and waste reduction to the continuous refinement of instructional design and delivery methods.

A key aspect of lean training and development is the relentless pursuit of learning cycle time reduction.

By streamlining processes and eliminating non-value-added activities, companies can ensure that employees acquire the knowledge and skills they need in a timely and efficient manner, minimizing disruptions to daily operations and maximizing the impact of learning initiatives.

Measuring Success and Continuous Improvement

Underpinning any successful Lean Learning strategy is a commitment to data-driven decision-making and continuous improvement.

This involves establishing a robust system for measuring success through the use of key performance indicators (KPIs) and other metrics tailored to the organization’s specific objectives.

The concept of kaizen – the Japanese philosophy of continuous, incremental improvement – is fundamental to this process.

By continuously monitoring and analyzing performance data, companies can identify areas for optimization, implement targeted improvements, and refine their strategies based on real-world outcomes.

Additionally, the development of a lean learning maturity model can provide a valuable framework for assessing an organization’s progress along the Lean Learning journey.

This model typically outlines various stages of maturity, from initial awareness and adoption to full-scale integration and institutionalization of lean principles within the learning ecosystem.

By embracing a data-driven, continuous improvement mindset, organizations can ensure that their Lean Learning strategies remain agile, responsive, and aligned with ever-evolving business needs and market dynamics.

Future of Lean Learning

As we look towards the future, it is clear that the principles of lean learning will continue to gain traction across industries and sectors.

In an ever-changing business climate characterized by rapid technological advancements and evolving customer demands, the ability to adapt, innovate, and continuously improve is no longer a luxury; it is a necessity.

By embracing Lean Learning, companies can cultivate a workforce that is agile , engaged, and equipped with the knowledge and skills required to navigate complexity and drive sustainable growth.

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Intro to problem solving.

Problem solving is critical to every position in every industry. In this course, you will learn to grasp the situation at the gemba (where the work is done) and use all your senses to understand what is truly happening.

All too often, people create countermeasures to perceived problems without digging deeper, asking the right questions, and thinking more.

Throughout the entirety of the course, we use a case example to illustrate the problem-solving approach as you are learning. In addition, you will deepen your understanding by applying this new way of thinking to a problem of your choice.

This course breaks down lean problem-solving concepts and techniques into simple, easily understood pieces.

How do you solve problems?

Learning objectives.

This course works for people new to the concepts of lean and continuous improvement, for individuals looking to improve their lean understanding and skills, and for organizations wanting to level set the lean knowledge of their workforce to speed progress.

Build a foundational understanding of problem types and problem solvingIdentify the four types of problems

Resolve business challenges by using scientific method, PDCA-based problem solving

Apply A3 thinking to solve problems

Clearly define problems, beginning with grasping the situation at gemba

Learn to break down vague problems to specific problems that can be solved to root cause

Time Estimates Per Unit*

*Actual times may vary.

Course Units

Expand to view lessons

Course Introduction

0.1 Welcome!

0.2 Platform Tour (optional)

0.3 Copyright Acknowledgment

0.4 Curriculum Concept Map (Visual Syllabus)

0.5 Supplemental Textbook

Unit 1: Lean Problem Solving

1.1.1 | Welcome to Introduction to Problem Solving!

1.1.2 | Lean Transformation Framework

1.1.3 | How We View Problems

1.1.4 | Lead with a Questioning Mindset

1.2.1 | What's a Problem

1.2.2 | Problems Problems Problems

1.2.3 | Four Types of Problems

1.2.4 | Four Types of Problem Solving

1.2.5 | Make the Problem Clear

1.2.6 | Problem Breakdown Analysis

1.2.7 | Unit 1 Personal Reflection

Unit 2: What is an A3?

2.1.0 Helpful information for working on Your A3

2.1.1 | Introduction to A3

2.1.2 | A3 Basics

2.1.3 | Simple A3 Example

2.1.4 | A3 as Good Storytelling

2.1.5 | It's Not a Template

2.1.6 | 5-Step A3 Example

2.1.7 | Your A3: Title and Owner

2.1.8 | Introduction and Chapter 1 (optional)

2.2.1 | Develop Problem Solvers

2.2.2 | Developing Problem Solvers at Herman Miller

2.2.3 | The A3 Process

2.3.1 | Basic Thinking, Mindset, Assumptions

2.3.2 | Porter’s First A3: Rush to a Solution

2.3.3 | Rethinking Thinking by Trevor Maber

2.3.4 | What do I need to know

2.3.5 | Chapter 2: Grasp the Situation—Part 1 (optional)

2.3.6 | Unit 2 Personal Reflection

Unit 3: Your A3

3.1.1 | Grasp the Situation at the Gemba

3.1.2 | Gemba Is More than a Place from Managing to Learn (optional)

3.1.3 | Go See, Ask Why, Show Respect

3.1.4 | Chapter 2: Grasp the Situation—Part 2 (optional)

3.1.5 | Porter’s First Revised A3

3.1.6 | Problem-solving Funnel (Part 1)

3.1.7 | Your A3: Background & Current Condition

3.2.1 | Analysis (part 1)

3.2.2 | Problem-solving Funnel (Part 2)

3.2.3 | Chapter 3: Goals and Analysis—Part 1 (optional)

3.2.4 | Your A3: Background & Current Condition - update

3.2.5 | Analysis (part 2)

3.2.6 | The Five Whys

3.2.8 | The Five Whys Animation

3.2.9 | Problem-solving Funnel (Part 3)

3.2.10 | Your A3: Goal, Target and Analysis

3.3.1 | Choose Countermeasures

3.3.2 | Countermeasures vs. Solutions (optional)

3.3.3 | PICKing Countermeasures

3.3.4 | Your A3: Countermeasures

3.4.1 | Create a Plan

3.4.2 | Nemawashi from Managing to Learn (optional)

3.4.3 | Consensus/Agreement from Managing to Learn (optional)

3.4.4 | From Position Based Authority to Pull-Based Authority (optional)

3.4.5 | Chapter 5: Plan and Followup—Part 1 (optional)

3.4.6 | PDCA from Managing to Learn (optional)

3.4.7 | PDCA Improvement

3.4.8 | Your A3: Plan

3.5.1 | Followup

3.5.2 | Chapter 5: Plan and Followup—Part 2 (optional)

3.5.3 | Detailed A3 Template

3.5.4 | Your A3: Followup

3.5.5 | Conclusion and Getting Started (optional)

3.5.6 | Unit 3 Personal Reflection

3.5.7 | Course Summary

Final Course Survey and Certificate of Completion

Final Course Survey

Certificate of Completion

Continue Your Lean Learning

Extra Resources

More books from the Lean Enterprise Institute

A3 Thinking Questions

More learning experiences from the Lean Enterprise Institute

About this course

0.5 hours of video content

Senior Instructor John Shook

Shook co-authored Learning to See, the book that introduced the world to value-stream mapping. He also co-authored Kaizen Express, a bi-lingual manual of the essential concepts and tools of the Toyota Production System. With Managing to Learn, Shook revealed the deeper workings of the A3 management process that is at the heart of Toyota’s management and leadership.

Worth every minute spent!

Christy leite.

This training covers what other root cause training don’t: The Social-Technical system which is equally important to using problem solving tools when handlin...

This training covers what other root cause training don’t: The Social-Technical system which is equally important to using problem solving tools when handling a problem. Problem definition is where most teams fall short. This training covers that well with excellent application examples. Definitely worth taking!

Wish i learned this at the beginning of my career

Jonathan fairweather.

would have saved alot of headake on alot of problem solving arguements ect and got to the root problem

Outstanding

William butdorf.

Very organized and professionally delivered.

It's Not Just a Piece of Paper

You really have to try and put the simplest problem you think you have and see if you can fix or solve it with a sentence or paragraph about what you should ...

You really have to try and put the simplest problem you think you have and see if you can fix or solve it with a sentence or paragraph about what you should do. Then apply the A3 methodology... I bet you find it isn't one simple problem and you might just discover how complex the problem is, what else is affected that you never realized, or who else might be aware or impacted by it. It's just thinking outside the box and being open to solving the problem. I think to many people don't want to expose a problem because they don't know how to fix it or that it's a failure to have problem at all

Additional Courses

Learning to See Using Value Stream Mapping - with Live Coaching

This workshop shows you how to make and apply this fundamental and critical tool based on the Lean Enterprise Institute's groundbreaking value-stream mapping workbook, Learning to See, which has introduced the mapping tool to thousands of people.

NEW Intro to Lean Thinking & Practice

This online course serves as an introduction to the key concepts, philosophies, and tools associated with lean thinking and practice.

Lean Fundamentals Bundle

Buy all three fundamentals courses at reduced cost. Purchase for yourself or your entire enterprise.

Stay connected on all things lean thinking and practice.

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35 problem-solving techniques and methods for solving complex problems

Design your next session with SessionLab

Join the 150,000+ facilitators  using SessionLab.

How do you identify problems?

How do you identify the right solution.

Tips for more effective problem-solving

Complete problem-solving methods

Problem-solving techniques to identify and analyze problems
Problem-solving techniques for developing solutions

Problem-solving warm-up activities

Closing activities for a problem-solving process.

Before you can move towards finding the right solution for a given problem, you first need to identify and define the problem you wish to solve.

Here, you want to clearly articulate what the problem is and allow your group to do the same. Remember that everyone in a group is likely to have differing perspectives and alignment is necessary in order to help the group move forward.

Identifying a problem accurately also requires that all members of a group are able to contribute their views in an open and safe manner. It can be scary for people to stand up and contribute, especially if the problems or challenges are emotive or personal in nature. Be sure to try and create a psychologically safe space for these kinds of discussions.

Remember that problem analysis and further discussion are also important. Not taking the time to fully analyze and discuss a challenge can result in the development of solutions that are not fit for purpose or do not address the underlying issue.

Successfully identifying and then analyzing a problem means facilitating a group through activities designed to help them clearly and honestly articulate their thoughts and produce usable insight.

With this data, you might then produce a problem statement that clearly describes the problem you wish to be addressed and also state the goal of any process you undertake to tackle this issue.

Finding solutions is the end goal of any process. Complex organizational challenges can only be solved with an appropriate solution but discovering them requires using the right problem-solving tool.

After you’ve explored a problem and discussed ideas, you need to help a team discuss and choose the right solution. Consensus tools and methods such as those below help a group explore possible solutions before then voting for the best. They’re a great way to tap into the collective intelligence of the group for great results!

Remember that the process is often iterative. Great problem solvers often roadtest a viable solution in a measured way to see what works too. While you might not get the right solution on your first try, the methods below help teams land on the most likely to succeed solution while also holding space for improvement.

Every effective problem solving process begins with an agenda . A well-structured workshop is one of the best methods for successfully guiding a group from exploring a problem to implementing a solution.

In SessionLab, it’s easy to go from an idea to a complete agenda . Start by dragging and dropping your core problem solving activities into place . Add timings, breaks and necessary materials before sharing your agenda with your colleagues.

The resulting agenda will be your guide to an effective and productive problem solving session that will also help you stay organized on the day!

Tips for more effective problem solving

Problem-solving activities are only one part of the puzzle. While a great method can help unlock your team’s ability to solve problems, without a thoughtful approach and strong facilitation the solutions may not be fit for purpose.

Let’s take a look at some problem-solving tips you can apply to any process to help it be a success!

Clearly define the problem

Jumping straight to solutions can be tempting, though without first clearly articulating a problem, the solution might not be the right one. Many of the problem-solving activities below include sections where the problem is explored and clearly defined before moving on.

This is a vital part of the problem-solving process and taking the time to fully define an issue can save time and effort later. A clear definition helps identify irrelevant information and it also ensures that your team sets off on the right track.

Don’t jump to conclusions

It’s easy for groups to exhibit cognitive bias or have preconceived ideas about both problems and potential solutions. Be sure to back up any problem statements or potential solutions with facts, research, and adequate forethought.

The best techniques ask participants to be methodical and challenge preconceived notions. Make sure you give the group enough time and space to collect relevant information and consider the problem in a new way. By approaching the process with a clear, rational mindset, you’ll often find that better solutions are more forthcoming.

Try different approaches

Problems come in all shapes and sizes and so too should the methods you use to solve them. If you find that one approach isn’t yielding results and your team isn’t finding different solutions, try mixing it up. You’ll be surprised at how using a new creative activity can unblock your team and generate great solutions.

Don’t take it personally

Depending on the nature of your team or organizational problems, it’s easy for conversations to get heated. While it’s good for participants to be engaged in the discussions, ensure that emotions don’t run too high and that blame isn’t thrown around while finding solutions.

You’re all in it together, and even if your team or area is seeing problems, that isn’t necessarily a disparagement of you personally. Using facilitation skills to manage group dynamics is one effective method of helping conversations be more constructive.

Get the right people in the room

Your problem-solving method is often only as effective as the group using it. Getting the right people on the job and managing the number of people present is important too!

If the group is too small, you may not get enough different perspectives to effectively solve a problem. If the group is too large, you can go round and round during the ideation stages.

Creating the right group makeup is also important in ensuring you have the necessary expertise and skillset to both identify and follow up on potential solutions. Carefully consider who to include at each stage to help ensure your problem-solving method is followed and positioned for success.

Document everything

The best solutions can take refinement, iteration, and reflection to come out. Get into a habit of documenting your process in order to keep all the learnings from the session and to allow ideas to mature and develop. Many of the methods below involve the creation of documents or shared resources. Be sure to keep and share these so everyone can benefit from the work done!

Bring a facilitator

Facilitation is all about making group processes easier. With a subject as potentially emotive and important as problem-solving, having an impartial third party in the form of a facilitator can make all the difference in finding great solutions and keeping the process moving. Consider bringing a facilitator to your problem-solving session to get better results and generate meaningful solutions!

Develop your problem-solving skills

It takes time and practice to be an effective problem solver. While some roles or participants might more naturally gravitate towards problem-solving, it can take development and planning to help everyone create better solutions.

You might develop a training program, run a problem-solving workshop or simply ask your team to practice using the techniques below. Check out our post on problem-solving skills to see how you and your group can develop the right mental process and be more resilient to issues too!

Design a great agenda

Workshops are a great format for solving problems. With the right approach, you can focus a group and help them find the solutions to their own problems. But designing a process can be time-consuming and finding the right activities can be difficult.

Check out our workshop planning guide to level-up your agenda design and start running more effective workshops. Need inspiration? Check out templates designed by expert facilitators to help you kickstart your process!

In this section, we’ll look at in-depth problem-solving methods that provide a complete end-to-end process for developing effective solutions. These will help guide your team from the discovery and definition of a problem through to delivering the right solution.

If you’re looking for an all-encompassing method or problem-solving model, these processes are a great place to start. They’ll ask your team to challenge preconceived ideas and adopt a mindset for solving problems more effectively.

Six Thinking Hats
Lightning Decision Jam
Problem Definition Process
Discovery & Action Dialogue

Design Sprint 2.0

Open Space Technology

1. Six Thinking Hats

Individual approaches to solving a problem can be very different based on what team or role an individual holds. It can be easy for existing biases or perspectives to find their way into the mix, or for internal politics to direct a conversation.

Six Thinking Hats is a classic method for identifying the problems that need to be solved and enables your team to consider them from different angles, whether that is by focusing on facts and data, creative solutions, or by considering why a particular solution might not work.

Like all problem-solving frameworks, Six Thinking Hats is effective at helping teams remove roadblocks from a conversation or discussion and come to terms with all the aspects necessary to solve complex problems.

2. Lightning Decision Jam

Featured courtesy of Jonathan Courtney of AJ&Smart Berlin, Lightning Decision Jam is one of those strategies that should be in every facilitation toolbox. Exploring problems and finding solutions is often creative in nature, though as with any creative process, there is the potential to lose focus and get lost.

Unstructured discussions might get you there in the end, but it’s much more effective to use a method that creates a clear process and team focus.

In Lightning Decision Jam, participants are invited to begin by writing challenges, concerns, or mistakes on post-its without discussing them before then being invited by the moderator to present them to the group.

From there, the team vote on which problems to solve and are guided through steps that will allow them to reframe those problems, create solutions and then decide what to execute on.

By deciding the problems that need to be solved as a team before moving on, this group process is great for ensuring the whole team is aligned and can take ownership over the next stages.

Lightning Decision Jam (LDJ) #action #decision making #problem solving #issue analysis #innovation #design #remote-friendly The problem with anything that requires creative thinking is that it’s easy to get lost—lose focus and fall into the trap of having useless, open-ended, unstructured discussions. Here’s the most effective solution I’ve found: Replace all open, unstructured discussion with a clear process. What to use this exercise for: Anything which requires a group of people to make decisions, solve problems or discuss challenges. It’s always good to frame an LDJ session with a broad topic, here are some examples: The conversion flow of our checkout Our internal design process How we organise events Keeping up with our competition Improving sales flow

3. Problem Definition Process

While problems can be complex, the problem-solving methods you use to identify and solve those problems can often be simple in design.

By taking the time to truly identify and define a problem before asking the group to reframe the challenge as an opportunity, this method is a great way to enable change.

Begin by identifying a focus question and exploring the ways in which it manifests before splitting into five teams who will each consider the problem using a different method: escape, reversal, exaggeration, distortion or wishful. Teams develop a problem objective and create ideas in line with their method before then feeding them back to the group.

This method is great for enabling in-depth discussions while also creating space for finding creative solutions too!

Problem Definition #problem solving #idea generation #creativity #online #remote-friendly A problem solving technique to define a problem, challenge or opportunity and to generate ideas.

4. The 5 Whys

Sometimes, a group needs to go further with their strategies and analyze the root cause at the heart of organizational issues. An RCA or root cause analysis is the process of identifying what is at the heart of business problems or recurring challenges.

The 5 Whys is a simple and effective method of helping a group go find the root cause of any problem or challenge and conduct analysis that will deliver results.

By beginning with the creation of a problem statement and going through five stages to refine it, The 5 Whys provides everything you need to truly discover the cause of an issue.

The 5 Whys #hyperisland #innovation This simple and powerful method is useful for getting to the core of a problem or challenge. As the title suggests, the group defines a problems, then asks the question “why” five times, often using the resulting explanation as a starting point for creative problem solving.

5. World Cafe

World Cafe is a simple but powerful facilitation technique to help bigger groups to focus their energy and attention on solving complex problems.

World Cafe enables this approach by creating a relaxed atmosphere where participants are able to self-organize and explore topics relevant and important to them which are themed around a central problem-solving purpose. Create the right atmosphere by modeling your space after a cafe and after guiding the group through the method, let them take the lead!

Making problem-solving a part of your organization’s culture in the long term can be a difficult undertaking. More approachable formats like World Cafe can be especially effective in bringing people unfamiliar with workshops into the fold.

World Cafe #hyperisland #innovation #issue analysis World Café is a simple yet powerful method, originated by Juanita Brown, for enabling meaningful conversations driven completely by participants and the topics that are relevant and important to them. Facilitators create a cafe-style space and provide simple guidelines. Participants then self-organize and explore a set of relevant topics or questions for conversation.

6. Discovery & Action Dialogue (DAD)

One of the best approaches is to create a safe space for a group to share and discover practices and behaviors that can help them find their own solutions.

With DAD, you can help a group choose which problems they wish to solve and which approaches they will take to do so. It’s great at helping remove resistance to change and can help get buy-in at every level too!

This process of enabling frontline ownership is great in ensuring follow-through and is one of the methods you will want in your toolbox as a facilitator.

Discovery & Action Dialogue (DAD) #idea generation #liberating structures #action #issue analysis #remote-friendly DADs make it easy for a group or community to discover practices and behaviors that enable some individuals (without access to special resources and facing the same constraints) to find better solutions than their peers to common problems. These are called positive deviant (PD) behaviors and practices. DADs make it possible for people in the group, unit, or community to discover by themselves these PD practices. DADs also create favorable conditions for stimulating participants’ creativity in spaces where they can feel safe to invent new and more effective practices. Resistance to change evaporates as participants are unleashed to choose freely which practices they will adopt or try and which problems they will tackle. DADs make it possible to achieve frontline ownership of solutions.

7. Design Sprint 2.0

Want to see how a team can solve big problems and move forward with prototyping and testing solutions in a few days? The Design Sprint 2.0 template from Jake Knapp, author of Sprint, is a complete agenda for a with proven results.

Developing the right agenda can involve difficult but necessary planning. Ensuring all the correct steps are followed can also be stressful or time-consuming depending on your level of experience.

Use this complete 4-day workshop template if you are finding there is no obvious solution to your challenge and want to focus your team around a specific problem that might require a shortcut to launching a minimum viable product or waiting for the organization-wide implementation of a solution.

8. Open space technology

Open space technology- developed by Harrison Owen – creates a space where large groups are invited to take ownership of their problem solving and lead individual sessions. Open space technology is a great format when you have a great deal of expertise and insight in the room and want to allow for different takes and approaches on a particular theme or problem you need to be solved.

Start by bringing your participants together to align around a central theme and focus their efforts. Explain the ground rules to help guide the problem-solving process and then invite members to identify any issue connecting to the central theme that they are interested in and are prepared to take responsibility for.

Once participants have decided on their approach to the core theme, they write their issue on a piece of paper, announce it to the group, pick a session time and place, and post the paper on the wall. As the wall fills up with sessions, the group is then invited to join the sessions that interest them the most and which they can contribute to, then you’re ready to begin!

Everyone joins the problem-solving group they’ve signed up to, record the discussion and if appropriate, findings can then be shared with the rest of the group afterward.

Open Space Technology #action plan #idea generation #problem solving #issue analysis #large group #online #remote-friendly Open Space is a methodology for large groups to create their agenda discerning important topics for discussion, suitable for conferences, community gatherings and whole system facilitation

Techniques to identify and analyze problems

Using a problem-solving method to help a team identify and analyze a problem can be a quick and effective addition to any workshop or meeting.

While further actions are always necessary, you can generate momentum and alignment easily, and these activities are a great place to get started.

We’ve put together this list of techniques to help you and your team with problem identification, analysis, and discussion that sets the foundation for developing effective solutions.

Let’s take a look!

The Creativity Dice
Fishbone Analysis
Problem Tree
SWOT Analysis
Agreement-Certainty Matrix
The Journalistic Six
LEGO Challenge
What, So What, Now What?
Journalists

Individual and group perspectives are incredibly important, but what happens if people are set in their minds and need a change of perspective in order to approach a problem more effectively?

Flip It is a method we love because it is both simple to understand and run, and allows groups to understand how their perspectives and biases are formed.

Participants in Flip It are first invited to consider concerns, issues, or problems from a perspective of fear and write them on a flip chart. Then, the group is asked to consider those same issues from a perspective of hope and flip their understanding.

No problem and solution is free from existing bias and by changing perspectives with Flip It, you can then develop a problem solving model quickly and effectively.

Flip It! #gamestorming #problem solving #action Often, a change in a problem or situation comes simply from a change in our perspectives. Flip It! is a quick game designed to show players that perspectives are made, not born.

10. The Creativity Dice

One of the most useful problem solving skills you can teach your team is of approaching challenges with creativity, flexibility, and openness. Games like The Creativity Dice allow teams to overcome the potential hurdle of too much linear thinking and approach the process with a sense of fun and speed.

In The Creativity Dice, participants are organized around a topic and roll a dice to determine what they will work on for a period of 3 minutes at a time. They might roll a 3 and work on investigating factual information on the chosen topic. They might roll a 1 and work on identifying the specific goals, standards, or criteria for the session.

Encouraging rapid work and iteration while asking participants to be flexible are great skills to cultivate. Having a stage for idea incubation in this game is also important. Moments of pause can help ensure the ideas that are put forward are the most suitable.

The Creativity Dice #creativity #problem solving #thiagi #issue analysis Too much linear thinking is hazardous to creative problem solving. To be creative, you should approach the problem (or the opportunity) from different points of view. You should leave a thought hanging in mid-air and move to another. This skipping around prevents premature closure and lets your brain incubate one line of thought while you consciously pursue another.

11. Fishbone Analysis

Organizational or team challenges are rarely simple, and it’s important to remember that one problem can be an indication of something that goes deeper and may require further consideration to be solved.

Fishbone Analysis helps groups to dig deeper and understand the origins of a problem. It’s a great example of a root cause analysis method that is simple for everyone on a team to get their head around.

Participants in this activity are asked to annotate a diagram of a fish, first adding the problem or issue to be worked on at the head of a fish before then brainstorming the root causes of the problem and adding them as bones on the fish.

Using abstractions such as a diagram of a fish can really help a team break out of their regular thinking and develop a creative approach.

Fishbone Analysis #problem solving ##root cause analysis #decision making #online facilitation A process to help identify and understand the origins of problems, issues or observations.

12. Problem Tree

Encouraging visual thinking can be an essential part of many strategies. By simply reframing and clarifying problems, a group can move towards developing a problem solving model that works for them.

In Problem Tree, groups are asked to first brainstorm a list of problems – these can be design problems, team problems or larger business problems – and then organize them into a hierarchy. The hierarchy could be from most important to least important or abstract to practical, though the key thing with problem solving games that involve this aspect is that your group has some way of managing and sorting all the issues that are raised.

Once you have a list of problems that need to be solved and have organized them accordingly, you’re then well-positioned for the next problem solving steps.

Problem tree #define intentions #create #design #issue analysis A problem tree is a tool to clarify the hierarchy of problems addressed by the team within a design project; it represents high level problems or related sublevel problems.

13. SWOT Analysis

Chances are you’ve heard of the SWOT Analysis before. This problem-solving method focuses on identifying strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats is a tried and tested method for both individuals and teams.

Start by creating a desired end state or outcome and bare this in mind – any process solving model is made more effective by knowing what you are moving towards. Create a quadrant made up of the four categories of a SWOT analysis and ask participants to generate ideas based on each of those quadrants.

Once you have those ideas assembled in their quadrants, cluster them together based on their affinity with other ideas. These clusters are then used to facilitate group conversations and move things forward.

SWOT analysis #gamestorming #problem solving #action #meeting facilitation The SWOT Analysis is a long-standing technique of looking at what we have, with respect to the desired end state, as well as what we could improve on. It gives us an opportunity to gauge approaching opportunities and dangers, and assess the seriousness of the conditions that affect our future. When we understand those conditions, we can influence what comes next.

14. Agreement-Certainty Matrix

Not every problem-solving approach is right for every challenge, and deciding on the right method for the challenge at hand is a key part of being an effective team.

The Agreement Certainty matrix helps teams align on the nature of the challenges facing them. By sorting problems from simple to chaotic, your team can understand what methods are suitable for each problem and what they can do to ensure effective results.

If you are already using Liberating Structures techniques as part of your problem-solving strategy, the Agreement-Certainty Matrix can be an invaluable addition to your process. We’ve found it particularly if you are having issues with recurring problems in your organization and want to go deeper in understanding the root cause.

Agreement-Certainty Matrix #issue analysis #liberating structures #problem solving You can help individuals or groups avoid the frequent mistake of trying to solve a problem with methods that are not adapted to the nature of their challenge. The combination of two questions makes it possible to easily sort challenges into four categories: simple, complicated, complex , and chaotic . A problem is simple when it can be solved reliably with practices that are easy to duplicate. It is complicated when experts are required to devise a sophisticated solution that will yield the desired results predictably. A problem is complex when there are several valid ways to proceed but outcomes are not predictable in detail. Chaotic is when the context is too turbulent to identify a path forward. A loose analogy may be used to describe these differences: simple is like following a recipe, complicated like sending a rocket to the moon, complex like raising a child, and chaotic is like the game “Pin the Tail on the Donkey.” The Liberating Structures Matching Matrix in Chapter 5 can be used as the first step to clarify the nature of a challenge and avoid the mismatches between problems and solutions that are frequently at the root of chronic, recurring problems.

Organizing and charting a team’s progress can be important in ensuring its success. SQUID (Sequential Question and Insight Diagram) is a great model that allows a team to effectively switch between giving questions and answers and develop the skills they need to stay on track throughout the process.

Begin with two different colored sticky notes – one for questions and one for answers – and with your central topic (the head of the squid) on the board. Ask the group to first come up with a series of questions connected to their best guess of how to approach the topic. Ask the group to come up with answers to those questions, fix them to the board and connect them with a line. After some discussion, go back to question mode by responding to the generated answers or other points on the board.

It’s rewarding to see a diagram grow throughout the exercise, and a completed SQUID can provide a visual resource for future effort and as an example for other teams.

SQUID #gamestorming #project planning #issue analysis #problem solving When exploring an information space, it’s important for a group to know where they are at any given time. By using SQUID, a group charts out the territory as they go and can navigate accordingly. SQUID stands for Sequential Question and Insight Diagram.

16. Speed Boat

To continue with our nautical theme, Speed Boat is a short and sweet activity that can help a team quickly identify what employees, clients or service users might have a problem with and analyze what might be standing in the way of achieving a solution.

Methods that allow for a group to make observations, have insights and obtain those eureka moments quickly are invaluable when trying to solve complex problems.

In Speed Boat, the approach is to first consider what anchors and challenges might be holding an organization (or boat) back. Bonus points if you are able to identify any sharks in the water and develop ideas that can also deal with competitors!

Speed Boat #gamestorming #problem solving #action Speedboat is a short and sweet way to identify what your employees or clients don’t like about your product/service or what’s standing in the way of a desired goal.

17. The Journalistic Six

Some of the most effective ways of solving problems is by encouraging teams to be more inclusive and diverse in their thinking.

Based on the six key questions journalism students are taught to answer in articles and news stories, The Journalistic Six helps create teams to see the whole picture. By using who, what, when, where, why, and how to facilitate the conversation and encourage creative thinking, your team can make sure that the problem identification and problem analysis stages of the are covered exhaustively and thoughtfully. Reporter’s notebook and dictaphone optional.

The Journalistic Six – Who What When Where Why How #idea generation #issue analysis #problem solving #online #creative thinking #remote-friendly A questioning method for generating, explaining, investigating ideas.

18. LEGO Challenge

Now for an activity that is a little out of the (toy) box. LEGO Serious Play is a facilitation methodology that can be used to improve creative thinking and problem-solving skills.

The LEGO Challenge includes giving each member of the team an assignment that is hidden from the rest of the group while they create a structure without speaking.

What the LEGO challenge brings to the table is a fun working example of working with stakeholders who might not be on the same page to solve problems. Also, it’s LEGO! Who doesn’t love LEGO!

LEGO Challenge #hyperisland #team A team-building activity in which groups must work together to build a structure out of LEGO, but each individual has a secret “assignment” which makes the collaborative process more challenging. It emphasizes group communication, leadership dynamics, conflict, cooperation, patience and problem solving strategy.

19. What, So What, Now What?

If not carefully managed, the problem identification and problem analysis stages of the problem-solving process can actually create more problems and misunderstandings.

The What, So What, Now What? problem-solving activity is designed to help collect insights and move forward while also eliminating the possibility of disagreement when it comes to identifying, clarifying, and analyzing organizational or work problems.

Facilitation is all about bringing groups together so that might work on a shared goal and the best problem-solving strategies ensure that teams are aligned in purpose, if not initially in opinion or insight.

Throughout the three steps of this game, you give everyone on a team to reflect on a problem by asking what happened, why it is important, and what actions should then be taken.

This can be a great activity for bringing our individual perceptions about a problem or challenge and contextualizing it in a larger group setting. This is one of the most important problem-solving skills you can bring to your organization.

W³ – What, So What, Now What? #issue analysis #innovation #liberating structures You can help groups reflect on a shared experience in a way that builds understanding and spurs coordinated action while avoiding unproductive conflict. It is possible for every voice to be heard while simultaneously sifting for insights and shaping new direction. Progressing in stages makes this practical—from collecting facts about What Happened to making sense of these facts with So What and finally to what actions logically follow with Now What . The shared progression eliminates most of the misunderstandings that otherwise fuel disagreements about what to do. Voila!

20. Journalists

Problem analysis can be one of the most important and decisive stages of all problem-solving tools. Sometimes, a team can become bogged down in the details and are unable to move forward.

Journalists is an activity that can avoid a group from getting stuck in the problem identification or problem analysis stages of the process.

In Journalists, the group is invited to draft the front page of a fictional newspaper and figure out what stories deserve to be on the cover and what headlines those stories will have. By reframing how your problems and challenges are approached, you can help a team move productively through the process and be better prepared for the steps to follow.

Journalists #vision #big picture #issue analysis #remote-friendly This is an exercise to use when the group gets stuck in details and struggles to see the big picture. Also good for defining a vision.

Problem-solving techniques for developing solutions

The success of any problem-solving process can be measured by the solutions it produces. After you’ve defined the issue, explored existing ideas, and ideated, it’s time to narrow down to the correct solution.

Use these problem-solving techniques when you want to help your team find consensus, compare possible solutions, and move towards taking action on a particular problem.

Improved Solutions
Four-Step Sketch
15% Solutions
How-Now-Wow matrix
Impact Effort Matrix

21. Mindspin

Brainstorming is part of the bread and butter of the problem-solving process and all problem-solving strategies benefit from getting ideas out and challenging a team to generate solutions quickly.

With Mindspin, participants are encouraged not only to generate ideas but to do so under time constraints and by slamming down cards and passing them on. By doing multiple rounds, your team can begin with a free generation of possible solutions before moving on to developing those solutions and encouraging further ideation.

This is one of our favorite problem-solving activities and can be great for keeping the energy up throughout the workshop. Remember the importance of helping people become engaged in the process – energizing problem-solving techniques like Mindspin can help ensure your team stays engaged and happy, even when the problems they’re coming together to solve are complex.

MindSpin #teampedia #idea generation #problem solving #action A fast and loud method to enhance brainstorming within a team. Since this activity has more than round ideas that are repetitive can be ruled out leaving more creative and innovative answers to the challenge.

22. Improved Solutions

After a team has successfully identified a problem and come up with a few solutions, it can be tempting to call the work of the problem-solving process complete. That said, the first solution is not necessarily the best, and by including a further review and reflection activity into your problem-solving model, you can ensure your group reaches the best possible result.

One of a number of problem-solving games from Thiagi Group, Improved Solutions helps you go the extra mile and develop suggested solutions with close consideration and peer review. By supporting the discussion of several problems at once and by shifting team roles throughout, this problem-solving technique is a dynamic way of finding the best solution.

Improved Solutions #creativity #thiagi #problem solving #action #team You can improve any solution by objectively reviewing its strengths and weaknesses and making suitable adjustments. In this creativity framegame, you improve the solutions to several problems. To maintain objective detachment, you deal with a different problem during each of six rounds and assume different roles (problem owner, consultant, basher, booster, enhancer, and evaluator) during each round. At the conclusion of the activity, each player ends up with two solutions to her problem.

23. Four Step Sketch

Creative thinking and visual ideation does not need to be confined to the opening stages of your problem-solving strategies. Exercises that include sketching and prototyping on paper can be effective at the solution finding and development stage of the process, and can be great for keeping a team engaged.

By going from simple notes to a crazy 8s round that involves rapidly sketching 8 variations on their ideas before then producing a final solution sketch, the group is able to iterate quickly and visually. Problem-solving techniques like Four-Step Sketch are great if you have a group of different thinkers and want to change things up from a more textual or discussion-based approach.

Four-Step Sketch #design sprint #innovation #idea generation #remote-friendly The four-step sketch is an exercise that helps people to create well-formed concepts through a structured process that includes: Review key information Start design work on paper, Consider multiple variations , Create a detailed solution . This exercise is preceded by a set of other activities allowing the group to clarify the challenge they want to solve. See how the Four Step Sketch exercise fits into a Design Sprint

24. 15% Solutions

Some problems are simpler than others and with the right problem-solving activities, you can empower people to take immediate actions that can help create organizational change.

Part of the liberating structures toolkit, 15% solutions is a problem-solving technique that focuses on finding and implementing solutions quickly. A process of iterating and making small changes quickly can help generate momentum and an appetite for solving complex problems.

Problem-solving strategies can live and die on whether people are onboard. Getting some quick wins is a great way of getting people behind the process.

It can be extremely empowering for a team to realize that problem-solving techniques can be deployed quickly and easily and delineate between things they can positively impact and those things they cannot change.

15% Solutions #action #liberating structures #remote-friendly You can reveal the actions, however small, that everyone can do immediately. At a minimum, these will create momentum, and that may make a BIG difference. 15% Solutions show that there is no reason to wait around, feel powerless, or fearful. They help people pick it up a level. They get individuals and the group to focus on what is within their discretion instead of what they cannot change. With a very simple question, you can flip the conversation to what can be done and find solutions to big problems that are often distributed widely in places not known in advance. Shifting a few grains of sand may trigger a landslide and change the whole landscape.

25. How-Now-Wow Matrix

The problem-solving process is often creative, as complex problems usually require a change of thinking and creative response in order to find the best solutions. While it’s common for the first stages to encourage creative thinking, groups can often gravitate to familiar solutions when it comes to the end of the process.

When selecting solutions, you don’t want to lose your creative energy! The How-Now-Wow Matrix from Gamestorming is a great problem-solving activity that enables a group to stay creative and think out of the box when it comes to selecting the right solution for a given problem.

Problem-solving techniques that encourage creative thinking and the ideation and selection of new solutions can be the most effective in organisational change. Give the How-Now-Wow Matrix a go, and not just for how pleasant it is to say out loud.

How-Now-Wow Matrix #gamestorming #idea generation #remote-friendly When people want to develop new ideas, they most often think out of the box in the brainstorming or divergent phase. However, when it comes to convergence, people often end up picking ideas that are most familiar to them. This is called a ‘creative paradox’ or a ‘creadox’. The How-Now-Wow matrix is an idea selection tool that breaks the creadox by forcing people to weigh each idea on 2 parameters.

26. Impact and Effort Matrix

All problem-solving techniques hope to not only find solutions to a given problem or challenge but to find the best solution. When it comes to finding a solution, groups are invited to put on their decision-making hats and really think about how a proposed idea would work in practice.

The Impact and Effort Matrix is one of the problem-solving techniques that fall into this camp, empowering participants to first generate ideas and then categorize them into a 2×2 matrix based on impact and effort.

Activities that invite critical thinking while remaining simple are invaluable. Use the Impact and Effort Matrix to move from ideation and towards evaluating potential solutions before then committing to them.

Impact and Effort Matrix #gamestorming #decision making #action #remote-friendly In this decision-making exercise, possible actions are mapped based on two factors: effort required to implement and potential impact. Categorizing ideas along these lines is a useful technique in decision making, as it obliges contributors to balance and evaluate suggested actions before committing to them.

27. Dotmocracy

If you’ve followed each of the problem-solving steps with your group successfully, you should move towards the end of your process with heaps of possible solutions developed with a specific problem in mind. But how do you help a group go from ideation to putting a solution into action?

Dotmocracy – or Dot Voting -is a tried and tested method of helping a team in the problem-solving process make decisions and put actions in place with a degree of oversight and consensus.

One of the problem-solving techniques that should be in every facilitator’s toolbox, Dot Voting is fast and effective and can help identify the most popular and best solutions and help bring a group to a decision effectively.

Dotmocracy #action #decision making #group prioritization #hyperisland #remote-friendly Dotmocracy is a simple method for group prioritization or decision-making. It is not an activity on its own, but a method to use in processes where prioritization or decision-making is the aim. The method supports a group to quickly see which options are most popular or relevant. The options or ideas are written on post-its and stuck up on a wall for the whole group to see. Each person votes for the options they think are the strongest, and that information is used to inform a decision.

All facilitators know that warm-ups and icebreakers are useful for any workshop or group process. Problem-solving workshops are no different.

Use these problem-solving techniques to warm up a group and prepare them for the rest of the process. Activating your group by tapping into some of the top problem-solving skills can be one of the best ways to see great outcomes from your session.

Check-in/Check-out
Doodling Together
Show and Tell
Constellations
Draw a Tree

28. Check-in / Check-out

Solid processes are planned from beginning to end, and the best facilitators know that setting the tone and establishing a safe, open environment can be integral to a successful problem-solving process.

Check-in / Check-out is a great way to begin and/or bookend a problem-solving workshop. Checking in to a session emphasizes that everyone will be seen, heard, and expected to contribute.

If you are running a series of meetings, setting a consistent pattern of checking in and checking out can really help your team get into a groove. We recommend this opening-closing activity for small to medium-sized groups though it can work with large groups if they’re disciplined!

Check-in / Check-out #team #opening #closing #hyperisland #remote-friendly Either checking-in or checking-out is a simple way for a team to open or close a process, symbolically and in a collaborative way. Checking-in/out invites each member in a group to be present, seen and heard, and to express a reflection or a feeling. Checking-in emphasizes presence, focus and group commitment; checking-out emphasizes reflection and symbolic closure.

29. Doodling Together

Thinking creatively and not being afraid to make suggestions are important problem-solving skills for any group or team, and warming up by encouraging these behaviors is a great way to start.

Doodling Together is one of our favorite creative ice breaker games – it’s quick, effective, and fun and can make all following problem-solving steps easier by encouraging a group to collaborate visually. By passing cards and adding additional items as they go, the workshop group gets into a groove of co-creation and idea development that is crucial to finding solutions to problems.

Doodling Together #collaboration #creativity #teamwork #fun #team #visual methods #energiser #icebreaker #remote-friendly Create wild, weird and often funny postcards together & establish a group’s creative confidence.

30. Show and Tell

You might remember some version of Show and Tell from being a kid in school and it’s a great problem-solving activity to kick off a session.

Asking participants to prepare a little something before a workshop by bringing an object for show and tell can help them warm up before the session has even begun! Games that include a physical object can also help encourage early engagement before moving onto more big-picture thinking.

By asking your participants to tell stories about why they chose to bring a particular item to the group, you can help teams see things from new perspectives and see both differences and similarities in the way they approach a topic. Great groundwork for approaching a problem-solving process as a team!

Show and Tell #gamestorming #action #opening #meeting facilitation Show and Tell taps into the power of metaphors to reveal players’ underlying assumptions and associations around a topic The aim of the game is to get a deeper understanding of stakeholders’ perspectives on anything—a new project, an organizational restructuring, a shift in the company’s vision or team dynamic.

31. Constellations

Who doesn’t love stars? Constellations is a great warm-up activity for any workshop as it gets people up off their feet, energized, and ready to engage in new ways with established topics. It’s also great for showing existing beliefs, biases, and patterns that can come into play as part of your session.

Using warm-up games that help build trust and connection while also allowing for non-verbal responses can be great for easing people into the problem-solving process and encouraging engagement from everyone in the group. Constellations is great in large spaces that allow for movement and is definitely a practical exercise to allow the group to see patterns that are otherwise invisible.

Constellations #trust #connection #opening #coaching #patterns #system Individuals express their response to a statement or idea by standing closer or further from a central object. Used with teams to reveal system, hidden patterns, perspectives.

32. Draw a Tree

Problem-solving games that help raise group awareness through a central, unifying metaphor can be effective ways to warm-up a group in any problem-solving model.

Draw a Tree is a simple warm-up activity you can use in any group and which can provide a quick jolt of energy. Start by asking your participants to draw a tree in just 45 seconds – they can choose whether it will be abstract or realistic.

Once the timer is up, ask the group how many people included the roots of the tree and use this as a means to discuss how we can ignore important parts of any system simply because they are not visible.

All problem-solving strategies are made more effective by thinking of problems critically and by exposing things that may not normally come to light. Warm-up games like Draw a Tree are great in that they quickly demonstrate some key problem-solving skills in an accessible and effective way.

Draw a Tree #thiagi #opening #perspectives #remote-friendly With this game you can raise awarness about being more mindful, and aware of the environment we live in.

Each step of the problem-solving workshop benefits from an intelligent deployment of activities, games, and techniques. Bringing your session to an effective close helps ensure that solutions are followed through on and that you also celebrate what has been achieved.

Here are some problem-solving activities you can use to effectively close a workshop or meeting and ensure the great work you’ve done can continue afterward.

One Breath Feedback
Who What When Matrix
Response Cards

How do I conclude a problem-solving process?

All good things must come to an end. With the bulk of the work done, it can be tempting to conclude your workshop swiftly and without a moment to debrief and align. This can be problematic in that it doesn’t allow your team to fully process the results or reflect on the process.

At the end of an effective session, your team will have gone through a process that, while productive, can be exhausting. It’s important to give your group a moment to take a breath, ensure that they are clear on future actions, and provide short feedback before leaving the space.

The primary purpose of any problem-solving method is to generate solutions and then implement them. Be sure to take the opportunity to ensure everyone is aligned and ready to effectively implement the solutions you produced in the workshop.

Remember that every process can be improved and by giving a short moment to collect feedback in the session, you can further refine your problem-solving methods and see further success in the future too.

33. One Breath Feedback

Maintaining attention and focus during the closing stages of a problem-solving workshop can be tricky and so being concise when giving feedback can be important. It’s easy to incur “death by feedback” should some team members go on for too long sharing their perspectives in a quick feedback round.

One Breath Feedback is a great closing activity for workshops. You give everyone an opportunity to provide feedback on what they’ve done but only in the space of a single breath. This keeps feedback short and to the point and means that everyone is encouraged to provide the most important piece of feedback to them.

One breath feedback #closing #feedback #action This is a feedback round in just one breath that excels in maintaining attention: each participants is able to speak during just one breath … for most people that’s around 20 to 25 seconds … unless of course you’ve been a deep sea diver in which case you’ll be able to do it for longer.

34. Who What When Matrix

Matrices feature as part of many effective problem-solving strategies and with good reason. They are easily recognizable, simple to use, and generate results.

The Who What When Matrix is a great tool to use when closing your problem-solving session by attributing a who, what and when to the actions and solutions you have decided upon. The resulting matrix is a simple, easy-to-follow way of ensuring your team can move forward.

Great solutions can’t be enacted without action and ownership. Your problem-solving process should include a stage for allocating tasks to individuals or teams and creating a realistic timeframe for those solutions to be implemented or checked out. Use this method to keep the solution implementation process clear and simple for all involved.

Who/What/When Matrix #gamestorming #action #project planning With Who/What/When matrix, you can connect people with clear actions they have defined and have committed to.

35. Response cards

Group discussion can comprise the bulk of most problem-solving activities and by the end of the process, you might find that your team is talked out!

Providing a means for your team to give feedback with short written notes can ensure everyone is head and can contribute without the need to stand up and talk. Depending on the needs of the group, giving an alternative can help ensure everyone can contribute to your problem-solving model in the way that makes the most sense for them.

Response Cards is a great way to close a workshop if you are looking for a gentle warm-down and want to get some swift discussion around some of the feedback that is raised.

Response Cards #debriefing #closing #structured sharing #questions and answers #thiagi #action It can be hard to involve everyone during a closing of a session. Some might stay in the background or get unheard because of louder participants. However, with the use of Response Cards, everyone will be involved in providing feedback or clarify questions at the end of a session.

Save time and effort discovering the right solutions

A structured problem solving process is a surefire way of solving tough problems, discovering creative solutions and driving organizational change. But how can you design for successful outcomes?

With SessionLab, it’s easy to design engaging workshops that deliver results. Drag, drop and reorder blocks to build your agenda. When you make changes or update your agenda, your session timing adjusts automatically , saving you time on manual adjustments.

Collaborating with stakeholders or clients? Share your agenda with a single click and collaborate in real-time. No more sending documents back and forth over email.

Explore how to use SessionLab to design effective problem solving workshops or watch this five minute video to see the planner in action!

Over to you

The problem-solving process can often be as complicated and multifaceted as the problems they are set-up to solve. With the right problem-solving techniques and a mix of creative exercises designed to guide discussion and generate purposeful ideas, we hope we’ve given you the tools to find the best solutions as simply and easily as possible.

Is there a problem-solving technique that you are missing here? Do you have a favorite activity or method you use when facilitating? Let us know in the comments below, we’d love to hear from you!

thank you very much for these excellent techniques

Certainly wonderful article, very detailed. Shared!

Your list of techniques for problem solving can be helpfully extended by adding TRIZ to the list of techniques. TRIZ has 40 problem solving techniques derived from methods inventros and patent holders used to get new patents. About 10-12 are general approaches. many organization sponsor classes in TRIZ that are used to solve business problems or general organiztational problems. You can take a look at TRIZ and dwonload a free internet booklet to see if you feel it shound be included per your selection process.

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Lean Philosophy

Effective Lean Problem Solving

Solving problems in a business setting is an important part of the Lean methodology. Using Lean strategies, a company can better identify what problems exist, pinpoint the root causes, and come up with the right solutions to get the best results. Learning about how to effectively use Lean problem-solving techniques can help any business to improve and become more efficient.

Lean Problem-Solving Process

When working to make improvements in any business setting, it is important to start by identifying problems or potential problems. Solving existing issues is a great way to eliminate waste and improve efficiency very quickly. For many businesses, this is the ideal with to create a competitive edge that will help you to succeed.

When using the lean problem-solving techniques , you will go through a series of steps to get the results that are needed. The steps in the Lean problem-solving process are as follows:

Identify the Problem – The first thing to do is identify what the actual problem is. This should be as specific as possible and include as many details and other information as is available.
Break it Down – Breaking the problem down into different steps or parts is critical. This will make it possible to develop the right solutions for each aspect of the problem and help get things running as they should.
Establish Targets – It is difficult to solve a problem if you don’t know what a working system should look like. Establishing target goals for the system you are working on will help guide you through the rest of the process.
Look for the Root Cause – No problem can be truly solved without knowing what the root cause is. Keep asking questions about the issue at hand until you discover what is truly causing the issues. This can often be done using the ‘Five Whys’ technique , where you keep asking why something is happening until you reach the root cause.
Propose Countermeasures – Next, come up with ways that you can address the root cause. This could be one or more different actions that are designed specifically to deal with this issue.
Implement Countermeasures – Take the countermeasures that are proposed in the previous step and begin testing them. Ideally this can be done in a small test segment, but if needed it can be done in a full production environment. If a solution seems to work in a small system, expand it out to make sure the results scale up as expected.
Test the Results – Analyze the results by comparing the situation where the problem was found against your target results. If you are able to accomplish the goals identified as your target results, the problem-solving countermeasures are successful. If not, move back to proposing additional countermeasures to get the results you need.
Standardize – Once you have found a proven way to address the problem at hand, it is time to roll it out to the entire environment. Establishing new processes and procedures that will be followed by everyone in the facility is the last step in the problem-solving process.

Include All Impacted Parties

When going through the Lean problem-solving process it is important to consult with all the parties that are impacted by the problem at hand. It is quite rare that one person will be able to find the best possible solution to a problem, especially if they aren’t the ones who are directly impacted by the issue. Part of the Lean methodology is to work with various teams to come up with the best way of doing things. If you are facing a problem that needs a solution, you will want to include people from various groups such as:

Front Line Employees – These are typically the people who will deal with the problem on a regular basis. Nobody will have greater insights into the root cause, and potential solutions, than these employees. Having one or more people from this level helping to solve a problem is critical.
Supervisor – A supervisor or department manager will be able to provide additional insights into how the problem is impacting the business. They will also be the ones to help coordinate the implementation of any potential solutions so they should be involved.
Appropriate Management – If a problem, or the expected solutions, will require upper level management approval, someone from that team should be included in the process. It is easier to have someone from the leadership partnering with you from the beginning than to try to bring them up to speed for approval down the road.
Customers – When appropriate, having a customer available to discuss the problem can be very helpful. Customers are sometimes the ones who have the most information about the symptoms of the problem, which can make them very helpful.

Solving problems using Lean methodologies is a great way to help improve efficiency and eliminate waste in any workplace. Having an established process in place will allow you to quickly identify and solve a wide-range of problems in any environment.

Additional Resources

8D for Problem Solving – creativesafetysupply.com
Training to Use 8D Problem-Solving Tactics – blog.creativesafetysupply.com
Design Thinking: Empathy and Iteration for Innovation and Problem-Solving – creativesafetypublishing.com
The Great Root Cause Problem Solving Debate – realsafety.org
“No Problem” is a Problem – jakegoeslean.com
Lean Six Sigma in small companies, still effective? – lean-news.com
Lean Manufacturing Implementation – The First 5 Steps – iecieeechallenge.org
The Lean Method: Go To Gemba and Improve Your Quality Control – blog.5stoday.com
Applying Hoshin Kanri – 5snews.com

Total Quality Management And Kaizen Principles In Lean Management
Why Lean Transformation Fails
7 Reasons to Eliminate Waste and Go Lean
Go Lean – Visual Factory
Lean Layout Fundamentals
Why Single Minute Exchange of Die (SMED)?
Why You Should Use Takt Time Production & How To Do It
Why Six Sigma Root Cause Analysis is a Great Tool
Seven Forms of Waste – Lean Six Sigma

What's different about BSM?
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Structured Problem Solving – The key to Lean?

We are all familiar with the “House of Lean”; with how the twin pillars of Just in Time (JIT) and Jidoka (built-in Quality) fundamentally drive profitability by increasing cashflow and reducing cost. That is why most Lean implementations focus on these two aspects.

Companies that have successfully implemented Lean understand that the “Stability” or foundation the House of Lean is built upon is Structured Problem Solving. The iterative improvement loop offered by Structured Problem Solving allows for the correct Lean tools to be used at the correct time and in the correct way.

Despite this, Structured Problem Solving is underutilized and laboratories are especially slow to embrace it.

So, what is Structured Problem Solving? Toyota defines the following 8-steps:

Clarify the Problem
Breakdown the Problem
Set the Target
Analyze the Root Cause
Develop Countermeasures
Implement Countermeasures
Monitor Results and Process
Standardize and Share Success

The irony is that most laboratories will be using a similar set of steps (or a sub-set) everyday as part of their deviation process. So why the resistance to applying Structured Problem Solving to their business processes?

I would argue that the underutilization of the 8-step process is analogous to why Lean implementations all too often fail. A focus and reliance on the tools with a lack of understanding of the core foundations that guide their use. The power and efficacy of 8-step problem solving lies not in the use of root cause analysis tools – the Ishikawa diagrams or the 5-whys – to develop and implement counter measures. Rather, it lies in the first three steps – to develop a shared, concise understanding of the problem and more importantly, alignment on what would be considered solving it.

Unfortunately, these first, critical steps are often rushed or neglected entirely. Whether due to the flawed assumption that everyone’s understanding of the problem is the same (it very rarely is), a lack of time or resources available to collect the necessary data, or an enthusiastic team who want to launch directly into the root cause analysis, the end result is often the same; ineffective, box ticking CAPAs that fail to address the underlying issue.

BSM’s methodology inherently supports good Structured Problem Solving. The visual management systems developed as part of our Lean Lab implementations allow the perfect framework to facilitate the 8-steps. The use of Short Interval Control and properly developed KPI’s ensure that first three steps are easy to complete as the data and targets are readily available, while also serving as triggers themselves. As such a complete Lean Lab solution will make it easy to identify when failures are occurring and will provide the information to support Structured Problem Solving. Also, as Lean Lab solutions are developed and owned by lab members the process can help embolden the lab to tackle and solve the problems they face.

Our consultants can provide further information on the above and discuss any aspect of Real Lean Transformation, simply set-up a call today.

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InfoQ Homepage News How to Scale Agile Software Development with Technology and Lean

How to Scale Agile Software Development with Technology and Lean

May 30, 2024 3 min read

Ben Linders

Agile software development can be done at scale with the use of technology like self-service APIs, infrastructure provisioning, real-time collaboration software, and distributed versioning systems. Lean can complement and scale an agile culture with techniques like obeyas, systematic problem-solving, one-piece-flow and takt time, and kaizen. Fabrice Bernhard spoke about how their company uses technology with lean thinking for doing agile software development at scale at FlowCon France .

The agile manifesto doesn’t apply to large organizations, Bernhard stated. Leaders looking for principles to keep their culture agile while scaling their software organization will need to look elsewhere. And unfortunately that "elsewhere" is now crowded with options called "agile at scale", many of which are very bureaucratic and therefore not in the spirit of the agile manifesto, he mentioned.

Agile can scale, Bernhard said; there are many examples of organizations that scaled while maintaining an agile culture. In the body of knowledge of lean thinking, they found the principles they were looking for to scale their organization while staying true to the agile manifesto.

In the book The Lean Tech Manifesto that Bernhard wrote with Benoît Charles-Lavauzelle, he explores principles, systems, and tools that lean thinking provides to extend the principles of the agile manifesto. He mentioned some examples:

Value models, obeyas, and value streams, to scale "Customer Collaboration" by ensuring "Value for the Customer"’ becomes the North Star of the whole organization Systematic problem-solving with PDCA and 5S, supported by team leaders and enabled in our digital world by collaboration technology, to scale "individuals and interaction" and transform the organization into a "tech-enabled network of teams" Jidoka, dantotsu, poka-yoke, pull, one-piece-flow and takt time, to implement "right-first-time and just-in-time" and scale "working software" Standards, kaizen, skills matrix and communities of practice, to scale "responding to change" with "building a learning organization"

Bernhard mentioned that they felt that lean thinking didn’t fully explain how some large agile organizations were succeeding. He decided to explore how the Linux open-source project and its community scaled from 1 to 55,000 contributors, where they used technology to address the scaling issues that they faced along the way:

The first scaling crisis happened in 1996, when Linus wrote that he was "buried alive in emails". It was addressed by adopting a more modular architecture, with the introduction of loadable kernel modules, and the creation of the maintainers role, who support the contributors in ensuring that they implement the high standards of quality needed to merge their contributions.

The second scaling crisis lasted from 1998 to 2002, and was finally addressed by the adoption of BitKeeper, later replaced by Git. This distributed the job of merging contributions across the network of maintainers and contributors.

In both cases, technology was used to reduce the amount of dependencies between teams, help contributors keep a high level of autonomy, and make it easy to merge all those contributions back into the main repository, Bernhard said.

Technology can help reduce the need to communicate between teams whenever they have a dependency on another team to get their work done. Typical organizational dependencies, such as when a team relies on another team’s data, can be replaced by self-service APIs using the right technologies and architecture, Bernhard mentioned. This can be extended to more complicated dependencies, such as infrastructure provisioning, as AWS pioneered when they invented EC2, offering self-service APIs to spin up virtual servers, he added.

Another type of dependency is dealing with the challenge of merging contributions made to a similar document, whether it’s an illustration, a text, or source code, Bernhard mentioned. This has been transformed in the last 15 years by real-time collaboration software such as Google Docs and distributed versioning systems such as Git, he said.

Bernhard mentioned that he learned a lot from how the Linux community addressed its scaling issues. And where the first agile methodologies, such as Scrum or XP, focus on a single team of software engineers, lean thinking has been battle-tested at scale for decades in very large organizations, Bernhard said. Anyone trying to scale an agile organization should study lean thinking to benefit from decades of experience on how to lead large organizations while staying true to the spirit of the agile manifesto, he concluded.

About the Author

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A Better Framework for Solving Tough Problems

Start with trust and end with speed.

Apple Podcasts

When it comes to solving complicated problems, the default for many organizational leaders is to take their time to work through the issues at hand. Unfortunately, that often leads to patchwork solutions or problems not truly getting resolved.

But Anne Morriss offers a different framework. In this episode, she outlines a five-step process for solving any problem and explains why starting with trust and ending with speed is so important for effective change leadership. As she says, “Let’s get into dialogue with the people who are also impacted by the problem before we start running down the path of solving it.”

Morriss is an entrepreneur and leadership coach. She’s also the coauthor of the book, Move Fast and Fix Things: The Trusted Leader’s Guide to Solving Hard Problems .

Key episode topics include: strategy, decision making and problem solving, strategy execution, managing people, collaboration and teams, trustworthiness, organizational culture, change leadership, problem solving, leadership.

HBR On Strategy curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock new ways of doing business. New episodes every week.

Listen to the full HBR IdeaCast episode: How to Solve Tough Problems Better and Faster (2023)
Find more episodes of HBR IdeaCast
Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org .

HANNAH BATES: Welcome to HBR On Strategy , case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, hand-selected to help you unlock new ways of doing business.

When it comes to solving complicated problems, many leaders only focus on the most apparent issues. Unfortunately that often leads to patchwork or partial solutions. But Anne Morriss offers a different framework that aims to truly tackle big problems by first leaning into trust and then focusing on speed.

Morriss is an entrepreneur and leadership coach. She’s also the co-author of the book, Move Fast and Fix Things: The Trusted Leader’s Guide to Solving Hard Problems . In this episode, she outlines a five-step process for solving any problem. Some, she says, can be solved in a week, while others take much longer. She also explains why starting with trust and ending with speed is so important for effective change leadership.

This episode originally aired on HBR IdeaCast in October 2023. Here it is.

CURT NICKISCH: Welcome to the HBR IdeaCast from Harvard Business Review. I’m Curt Nickisch.

Problems can be intimidating. Sure, some problems are fun to dig into. You roll up your sleeves, you just take care of them; but others, well, they’re complicated. Sometimes it’s hard to wrap your brain around a problem, much less fix it.

And that’s especially true for leaders in organizations where problems are often layered and complex. They sometimes demand technical, financial, or interpersonal knowledge to fix. And whether it’s avoidance on the leaders’ part or just the perception that a problem is systemic or even intractable, problems find a way to endure, to keep going, to keep being a problem that everyone tries to work around or just puts up with.

But today’s guest says that just compounds it and makes the problem harder to fix. Instead, she says, speed and momentum are key to overcoming a problem.

Anne Morriss is an entrepreneur, leadership coach and founder of the Leadership Consortium and with Harvard Business School Professor Francis Frei, she wrote the new book, Move Fast and Fix Things: The Trusted Leaders Guide to Solving Hard Problems . Anne, welcome back to the show.

ANNE MORRISS: Curt, thank you so much for having me.

CURT NICKISCH: So, to generate momentum at an organization, you say that you really need speed and trust. We’ll get into those essential ingredients some more, but why are those two essential?

ANNE MORRISS: Yeah. Well, the essential pattern that we observed was that the most effective change leaders out there were building trust and speed, and it didn’t seem to be a well-known observation. We all know the phrase, “Move fast and break things,” but the people who were really getting it right were moving fast and fixing things, and that was really our jumping off point. So when we dug into the pattern, what we observed was they were building trust first and then speed. This foundation of trust was what allowed them to fix more things and break fewer.

CURT NICKISCH: Trust sounds like a slow thing, right? If you talk about building trust, that is something that takes interactions, it takes communication, it takes experiences. Does that run counter to the speed idea?

ANNE MORRISS: Yeah. Well, this issue of trust is something we’ve been looking at for over a decade. One of the headlines in our research is it’s actually something we’re building and rebuilding and breaking all the time. And so instead of being this precious, almost farbege egg, it’s this thing that is constantly in motion and this thing that we can really impact when we’re deliberate about our choices and have some self-awareness around where it’s breaking down and how it’s breaking down.

CURT NICKISCH: You said break trust in there, which is intriguing, right? That you may have to break trust to build trust. Can you explain that a little?

ANNE MORRISS: Yeah, well, I’ll clarify. It’s not that you have to break it in order to build it. It’s just that we all do it some of the time. Most of us are trusted most of the time. Most of your listeners I imagine are trusted most of the time, but all of us have a pattern where we break trust or where we don’t build as much as could be possible.

CURT NICKISCH: I want to talk about speed, this other essential ingredient that’s so intriguing, right? Because you think about solving hard problems as something that just takes a lot of time and thinking and coordination and planning and designing. Explain what you mean by it? And also, just how we maybe approach problems wrong by taking them on too slowly?

ANNE MORRISS: Well, Curt, no one has ever said to us, “I wish I had taken longer and done less.” We hear the opposite all the time, by the way. So what we really set out to do was to create a playbook that anyone can use to take less time to do more of the things that are going to make your teams and organizations stronger.

And the way we set up the book is okay, it’s really a five step process. Speed is the last step. It’s the payoff for the hard work you’re going to do to figure out your problem, build or rebuild trust, expand the team in thoughtful and strategic ways, and then tell a real and compelling story about the change you’re leading.

Only then do you get to go fast, but that’s an essential part of the process, and we find that either people under emphasize it or speed has gotten a bad name in this world of moving fast and breaking things. And part of our mission for sure was to rehabilitate speed’s reputation because it is an essential part of the change leader’s equation. It can be the difference between good intentions and getting anything done at all.

CURT NICKISCH: You know, the fact that nobody ever tells you, “I wish we had done less and taken more time.” I think we all feel that, right? Sometimes we do something and then realize, “Oh, that wasn’t that hard and why did it take me so long to do it? And I wish I’d done this a long time ago.” Is it ever possible to solve a problem too quickly?

ANNE MORRISS: Absolutely. And we see that all the time too. What we push people to do in those scenarios is really take a look at the underlying issue because in most cases, the solution is not to take your foot off the accelerator per se and slow down. The solution is to get into the underlying problem. So if it’s burnout or a strategic disconnect between what you’re building and the marketplace you’re serving, what we find is the anxiety that people attach to speed or the frustration people attach to speed is often misplaced.

CURT NICKISCH: What is a good timeline to think about solving a problem then? Because if we by default take too long or else jump ahead and we don’t fix it right, what’s a good target time to have in your mind for how long solving a problem should take?

ANNE MORRISS: Yeah. Well, we’re playful in the book and talking about the idea that many problems can be solved in a week. We set the book up five chapters. They’re titled Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and we’re definitely having fun with that. And yet, if you count the hours in a week, there are a lot of them. Many of our problems, if you were to spend a focused 40 hours of effort on a problem, you’re going to get pretty far.

But our main message is, listen, of course it’s going to depend on the nature of the problem, and you’re going to take weeks and maybe even some cases months to get to the other side. What we don’t want you to do is take years, which tends to be our default timeline for solving hard problems.

CURT NICKISCH: So you say to start with identifying the problem that’s holding you back, seems kind of obvious. But where do companies go right and wrong with this first step of just identifying the problem that’s holding you back?

ANNE MORRISS: And our goal is that all of these are going to feel obvious in retrospect. The problem is we skip over a lot of these steps and this is why we wanted to underline them. So this one is really rooted in our observation and I think the pattern of our species that we tend to be overconfident in the quality of our thoughts, particularly when it comes to diagnosing problems.

And so we want to invite you to start in a very humble and curious place, which tends not to be our default mode when we’re showing up for work. We convince ourselves that we’re being paid for our judgment. That’s exactly what gets reinforced everywhere. And so we tend to counterintuitively, given what we just talked about, we tend to move too quickly through the diagnostic phase.

CURT NICKISCH: “I know what to do, that’s why you hired me.”

ANNE MORRISS: Exactly. “I know what to do. That’s why you hired me. I’ve seen this before. I have a plan. Follow me.” We get rewarded for the expression of confidence and clarity. And so what we’re inviting people to do here is actually pause and really lean into what are the root causes of the problem you’re seeing? What are some alternative explanations? Let’s get into dialogue with the people who are also impacted by the problem before we start running down the path of solving it.

CURT NICKISCH: So what do you recommend for this step, for getting to the root of the problem? What are questions you should ask? What’s the right thought process? What do you do on Monday of the week?

ANNE MORRISS: In our experience of doing this work, people tend to undervalue the power of conversation, particularly with other people in the organization. So we will often advocate putting together a team of problem solvers, make it a temporary team, really pull in people who have a particular perspective on the problem and create the space, make it as psychologically safe as you can for people to really, as Chris Argyris so beautifully articulated, discuss the undiscussable.

And so the conditions for that are going to look different in every organization depending on the problem, but if you can get a space where smart people who have direct experience of a problem are in a room and talking honestly with each other, you can make an extraordinary amount of progress, certainly in a day.

CURT NICKISCH: Yeah, that gets back to the trust piece.

ANNE MORRISS: Definitely.

CURT NICKISCH: How do you like to start that meeting, or how do you like to talk about it? I’m just curious what somebody on that team might hear in that meeting, just to get the sense that it’s psychologically safe, you can discuss the undiscussable and you’re also focusing on the identification part. What’s key to communicate there?

ANNE MORRISS: Yeah. Well, we sometimes encourage people to do a little bit of data gathering before those conversations. So the power of a quick anonymous survey around whatever problem you’re solving, but also be really thoughtful about the questions you’re going to ask in the moment. So a little bit of preparation can go a long way and a little bit of thoughtfulness about the power dynamic. So who’s going to walk in there with license to speak and who’s going to hold back? So being thoughtful about the agenda, about the questions you’re asking about the room, about the facilitation, and then courage is a very infectious emotion.

So if you can early on create the conditions for people to show up bravely in that conversation, then the chance that you’re going to get good information and that you’re going to walk out of that room with new insight in the problem that you didn’t have when you walked in is extraordinarily high.

CURT NICKISCH: Now, in those discussions, you may have people who have different perspectives on what the problem really is. They also bear different costs of addressing the problem or solving it. You talked about the power dynamic, but there’s also an unfairness dynamic of who’s going to actually have to do the work to take care of it, and I wonder how you create a culture in that meeting where it’s the most productive?

ANNE MORRISS: For sure, the burden of work is not going to be equitably distributed around the room. But I would say, Curt, the dynamic that we see most often is that people are deeply relieved that hard problems are being addressed. So it really can create, and more often than not in our experience, it does create this beautiful flywheel of action, creativity, optimism. Often when problems haven’t been addressed, there is a fair amount of anxiety in the organization, frustration, stagnation. And so credible movement towards action and progress is often the best antidote. So even if the plan isn’t super clear yet, if it’s credible, given who’s in the room and their decision rights and mandate, if there’s real momentum coming out of that to make progress, then that tends to be deeply energizing to people.

CURT NICKISCH: I wonder if there’s an organization that you’ve worked with that you could talk about how this rolled out and how this took shape?

ANNE MORRISS: When we started working with Uber, that was wrestling with some very public issues of culture and trust with a range of stakeholders internally, the organization, also external, that work really started with a campaign of listening and really trying to understand where trust was breaking down from the perspective of these stakeholders?

So whether it was female employees or regulators or riders who had safety concerns getting into the car with a stranger. This work, it starts with an honest internal dialogue, but often the problem has threads that go external. And so bringing that same commitment to curiosity and humility and dialogue to anyone who’s impacted by the problem is the fastest way to surface what’s really going on.

CURT NICKISCH: There’s a step in this process that you lay out and that’s communicating powerfully as a leader. So we’ve heard about listening and trust building, but now you’re talking about powerful communication. How do you do this and why is it maybe this step in the process rather than the first thing you do or the last thing you do?

ANNE MORRISS: So in our process, again, it’s the days of the week. On Monday you figured out the problem. Tuesday you really got into the sandbox in figuring out what a good enough plan is for building trust. Wednesday, step three, you made it better. You created an even better plan, bringing in new perspectives. Thursday, this fourth step is the day we’re saying you got to go get buy-in. You got to bring other people along. And again, this is a step where we see people often underinvest in the power and payoff of really executing it well.

CURT NICKISCH: How does that go wrong?

ANNE MORRISS: Yeah, people don’t know the why. Human behavior and the change in human behavior really depends on a strong why. It’s not just a selfish, “What’s in it for me?” Although that’s helpful, but where are we going? I may be invested in a status quo and I need to understand, okay, if you’re going to ask me to change, if you’re going to invite me into this uncomfortable place of doing things differently, why am I here? Help me understand it and articulate the way forward and language that not only I can understand, but also that’s going to be motivating to me.

CURT NICKISCH: And who on my team was part of this process and all that kind of stuff?

ANNE MORRISS: Oh, yeah. I may have some really important questions that may be in the way of my buy-in and commitment to this plan. So certainly creating a space where those questions can be addressed is essential. But what we found is that there is an architecture of a great change story, and it starts with honoring the past, honoring the starting place. Sometimes we’re so excited about the change and animated about the change that what has happened before or what is even happening in the present tense is low on our list of priorities.

Or we want to label it bad, because that’s the way we’ve thought about the change, but really pausing and honoring what came before you and all the reasonable decisions that led up to it, I think can be really helpful to getting people emotionally where you want them to be willing to be guided by you. Going back to Uber, when Dara Khosrowshahi came in.

CURT NICKISCH: This is the new CEO.

ANNE MORRISS: The new CEO.

CURT NICKISCH: Replaced Travis Kalanick, the founder and first CEO, yeah.

ANNE MORRISS: Yeah, and had his first all-hands meeting. One of his key messages, and this is a quote, was that he was going to retain the edge that had made Uber, “A force of nature.” And in that meeting, the crowd went wild because this is also a company that had been beaten up publicly for months and months and months, and it was a really powerful choice. And his predecessor, Travis was in the room, and he also honored Travis’ incredible work and investment in bringing the company to the place where it was.

And I would use words like grace to also describe those choices, but there’s also an incredible strategic value to naming the starting place for everybody in the room because in most cases, most people in that room played a role in getting to that starting place, and you’re acknowledging that.

CURT NICKISCH: You can call it grace. Somebody else might call it diplomatic or strategic. But yeah, I guess like it or not, it’s helpful to call out and honor the complexity of the way things have been done and also the change that’s happening.

ANNE MORRISS: Yeah, and the value. Sometimes honoring the past is also owning what didn’t work or what wasn’t working for stakeholders or segments of the employee team, and we see that around culture change. Sometimes you’ve got to acknowledge that it was not an equitable environment, but whatever the worker, everyone in that room is bringing that pass with them. So again, making it discussable and using it as the jumping off place is where we advise people to start.

Then you’ve earned the right to talk about the change mandate, which we suggest using clear and compelling language about the why. “This is what happened, this is where we are, this is the good and the bad of it, and here’s the case for change.”

And then the last part, which is to describe a rigorous and optimistic way forward. It’s a simple past, present, future arc, which will be familiar to human beings. We love stories as human beings. It’s among the most powerful currency we have to make sense of the world.

CURT NICKISCH: Yeah. Chronological is a pretty powerful order.

ANNE MORRISS: Right. But again, the change leaders we see really get it right, are investing an incredible amount of time into the storytelling part of their job. Ursula Burns, the Head of Xerox is famous for the months and years she spent on the road just telling the story of Xerox’s change, its pivot into services to everyone who would listen, and that was a huge part of her success.

CURT NICKISCH: So Friday or your fifth step, you end with empowering teams and removing roadblocks. That seems obvious, but it’s critical. Can you dig into that a little bit?

ANNE MORRISS: Yeah. Friday is the fun day. Friday’s the release of energy into the system. Again, you’ve now earned the right to go fast. You have a plan, you’re pretty confident it’s going to work. You’ve told the story of change the organization, and now you get to sprint. So this is about really executing with urgency, and it’s about a lot of the tactics of speed is where we focus in the book. So the tactics of empowerment, making tough strategic trade-offs so that your priorities are clear and clearly communicated, creating mechanisms to fast-track progress. At Etsy, CEO Josh Silverman, he labeled these projects ambulances. It’s an unfortunate metaphor, but it’s super memorable. These are the products that get to speed out in front of the other ones because the stakes are high and the clock is sticking.

CURT NICKISCH: You pull over and let it go by.

ANNE MORRISS: Yeah, exactly. And so we have to agree as an organization on how to do something like that. And so we see lots of great examples both in young organizations and big complex biotech companies with lots of regulatory guardrails have still found ways to do this gracefully.

And I think we end with this idea of conflict debt, which is a term we really love. Leanne Davey, who’s a team scholar and researcher, and anyone in a tech company will recognize the idea of tech debt, which is this weight the organization drags around until they resolve it. Conflict debt is a beautiful metaphor because it is this weight that we drag around and slows us down until we decide to clean it up and fix it. The organizations that are really getting speed right have figured out either formally or informally, how to create an environment where conflict and disagreements can be gracefully resolved.

CURT NICKISCH: Well, let’s talk about this speed more, right? Because I think this is one of those places that maybe people go wrong or take too long, and then you lose the awareness of the problem, you lose that urgency. And then that also just makes it less effective, right? It’s not just about getting the problem solved as quickly as possible. It’s also just speed in some ways helps solve the problem.

ANNE MORRISS: Oh, yeah. It really is the difference between imagining the change you want to lead and really being able to bring it to life. Speed is the thing that unlocks your ability to lead change. It needs a foundation, and that’s what Monday through Thursday is all about, steps one through four, but the finish line is executing with urgency, and it’s that urgency that releases the system’s energy, that communicates your priorities, that creates the conditions for your team to make progress.

CURT NICKISCH: Moving fast is something that entrepreneurs and tech companies certainly understand, but there’s also this awareness that with big companies, the bigger the organization, the harder it is to turn the aircraft carrier around, right? Is speed relative when you get at those levels, or do you think this is something that any company should be able to apply equally?

ANNE MORRISS: We think this applies to any company. The culture really lives at the level of team. So we believe you can make a tremendous amount of progress even within your circle of control as a team leader. I want to bring some humility to this and careful of words like universal, but we do think there’s some universal truths here around the value of speed, and then some of the byproducts like keeping fantastic people. Your best people want to solve problems, they want to execute, they want to make progress and speed, and the ability to do that is going to be a variable in their own equation of whether they stay or they go somewhere else where they can have an impact.

CURT NICKISCH: Right. They want to accomplish something before they go or before they retire or finish something out. And if you’re able to just bring more things on the horizon and have it not feel like it’s going to be another two years to do something meaningful.

ANNE MORRISS: People – I mean, they want to make stuff happen and they want to be around the energy and the vitality of making things happen, which again, is also a super infectious phenomenon. One of the most important jobs of a leader, we believe, is to set the metabolic pace of their teams and organizations. And so what we really dig into on Friday is, well, what does that look like to speed something up? What are the tactics of that?

CURT NICKISCH: I wonder if that universal truth, that a body in motion stays in motion applies to organizations, right? If an organization in motion stays in motion, there is something to that.

ANNE MORRISS: Absolutely.

CURT NICKISCH: Do you have a favorite client story to share, just where you saw speed just become a bit of a flywheel or just a positive reinforcement loop for more positive change at the organization?

ANNE MORRISS: Yeah. We work with a fair number of organizations that are on fire. We do a fair amount of firefighting, but we also less dramatically do a lot of fire prevention. So we’re brought into organizations that are working well and want to get better, looking out on the horizon. That work is super gratifying, and there is always a component of, well, how do we speed this up?

What I love about that work is there’s often already a high foundation of trust, and so it’s, well, how do we maintain that foundation but move this flywheel, as you said, even faster? And it’s really energizing because often there’s a lot of pent-up energy that… There’s a lot of loyalty to the organization, but often it’s also frustration and pent-up energy. And so when that gets released, when good people get the opportunity to sprint for the first time in a little while, it’s incredibly energizing, not just for us, but for the whole organization.

CURT NICKISCH: Anne, this is great. I think finding a way to solve problems better but also faster is going to be really helpful. So thanks for coming on the show to talk about it.

ANNE MORRISS: Oh, Curt, it was such a pleasure. This is my favorite conversation. I’m delighted to have it anytime.

HANNAH BATES: That was entrepreneur, leadership coach, and author Anne Morriss – in conversation with Curt Nickisch on HBR IdeaCast.

We’ll be back next Wednesday with another hand-picked conversation about business strategy from Harvard Business Review. If you found this episode helpful, share it with your friends and colleagues, and follow our show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. While you’re there, be sure to leave us a review.

When you’re ready for more podcasts, articles, case studies, books, and videos with the world’s top business and management experts, you’ll find it all at HBR.org.

This episode was produced by Mary Dooe, Anne Saini, and me, Hannah Bates. Ian Fox is our editor. Special thanks to Rob Eckhardt, Maureen Hoch, Erica Truxler, Ramsey Khabbaz, Nicole Smith, Anne Bartholomew, and you – our listener. See you next week.

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AI will make coding skills more, not less, valuable—and it’s more important than ever for children to learn them

The year 2024 has continued to see the long-awaited rise of generative AI in many aspects of life. Every day, we see news of the latest tools and developments to help with our needs, from generating a grocery list to coding a program. Artificial intelligence promises a bright future, an exciting prospect that also carries fears of the technology replacing humans and eliminating jobs . While this future is further ahead than many will claim, two facts remain true: AI and its fast growth present more opportunities rather than dangers, and we must continue to teach our children how to code so they can take advantage of the freedom of creativity that AI provides.

Generative AI is driven using LLMs, or large-language models. It learns by combining the prompts and queries you enter with the information available from many sources, including the web. Generative AI can create base code with a simple prompt, but it still needs an engineer or programmer to check that code, understand what needs to be modified, and then apply it to the right context and use in a program. AI frees the programmer from debugging and instead allows for a focus on creativity. It lets us reinvent a better wheel—a wheel that more people can access and benefit from.

With that in mind, consider the benefits of learning how to code in our increasingly technological world. Instead of having to go through hours of courses to learn base code, we are free to be creative, to think critically, and to problem-solve. With easier access to generating starting code, our children face lower barriers in learning how to use code to solve the problems of today and tomorrow. They can more freely collaborate, communicate, and create. The power of learning how to code is in the intangible skills of breaking down a problem piece by piece and approaching it in different ways to find a solution. Coding is one of the best mediums to combine problem-solving and technology.

For example, take the case where you need to use generative AI to draft an email. You wouldn’t simply copy and paste what your prompt yields; you would read through it, evaluate the word choice and tone, and then make edits to ensure accuracy. You would integrate your personal voice and reformat the AI’s results for consistency and style. AI provides the starting point, but you are ultimately responsible for the final product. You use your critical thinking skills and creativity to apply the generated results in the way you want and need.

Teaching our children how to code ensures that they can focus on their best work by being creative, modifying, and problem-solving. They won’t have to spend hours starting from scratch repeatedly or redoing work that’s already been done.

Coding jobs will evolve as AI improves

This also leads to the idea that not all coding jobs will be eliminated, they will just evolve. Programming positions today require an intensive number of hours to learn and master the coding languages that a specific job requires (i.e. Python, C#, etc.). This requirement for highly specialized knowledge to be qualified for a job will go away as AI continues to improve. It will continue to be critical to learn how to code in the future, but the knowledge and training a programmer needs will shift to knowing how to leverage tools and AI-built programs, rather than the hundreds of hours needed to master a specific programming language.

While there is a long pathway ahead for a generative AI tool to be 100% accurate and free of errors, there will be a time in the future when AI becomes the everyday tool to support our lives. Also, for every disruptive tool or invention, there are new jobs to improve and maintain such creations. In the programming world, there will always be a need for those who understand the code that drives the technology that we use.

In February, when Google’s AI Gemini was prompted to generate an image of a U.S. senator from the 1800s, the results were incorrect and comical —users reported images ranging from a group of Asian men dressed in Western period attire to Native American women in their traditional garb. Google engineers with the proper programming skills had to fix the logic and data being used by the AI. How many other times have we already seen so-called advanced generative AI tools require fixes or elimination of false statements in the past year alone?

The rise of AI presents unparalleled opportunities to innovate and expand our technological capabilities. By integrating AI into our lives, we free ourselves from the constraints of specialized knowledge, allowing us to focus on creativity and problem-solving. To fully leverage AI’s benefits, we must continue to teach our children the invaluable skills of coding. In doing so, we prepare them to thrive in a future where technology and creativity go hand in hand. Embrace AI and let us inspire the next generation to innovate and create like never before.

Ed Kim is vice president of education and training at Code Ninjas .

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The Art of Effective Problem Solving: A Step-by-Step Guide

Daniel Croft

Daniel Croft is an experienced continuous improvement manager with a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt and a Bachelor's degree in Business Management. With more than ten years of experience applying his skills across various industries, Daniel specializes in optimizing processes and improving efficiency. His approach combines practical experience with a deep understanding of business fundamentals to drive meaningful change.

Last Updated: February 6, 2023
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Problem Solving

Whether we realise it or not, problem solving skills are an important part of our daily lives. From resolving a minor annoyance at home to tackling complex business challenges at work, our ability to solve problems has a significant impact on our success and happiness. However, not everyone is naturally gifted at problem-solving, and even those who are can always improve their skills. In this blog post, we will go over the art of effective problem-solving step by step.

You will learn how to define a problem, gather information, assess alternatives, and implement a solution, all while honing your critical thinking and creative problem-solving skills. Whether you’re a seasoned problem solver or just getting started, this guide will arm you with the knowledge and tools you need to face any challenge with confidence. So let’s get started!

Problem Solving Methodologies

Individuals and organisations can use a variety of problem-solving methodologies to address complex challenges. 8D and A3 problem solving techniques are two popular methodologies in the Lean Six Sigma framework.

Methodology of 8D (Eight Discipline) Problem Solving:

The 8D problem solving methodology is a systematic, team-based approach to problem solving. It is a method that guides a team through eight distinct steps to solve a problem in a systematic and comprehensive manner.

The 8D process consists of the following steps:

Form a team: Assemble a group of people who have the necessary expertise to work on the problem.
Define the issue: Clearly identify and define the problem, including the root cause and the customer impact.
Create a temporary containment plan: Put in place a plan to lessen the impact of the problem until a permanent solution can be found.
Identify the root cause: To identify the underlying causes of the problem, use root cause analysis techniques such as Fishbone diagrams and Pareto charts.
Create and test long-term corrective actions: Create and test a long-term solution to eliminate the root cause of the problem.
Implement and validate the permanent solution: Implement and validate the permanent solution’s effectiveness.
Prevent recurrence: Put in place measures to keep the problem from recurring.
Recognize and reward the team: Recognize and reward the team for its efforts.

Download the 8D Problem Solving Template

A3 Problem Solving Method:

The A3 problem solving technique is a visual, team-based problem-solving approach that is frequently used in Lean Six Sigma projects. The A3 report is a one-page document that clearly and concisely outlines the problem, root cause analysis, and proposed solution.

The A3 problem-solving procedure consists of the following steps:

Determine the issue: Define the issue clearly, including its impact on the customer.
Perform root cause analysis: Identify the underlying causes of the problem using root cause analysis techniques.
Create and implement a solution: Create and implement a solution that addresses the problem’s root cause.
Monitor and improve the solution: Keep an eye on the solution’s effectiveness and make any necessary changes.

Subsequently, in the Lean Six Sigma framework, the 8D and A3 problem solving methodologies are two popular approaches to problem solving. Both methodologies provide a structured, team-based problem-solving approach that guides individuals through a comprehensive and systematic process of identifying, analysing, and resolving problems in an effective and efficient manner.

Step 1 – Define the Problem

The definition of the problem is the first step in effective problem solving. This may appear to be a simple task, but it is actually quite difficult. This is because problems are frequently complex and multi-layered, making it easy to confuse symptoms with the underlying cause. To avoid this pitfall, it is critical to thoroughly understand the problem.

To begin, ask yourself some clarifying questions:

What exactly is the issue?
What are the problem’s symptoms or consequences?
Who or what is impacted by the issue?
When and where does the issue arise?

Answering these questions will assist you in determining the scope of the problem. However, simply describing the problem is not always sufficient; you must also identify the root cause. The root cause is the underlying cause of the problem and is usually the key to resolving it permanently.

Try asking “why” questions to find the root cause:

What causes the problem?
Why does it continue?
Why does it have the effects that it does?

By repeatedly asking “ why ,” you’ll eventually get to the bottom of the problem. This is an important step in the problem-solving process because it ensures that you’re dealing with the root cause rather than just the symptoms.

Once you have a firm grasp on the issue, it is time to divide it into smaller, more manageable chunks. This makes tackling the problem easier and reduces the risk of becoming overwhelmed. For example, if you’re attempting to solve a complex business problem, you might divide it into smaller components like market research, product development, and sales strategies.

To summarise step 1, defining the problem is an important first step in effective problem-solving. You will be able to identify the root cause and break it down into manageable parts if you take the time to thoroughly understand the problem. This will prepare you for the next step in the problem-solving process, which is gathering information and brainstorming ideas.

Step 2 – Gather Information and Brainstorm Ideas

Gathering information and brainstorming ideas is the next step in effective problem solving. This entails researching the problem and relevant information, collaborating with others, and coming up with a variety of potential solutions. This increases your chances of finding the best solution to the problem.

Begin by researching the problem and relevant information. This could include reading articles, conducting surveys, or consulting with experts. The goal is to collect as much information as possible in order to better understand the problem and possible solutions.

Next, work with others to gather a variety of perspectives. Brainstorming with others can be an excellent way to come up with new and creative ideas. Encourage everyone to share their thoughts and ideas when working in a group, and make an effort to actively listen to what others have to say. Be open to new and unconventional ideas and resist the urge to dismiss them too quickly.

Finally, use brainstorming to generate a wide range of potential solutions. This is the place where you can let your imagination run wild. At this stage, don’t worry about the feasibility or practicality of the solutions; instead, focus on generating as many ideas as possible. Write down everything that comes to mind, no matter how ridiculous or unusual it may appear. This can be done individually or in groups.

Once you’ve compiled a list of potential solutions, it’s time to assess them and select the best one. This is the next step in the problem-solving process, which we’ll go over in greater detail in the following section.

Step 3 – Evaluate Options and Choose the Best Solution

Once you’ve compiled a list of potential solutions, it’s time to assess them and select the best one. This is the third step in effective problem solving, and it entails weighing the advantages and disadvantages of each solution, considering their feasibility and practicability, and selecting the solution that is most likely to solve the problem effectively.

To begin, weigh the advantages and disadvantages of each solution. This will assist you in determining the potential outcomes of each solution and deciding which is the best option. For example, a quick and easy solution may not be the most effective in the long run, whereas a more complex and time-consuming solution may be more effective in solving the problem in the long run.

Consider each solution’s feasibility and practicability. Consider the following:

Can the solution be implemented within the available resources, time, and budget?
What are the possible barriers to implementing the solution?
Is the solution feasible in today’s political, economic, and social environment?

You’ll be able to tell which solutions are likely to succeed and which aren’t by assessing their feasibility and practicability.

Finally, choose the solution that is most likely to effectively solve the problem. This solution should be based on the criteria you’ve established, such as the advantages and disadvantages of each solution, their feasibility and practicability, and your overall goals.

It is critical to remember that there is no one-size-fits-all solution to problems. What is effective for one person or situation may not be effective for another. This is why it is critical to consider a wide range of solutions and evaluate each one based on its ability to effectively solve the problem.

Step 4 – Implement and Monitor the Solution

Communication the missing peice from Lean Six Sigma - Learnleansigma

When you’ve decided on the best solution, it’s time to put it into action. The fourth and final step in effective problem solving is to put the solution into action, monitor its progress, and make any necessary adjustments.

To begin, implement the solution. This may entail delegating tasks, developing a strategy, and allocating resources. Ascertain that everyone involved understands their role and responsibilities in the solution’s implementation.

Next, keep an eye on the solution’s progress. This may entail scheduling regular check-ins, tracking metrics, and soliciting feedback from others. You will be able to identify any potential roadblocks and make any necessary adjustments in a timely manner if you monitor the progress of the solution.

Finally, make any necessary modifications to the solution. This could entail changing the solution, altering the plan of action, or delegating different tasks. Be willing to make changes if they will improve the solution or help it solve the problem more effectively.

It’s important to remember that problem solving is an iterative process, and there may be times when you need to start from scratch. This is especially true if the initial solution does not effectively solve the problem. In these situations, it’s critical to be adaptable and flexible and to keep trying new solutions until you find the one that works best.

To summarise, effective problem solving is a critical skill that can assist individuals and organisations in overcoming challenges and achieving their objectives. Effective problem solving consists of four key steps: defining the problem, generating potential solutions, evaluating alternatives and selecting the best solution, and implementing the solution.

You can increase your chances of success in problem solving by following these steps and considering factors such as the pros and cons of each solution, their feasibility and practicability, and making any necessary adjustments. Furthermore, keep in mind that problem solving is an iterative process, and there may be times when you need to go back to the beginning and restart. Maintain your adaptability and try new solutions until you find the one that works best for you.

Novick, L.R. and Bassok, M., 2005. Problem Solving . Cambridge University Press.

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Daniel Croft is a seasoned continuous improvement manager with a Black Belt in Lean Six Sigma. With over 10 years of real-world application experience across diverse sectors, Daniel has a passion for optimizing processes and fostering a culture of efficiency. He's not just a practitioner but also an avid learner, constantly seeking to expand his knowledge. Outside of his professional life, Daniel has a keen Investing, statistics and knowledge-sharing, which led him to create the website learnleansigma.com, a platform dedicated to Lean Six Sigma and process improvement insights.

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Problem-Solving
Learn the four types of problems and explore the process of lean problem solving to overcome obstacles and improve work processes.
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Problem-solving is a multifaceted endeavor that requires a variety of tools and techniques to navigate effectively. Different stages of the problem-solving process can benefit from specific strategies, enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of the solutions developed.
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The 5 Whys technique is one of the most commonly used Lean Six Sigma tools for problem-solving. It involves asking "why" at least five times to get to the root cause of a particular issue or problem.
The 8 Essential LEAN Techniques You Need to Know
Free Six Sigma Green Belt Certification trainings briefly discuss Lean Techniques. Because Lean methods and the Six Sigma method go hand in hand. Lean is part of the Six Sigma approach to problem-solving as eliminating waste goes a long way to solving problems in any process. You can read more about Lean Project Management.
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A3 Problem solving is a structured and systematic approach to problem-solving that originated with the lean manufacturing methodology. It visualizes the problem-solving process using a one-page document known as an A3 report. The A3 report provides an overview of the problem, data analysis, root causes, solutions, and results in a clear and concise manner.
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Learn Lean Sigma. Guide. Guide: 8D Problem Solving. 8D Problem Solving is a systematic and structured approach used to solve business related problems. It names has been given by the fact there are 8 steps or 8 disciplines that are followed to identify, correct and eliminate recurring problems. 8D Problem Solving is regarded as robust ...
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LEAN is a powerful concept that blends a set of techniques and a methodology to provide a complete problem-solving framework. It's applicable universally.
8D: Tools and Techniques
An effective problem-solving team is not just a group of people; it's a carefully chosen set of individuals with complementary skills and clearly defined roles. Utilizing tools like the RACI Matrix and Skills Matrix can immensely help in this phase, setting the stage for a successful problem-solving endeavor.
Four Lean Tools for Simple Problem Solving
By using lean strategies, you'll have a better chance of identifying problems, determining the root causes, and creating the most effective solutions to get the best outcomes. And if you learn how to effectively use various lean problem solving techniques, your operations can improve and become more efficient.
Structured Problem Solving
BSM's methodology inherently supports good Structured Problem Solving. The visual management systems developed as part of our Lean Lab implementations allow the perfect framework to facilitate the 8-steps. The use of Short Interval Control and properly developed KPI's ensure that first three steps are easy to complete as the data and ...
Problem Solving Skills in Lean Manufacturing
Lean Manufacturing, a methodology that focuses on minimizing waste within manufacturing systems while maximizing productivity, can be greatly enhanced by applying effective problem-solving skills.
How to Scale Agile Software Development with Technology and Lean
Lean can complement and scale an agile culture with techniques like obeyas, systematic problem-solving, one-piece-flow and takt time, and kaizen.
AudioA Better Framework for Solving Tough Problems
But Anne Morriss offers a different framework. In this episode, she outlines a five-step process for solving any problem and explains why starting with trust and ending with speed is so important ...
8 Disiplines of Problem Solving (8D)
The 8D Problem Solving methodology is commonly known as "Eight Disciplines of Problem Solving" or simply "8D." It is a structured, team-based approach to identifying, analyzing, and resolving problems, particularly in the areas of product quality and process efficiency.
Problem-solving Skills for Cross-Functional Teams
Here are some ways to demonstrate problem-solving skills in a cross-functional team. 1. Identify Root Causes. Provide a detailed explanation of the problem, guaranteeing understanding among all team members. Encourage open discussion, and gather a variety of viewpoints, from customers, employees, managers, and stakeholders.
AI will make coding skills more, not less, valuable—and it's more
AI's ability to generate base code will free up tomorrow's programmers—kids today—to better focus on creativity and problem-solving.
The Art of Effective Problem Solving: A Step-by-Step Guide
You will learn how to define a problem, gather information, assess alternatives, and implement a solution, all while honing your critical thinking and creative problem-solving skills. Whether you're a seasoned problem solver or just getting started, this guide will arm you with the knowledge and tools you need to face any challenge with confidence. So let's get started!