problem solving roles and responsibilities

ITSM for high-velocity teams

Problem management roles and responsibilities.

Problem management is about more than just finding and fixing incidents. Real problem management lies in identifying and understanding the underlying causes of an incident as well as identifying the best method to eliminate that root cause. 

That’s why effective problem management efforts consist of teams operating under clear roles and responsibilities. Team members understand what the roles are, what each person is responsible for, and who is in each role during a problem investigation.

Here are a few of the most common problem management roles. It’s important to understand that not every team will operate with every role on this list. And these aren’t necessarily permanent roles. Instead, think of them as designations for a team that comes together to work on a particular problem.

Problem manager

The problem owner manages the overall process for a specific problem. They coordinate and direct all facets of the problem management effort, including bringing the right teams, tools, and information together. The problem manager may also delegate subtasks to other team members as they see fit.

Also called : Problem owner, Major Incident Manager

Process owner

The process owner is responsible for the overall health and success of the team’s problem management process. They oversee evolution and development of the process, as well as team member training and onboarding.

Also called : Process manager, process coordinator

Service owner

The service owner is responsible for defining ongoing operations and health of the service. This can include measuring and reporting on the value of changes, enhancements, planned downtime, training, documentation, and more.

Also called : Service leader, product manager

Service desk agent

Front-line support for your service desk . The service desk agent is often the first to notice and report an incident or problem. The agent is often also the first person to notice that several unique incidents all relate to a greater problem.

Also called : Agent, Service agent, Support Agent, Help desk agent, Service desk analyst

An individual familiar with the impacted service experiencing a problem or incident. Often a developer or engineer, the tech lead can dive into recent code changes to see what root causes may be contributing to the problem.

Also called : Technical lead, subject matter expert, on-call engineer, developer, software developer, Site Reliability Engineer (SRE)

Stakeholders

Stakeholders can be whoever needs high-level info on the problem but isn’t directly involved in the problem management process. This can be anyone from adjacent teams, to customers, and organizational leaders.

Also called : Customers, executive teams, vendors, end users, business teams

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What Is a Problem Manager? Roles and Responsibilities

Explaining the role played by a Problem Manager

IT teams are professional problem-solvers, whether they’re responding to incidents or developing new technology to meet unfilled needs. But while the problem manager’s title might suggest otherwise, their job is not to solve problems; it’s to help businesses avoid them. 

The problem manager plays a key role in ITSM (IT Service Management). Their primary objective is to identify potential problems, prevent incidents that can be avoided, and minimize the fallout from those that can’t.

What exactly does a problem manager do? What are their roles and responsibilities, goals, and challenges? Where do they fit into the IT organization? And what skills and tools do they use to get the job done?

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What Is Problem Management? 

Problem management is a set of processes used to manage the lifecycle of all problems that arise during IT service delivery. The goal is to identify the underlying causes of recurring problems and find permanent solutions. For known problems that can’t be avoided, effective problem management minimizes the impact on the business. 

Problem management is a key component of ITSM—the processes used to design, support, and manage IT service delivery. Other core ITSM processes include: incident management, knowledge management, change management, and service request management. IT organizations manage these processes based on an ITSM framework , the most popular being ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library). 

Although the terms “problem” and “incident” are often used interchangeably, there is a difference between problem management vs incident management . According to the ITIL framework, incident management focuses on responding to unplanned events that disrupt services. ITIL problem management focuses on understanding why these incidents happen and how to avoid them in the future.

Simply put, incidents are problems. Problem managers seek to learn what causes those problems.

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13 Leadership, Roles, and Problem Solving in Groups

Introduction

13.1 Group Member Roles

Task-related roles and behaviors.

Task roles and their related behaviors contribute directly to the group’s completion of a task or achievement of its goal or purpose. Task-related roles typically serve leadership, informational, or procedural functions. In this section, we will discuss the following roles and behaviors: task leader, expediter, information provider, information seeker, gatekeeper, and recorder.

Task Leader

Within any group, there may be a task leader. This person may have a high group status because of his or her maturity, problem-solving abilities, knowledge, and/or leadership experience and skills. This person acts to help the group complete its task (Cragan & Wright, 1991). This person may be a designated or emergent leader, but in either case, task leaders tend to talk more during group interactions than other group members and also tend to do more work in the group. Depending on the number of tasks a group has, there may be more than one task leader, especially if the tasks require different sets of skills or knowledge. Because of the added responsibilities of being a task leader, people in these roles may experience higher levels of stress. A task leader could lessen these stresses, however, through some of the maintenance role behaviors that will be discussed later.

We can divide task-leader behaviors two types: substantive and procedural (Pavitt, 1999). The substantive leader is the “idea person” who communicates “big picture” thoughts and suggestions that feed group discussion. The procedural leader is the person who gives the most guidance, perhaps following up on the ideas generated by the substantive leader. A skilled and experienced task leader may be able to perform both of these roles, but when the roles are filled by two different people, the person considered the procedural leader is more likely than the substantive leader to be viewed by members as the overall group leader. This indicates that task-focused groups assign more status to the person who actually guides the group toward the completion of the task (a “doer”) than the person who comes up with ideas (the “thinker”).

The expediter is a task-related role that functions to keep the group on track toward completing its task by managing the agenda and setting and assessing goals in order to monitor the group’s progress (Burke, Georganta, & Marlow, 2019). An expediter doesn’t push group members mindlessly along toward the completion of their task; an expediter must have a good sense of when a topic has been sufficiently discussed or when a group’s extended focus on one area has led to diminishing returns. In such cases, the expediter may say, “Now that we’ve had a thorough discussion of the pros and cons of switching the office from PCs to Macs, which side do you think has more support?” or “We’ve spent half of this meeting looking for examples of what other libraries have done and haven’t found anything useful. Maybe we should switch gears so we can get something concrete done tonight.”

To avoid the perception that group members are being rushed, a skilled expediter can demonstrate good active-listening skills by paraphrasing what has been discussed and summarizing what has been accomplished in such a way that makes it easier for group members to see the need to move on.

Information Provider

The information provider role includes behaviors that are more evenly shared compared to other roles, as ideally, all group members present new ideas, initiate discussions of new topics, and contribute their own relevant knowledge and experiences Burke, Georganta, & Marlow, 2019). When group members meet, they each possess different types of information. Early group meetings may consist of group members taking turns briefing each other on their area of expertise. In other situations, one group member may be chosen because of his or her specialized knowledge. This person may be the primary information provider for all other group members. For example, one of our colleagues was selected to serve on a university committee reviewing our undergraduate learning goals. Since her official role was to serve as the “faculty expert” on the subcommittee related to speaking, she played a more central information-provider function for the group during most of the initial meetings. Since other people on the subcommittee were not as familiar with speaking and its place within higher education curriculum, it made sense that information-providing behaviors were not as evenly distributed.

Information Seeker

The information seeker asks for more information, elaboration, or clarification on items relevant to the group’s task Burke, Georganta, & Marlow, 2019). The information sought may include facts or group member opinions. In general, information seekers ask questions for clarification, but they can also ask questions that help provide an important evaluative function. Most groups could benefit from more critically oriented information-seeking behaviors. As our discussion of groupthink notes, critical questioning helps increase the quality of ideas and group outcomes and helps avoid groupthink. By asking for more information, people have to defend (in a non-adversarial way) and/or support their claims, which can help ensure that the information is credible, relevant, and thoroughly considered. When information seeking or questioning occurs because of poor listening skills, it risks negatively affecting the group. Skilled information providers and seekers are also good active listeners. They increase all group members’ knowledge when they paraphrase and ask clarifying questions about the information presented.

The gatekeeper manages the flow of conversation in a group in order to achieve an appropriate balance so that all group members get to participate in a meaningful way Burke, Georganta, & Marlow, 2019). The gatekeeper may prompt others to provide information by saying something like “Let’s each share one idea we have for a movie to show during Black History Month.” He or she may also help correct an imbalance between members who have provided much information already and members who have been quiet by saying something like “Aretha, we’ve heard a lot from you today. Let us hear from someone else. Beau, what are your thoughts on Aretha’s suggestion?” Gatekeepers should be cautious about “calling people out” or at least making them feel that way. Instead of scolding someone for not participating, the gatekeeper should be ask a member to contribute something specific instead of just asking if that person has anything to add. Since gatekeepers make group members feel included, they also service the relational aspects of the group.

The recorder takes notes on the discussion and activities that occur during a group meeting. The recorder is the only role that is essentially limited to one person at a time since in most cases it would not be necessary or beneficial to have more than one person recording. At less formal meetings, there may be no recorder, while at formal meetings there is usually a person who records meeting minutes, which are an overview of what occurred at the meeting. Each committee will have different rules or norms regarding the level of detail within and availability of the minutes.

Maintenance Roles and Behaviors

Maintenance roles and their corresponding behaviors function to create and maintain social cohesion and fulfill the interpersonal needs of group members. All these role behaviors require strong and sensitive interpersonal skills. The maintenance roles we will discuss in this section include social-emotional leader, supporter, tension releaser, harmonizer, and interpreter.

Social-Emotional Leader

The social-emotional leader within a group may perform a variety of maintenance roles and is generally someone who is well liked by the other group members and whose role behaviors complement but do not compete with the task leader. The social-emotional leader may also reassure and support the task leader when he or she is stressed (Koch, 2013). In general, the social-emotional leader is a reflective thinker who has good perception skills that he or she uses to analyze the group dynamics and climate and then initiate the appropriate role behaviors to maintain a positive climate. This is not a role that shifts from person to person. While all members of the group perform some maintenance role behaviors at various times, the socioemotional leader reliably functions to support group members and maintain a positive relational climate. Social-emotional leadership functions can actually become detrimental to the group and lead to less satisfaction among members when they view maintenance behaviors as redundant or as too distracting from the task (Pavitt, 1999).

The role of supporter is characterized by communication behaviors that encourage other group members and provide emotional support as needed (Koch, 2013). The supporter’s work primarily occurs in one-on-one exchanges that are more intimate and in-depth than the exchanges that take place during full group meetings. While many group members may make supporting comments publicly at group meetings, these comments are typically superficial and/or brief. A supporter uses active empathetic listening skills to connect with group members who may seem down or frustrated by saying something like “Tayesha, you seemed kind of down today. Is there anything you’d like to talk about?” Supporters also follow up on previous conversations with group members to maintain the connections they have already established by saying things like “Alan, I remember you said your mom is having surgery this weekend. I hope it goes well. Let me know if you need anything.”

Tension Releaser

The tension releaser is someone who is naturally funny and sensitive to the personalities of the group and the dynamics of any given situation and who uses these qualities to manage the frustration level of the group (Koch, 2013). Being funny is not enough to fulfill this role, as jokes or comments could indeed be humorous to other group members but are delivered at an inopportune time, which ultimately creates rather than releases tension. The healthy use of humor by the tension releaser performs the same maintenance function as the empathy employed by the harmonizer or the social-emotional leader, but it is less intimate and is typically directed toward the whole group instead of just one person.

Group members who help manage the various types of group conflict that emerge during group communication plays the harmonizer role (Koch, 2013). They keep their eyes and ears open for signs of conflict among group members and ideally intervene before it escalates. For example, the harmonizer may sense that one group member’s critique of another member’s idea was not received positively, and he or she may be able to rephrase the critique in a more constructive way, which can help diminish the other group member’s defensiveness. Harmonizers also deescalate conflict once it has already started—for example, by suggesting that the group take a break and then mediating between group members in a side conversation.

These actions can help prevent conflict from spilling over into other group interactions. In cases where the whole group experiences conflict, the harmonizer may help lead the group in perception-checking discussions that help members see an issue from multiple perspectives. For a harmonizer to be effective, he or she must be viewed as impartial and committed to the group as a whole rather than to one side, person, or faction within the larger group. A special kind of harmonizer that helps manage cultural differences within the group is the interpreter.

Interpreter

An interpreter helps manage the diversity within a group by mediating intercultural conflict, articulating common ground between different people, and generally creating a climate where difference is seen as an opportunity rather than as something to be feared (Koch, 2013). Just as an interpreter at the United Nations acts as a bridge between two different languages, the interpreter can bridge identity differences between group members. Interpreters can help perform the other maintenance roles discussed with a special awareness of and sensitivity toward cultural differences. Interpreters, because of their cultural sensitivity, may also take a proactive role to help address conflict before it emerges—for example, by taking a group member aside and explaining why his or her behavior or comments may be perceived as offensive.

Negative Roles and Behaviors

Group communication scholars began exploring the negative side of group member roles more than sixty years ago (Benne & Sheats, 1948). Studying these negative roles can help us analyze group interactions and potentially better understand why some groups are more successful than others are. It is important to acknowledge that we all perform some negative behaviors within groups but that those behaviors do not necessarily constitute a role. A person may temporarily monopolize a discussion to bring attention to his or her idea. If that behavior gets the attention of the group members and makes them realize they were misinformed or headed in a negative direction, then that behavior may have been warranted. Group members may enact negative behaviors with varying degrees of intensity and regularity, and their effects may range from mild annoyance to group failure. In general, the effects grow increasingly negative as they increase in intensity and frequency.

Self-Centered Roles Central Negative

The central negative argues against most of the ideas and proposals discussed in the group and often emerges because of a leadership challenge during group formation. The failed attempt to lead the group can lead to feelings of resentment toward the leader and/or the purpose of the group, which then manifest in negative behaviors that delay, divert, or block the group’s progress toward achieving its goal. This scenario is unfortunate because the central negative is typically a motivated and intelligent group member who can benefit the group if properly handled by the group leader or other members. Group communication scholars suggest that the group leader or leaders actively incorporate central negatives into group tasks and responsibilities to make them feel valued and to help diminish any residual anger, disappointment, or hurt feelings from the leadership conflict (Bormann & Bormann, 1988). Otherwise, the central negative will continue to argue against the proposals and decisions of the group, even when they may agree. In some cases, the central negative may unintentionally serve a beneficial function if his or her criticisms prevent groupthink.

Monopolizer

The monopolizer is a group member who makes excessive verbal contributions, preventing equal participation by other group members. In short, monopolizers like to hear the sound of their own voice and do not follow typical norms for conversational turn taking. Some people who are well-informed, charismatic, and competent communicators can get away with impromptu lectures and long stories, but monopolizers do not possess the magnetic qualities of such people. A group member’s excessive verbal contributions are more likely to be labeled as monopolizing when they are not related to the task or when they provide unnecessary or redundant elaboration. Some monopolizers do not intentionally speak for longer than they should. Instead, they think they are making a genuine contribution to the group. These folks likely lack sensitivity to nonverbal cues, or they would see that other group members are tired of listening or annoyed. Other monopolizers just like to talk and do not care what others think. Some may be trying to make up for a lack of knowledge or experience. This type of monopolizer is best described as a dilettante, or an amateur who tries to pass himself or herself off as an expert.

Several subgroups of behaviors fall under the monopolizer’s role. The “stage hog” monopolizes discussion with excessive verbal contributions and engages in one-upping and narcissistic listening. Gaining an advantage over is a spotlight-stealing strategy in which people try to verbally “out-do” others by saying something like “You think that’s bad? Listen to what happened to me!” They also listen to others in order to find something they can connect back to themselves, not to understand the message. The stage hog is like the diva that refuses to leave the stage to let the next performer begin. Unlike a monopolizer, who may engage in his or her behaviors unknowingly, stage hogs are usually aware of what they are doing.

The “egghead” monopolizes the discussion with excessive contributions based in actual knowledge. However, those contributions exceed the level of understanding of other group members or the needs of the group (Cragan & Wright, 1999). The egghead is different from the dilettante monopolizer discussed earlier because this person has genuine knowledge and expertise on a subject, which may be useful to the group. Nevertheless, like the monopolizer and stage hog, the egghead’s excessive contributions draw attention away from the task, slow the group down, and may contribute to a negative group climate. The egghead may be like an absentminded professor who is smart but lacks the social sensitivity to tell when he or she has said enough and is now starting to annoy other group members. This type of egghead naively believes that other group members care as much about the subject as he or she does.

The second type of egghead is more pompous and monopolizes the discussion to flaunt his or her intellectual superiority. While the group may tolerate the first type of egghead to a point, the group may perceive the second type of egghead more negatively and as one who will hurt the group. In general, the egghead’s advanced subject knowledge and excessive contributions can hurt the group’s potential for synergy, since other group members may defer to the egghead expert, which can diminish the creativity that comes from outside and non-expert perspectives.

13.2 Problem Solving and Decision Making in Groups

Group problem solving.

The problem-solving process involves thoughts, discussions, actions, and decisions that occur from the first consideration of a problematic situation to the goal. The problems that groups face are varied, but some common problems include budgeting funds, raising funds, planning events, addressing customer or citizen complaints, creating or adapting products or services to fit needs, supporting members, and raising awareness about issues or causes. Problems of all sorts have three common components (Adams & Galanes, 2009):

• An undesirable situation. When conditions are desirable, there is not a problem.
• A desired situation. Even though it may only be a vague idea, there is a drive to better the undesirable situation. The vague idea may develop into a more precise goal that can be achieved, although solutions are not yet generated.
• Obstacles between undesirable and desirable situation. These things stand in the way between the current situation and the group’s goal of addressing it. This component of a problem requires the most work, and it is the part where decision-making occurs. Some examples of obstacles include limited funding, resources, personnel, time, or information. Obstacles can also take the form of people who are working against the group, including people resistant to change or people who disagree.

Discussion of these three elements of a problem helps the group tailor its problem-solving process, as each problem will vary. While these three general elements are present in each problem, the group should also address specific characteristics of the problem. Five common and important characteristics to consider are task difficulty, number of possible solutions, group member interest in problem, group member familiarity with problem, and the need for solution acceptance (Adams & Galanes, 2009).

• Task difficulty. Difficult tasks are also typically more complex. Groups should be prepared to spend time researching and discussing a difficult and complex task in order to develop a shared foundational knowledge. This typically requires individual work outside of the group and frequent group meetings to share information.
• Number of possible solutions. There are usually multiple ways to solve a problem or complete a task, but some problems have more potential solutions than others do. Figuring out how to prepare a beach house for an approaching hurricane is fairly complex and difficult, but there are still a limited number of things to do—for example, taping and boarding up windows; turning off water, electricity, and gas; trimming trees; and securing loose outside objects. Other problems may require more creativity. For example, designing a new restaurant may entail using some standard solutions but could also entail many different types of innovation with layout and design.
• Group member interest in problem. When group members are interested in the problem, they will be more engaged with the problem-solving process and invested in finding a quality solution. Groups with high interest in and knowledge about the problem may want more freedom to develop and implement solutions, while groups with low interest may prefer a leader who provides structure and direction.
• Group familiarity with problem. Some groups encounter a problem regularly, while other problems are unique or unexpected. A family who has lived in hurricane alley for decades probably has a better idea of how to prepare its house for a hurricane than does a family that just recently moved from the Midwest. Many groups that rely on funding have to revisit a budget every year, and in recent years, groups have had to get more creative with budgets due to funding cuts in nearly every sector. When group members are not familiar with a problem, they will need to do background research on what similar groups have done. They may want to bring in outside experts.
• Need for solution acceptance. In this step, groups must consider how many people the decision will affect and how much “buy-in” from others the group needs in order implement their solution successfully. Some small groups have many stakeholders on whom the success of a solution depends. Other groups are answerable only to themselves. In such cases, groups will want to poll those who will be affected by the solution. They may want to do a pilot implementation to see how people react. Imposing an excellent solution that does not have buy-in from stakeholders can still lead to failure.

Group Problem-Solving Process

There are several variations of similar problem-solving models based on scholar John Dewey’s reflective thinking process (Bormann & Bormann, 1988). As you read the steps in the process, think about how you can apply what we learned regarding the general and specific elements of problems.

Step 1: Define the Problem

Define the problem by considering the three elements shared by every problem: the current undesirable situation, the goal or more desirable situation, and obstacles in the way (Adams & Galanes, 2009). At this stage, group members share what they know about the current situation, without proposing solutions or evaluating the information. Here are some questions to ask during this stage: What is the current difficulty? How did we come to know that the difficulty exists? Who or what is involved? Why is it meaningful/urgent/important? What have the effects been so far? What, if any, elements of the difficulty require clarification?

At the end of this stage, the group should be able to compose a single sentence that summarizes the problem called a problem statement . Avoid wording in the problem statement or question that hints at potential solutions. A small group formed to investigate ethical violations of city officials could use the following problem statement: “Our state does not currently have a mechanism for citizens to report suspected ethical violations by city officials.”

Step 2: Analyze the Problem

During this step, a group should analyze the problem and the group’s relationship to the problem. Whereas the first step involved exploring the “what” related to the problem, this step focuses on the “why.” At this stage, group members can discuss the potential causes of the difficulty. Group members may also want to begin setting out an agenda or timeline for the group’s problem-solving process, looking forward to the other steps. To analyze the problem, the group can discuss the five common problem variables discussed before. Here are two examples of questions that the group formed to address ethics violations might ask: Why doesn’t our city have an ethics reporting mechanism? Do cities of similar size have such a mechanism? Once the problem has been analyzed, the group can pose a problem question that will guide the group as it generates possible solutions. “How can citizens report suspected ethical violations of city officials and how will such reports be processed and addressed?” As you can see, the problem question is more complex than the problem statement, since the group has moved on to more in-depth discussion of the problem during step 2.

Step 3: Generate Possible Solutions

During this step, group members generate possible solutions to the problem. Again, do not evaluate solutions at this point, only propose and clarify. The question should be what could we do to address this problem, not what should we do to address it? It is perfectly OK for a group member to question another person’s idea by asking something like “What do you mean?” or “Could you explain your reasoning more?” Discussions at this stage may reveal a need to return to previous steps to better define or more fully analyze a problem. Since many problems are multifaceted, it is necessary for group members to generate solutions for each part of the problem separately, making sure to have multiple solutions for each part. Stopping the solution-generating process prematurely can lead to groupthink.

Step 4: Evaluate Solutions

During this step, solutions can be critically evaluated based on their credibility, completeness, and worth. Once the potential solutions have been narrowed based on differences in relevance and/or merit, the group should analyze each solution based on its potential effects—especially negative effects. Groups that are required to report the rationale for their decision or whose decisions may be subject to public scrutiny would be wise to make a set list of criteria for evaluating each solution.

Additionally, solutions can be evaluated based on how well they fit with the group’s charge and the abilities of the group. To do this, group members may ask, “Does this solution live up to the original purpose or mission of the group?” “Can the solution actually be implemented with our current resources and connections?” “How will this solution be supported, funded, enforced, and assessed?” Secondary tensions and substantive conflict, two concepts discussed earlier, emerge during this step of problem solving, and group members will need to employ effective critical thinking and listening skills.

Decision-making is part of the larger process of problem solving and it plays a prominent role in this step. While there are several similar models for problem solving, groups can use many varied decision-making techniques. For example, to narrow the list of proposed solutions, group members may decide by majority vote, by weighing the pros and cons, or by discussing them until they reach a consensus. There are also more complex decision-making models like the “six hats method,” which we will discuss later. Once the group reaches a final decision, the group leader or facilitator should confirm that the group agrees. It may be beneficial to let the group break for a while or even to delay the final decision until a later meeting to allow people time to evaluate it outside of the group context.

Step 5: Implement and Assess the Solution

Implementing the solution requires some advanced planning, and it should not be rushed unless the group is operating under strict time restraints or a delay may lead to some kind of harm. Although some solutions can be implemented immediately, others may take days, months, or years. As was noted earlier, it may be beneficial for groups to poll those who will be affected by the solution as to their opinion of it or even to do a pilot test to observe the effectiveness of the solution and how people react to it. Before implementation, groups should also determine how and when they would assess the effectiveness of the solution by asking, “How will we know if the solution is working or not?” Since solution assessment will vary based on whether or not the group is disbanded, groups should also consider the following questions: If the group disbands after implementation, who will be responsible for assessing the solution? If the solution fails, will the same group reconvene? Will a new group be formed?

Certain elements of the solution may need to be delegated to various people inside and outside the group. Group members may also be assigned to implement a particular part of the solution based on their role or because it connects to their area of expertise. Likewise, group members may be tasked with publicizing the solution or “selling” it to a particular group of stakeholders. Last, the group should consider its future. In some cases, the group will get to decide if it will stay together and continue working on other tasks or if it will disband. In other cases, outside forces determine the group’s fate.

Decision Making in Groups

We all engage in personal decision making daily, and we all know that some decisions are more difficult than others are. When we make decisions in groups, we face some challenges that we do not face in our personal decision-making, but we also stand to benefit from some advantages of group decision-making (Napier & Gershenfeld, 2004). Group decision making can appear fair and democratic but really only be a gesture that covers up the fact that certain group members or the group leader have already decided. Group decision making also takes more time than individual decisions and can be burdensome if some group members do not do their assigned work, divert the group with self-centered or unproductive role behaviors, or miss meetings.

Conversely, though, group decisions are often more informed, since all group members develop a shared understanding of a problem through discussion and debate. The shared understanding may also be more complex and deep than what an individual would develop, because group members expose themselves to a variety of viewpoints that can broaden their own perspectives. Group decisions also benefit from synergy, one of the key advantages of group communication that we discussed earlier. Most groups do not use a specific method of decision-making, perhaps thinking that they will work things out as they go. This can lead to unequal participation, social loafing, premature decisions, prolonged discussion, and a host of other negative consequences. Therefore, in this section we will learn some practices that will prepare us for good decision-making and some specific techniques we can use to help us reach a final decision.

Brainstorming Before Decision Making

Before groups can make a decision, they need to generate possible solutions to their problem. The most commonly used method is brainstorming, although most people do not follow the recommended steps of brainstorming. As you will recall, brainstorming refers to the quick generation of ideas free of evaluation. The originator of the term brainstorming said the following four rules must be followed for the technique to be effective (Osborn, 1959):

• Evaluation of ideas is forbidden.
• Wild and crazy ideas are encouraged.
• Quantity of ideas, not quality, is the goal.
• New combinations of ideas presented are encouraged.

To make brainstorming more of a decision-making method rather than an idea-generating method, group communication scholars have suggested additional steps that precede and follow brainstorming (Cragan & Wright, 1991).

• Do a warm-up brainstorming session. Some people are more apprehensive about publicly communicating their ideas than others are, and a warm-up session can help ease apprehension and prime group members for task-related idea generation. Anyone in the group can initiate the short warm-up. To get things started, a person could ask, “If our group formed a band, what would we be called?” or “What other purposes could a mailbox serve?” In the previous examples, the first warm up gets the group’s creative juices flowing, while the second focuses more on practical and concrete ideas.
• Do the actual brainstorming session. This session should not last more than thirty minutes and should follow the four rules of brainstorming mentioned previously. In order to realize the fourth rule, the facilitator could encourage people to piggyback off each other’s ideas.
• Eliminate duplicate ideas. After the brainstorming session is over, group members can eliminate (without evaluating) ideas that are the same or very similar.
• Clarify, organize, and evaluate ideas. Before evaluation, see if any ideas need clarification. Then try to theme or group ideas together in some orderly fashion. Since “wild and crazy” ideas are encouraged, some suggestions may need clarification. If it becomes clear that there is not really a foundation to an idea and that it is too vague or abstract, it may be eliminated. As a caution, though, it may be wise not to throw out off-the-wall ideas that are hard to categorize and instead put them in a miscellaneous or “wild and crazy” category.

Discussion Before Decision Making

The nominal group technique guides decision making through a four-step process that includes idea generation and evaluation and seeks to elicit equal contributions from all group members (Delbecq & Van de Ven, 1971). This method is useful because the procedure involves all group members systematically, which fixes the problem of uneven participation during discussions. Since everyone contributes to the discussion, this method can also help reduce instances of social loafing. To use the nominal group technique, do the following:

• Silently and individually, list ideas.
• Create a master list of ideas.
• Clarify ideas as needed.
• Take a secret vote to rank group members’ acceptance of ideas.

During the first step, have group members work quietly, in the same space, to write down every idea they have to address the task or problem they face. This should not take more than twenty minutes. Whoever is facilitating the discussion should remind group members to use brainstorming techniques, which means they should not evaluate ideas as they are generated. Ask group members to remain silent once they have finished their list so they do not distract others.

During the second step, the facilitator goes around the group in a consistent order asking each person to share one idea at a time. As the idea is shared, the facilitator records it on a master list that everyone can see. Keep track of how many times each idea comes up, as that could be an idea that warrants more discussion. Continue this process until all the ideas have been shared. As a note to facilitators, some group members may begin to edit their list or self-censor when asked to provide one of their ideas. To limit a person’s apprehension with sharing his or her ideas and to ensure that each idea is shared, I have asked group members to exchange lists with someone else so they can share ideas from the list they receive without fear of being judged.

During step three, the facilitator should note that group members could now ask for clarification on ideas on the master list. Do not let this discussion stray into evaluation of ideas. To help avoid an unnecessarily long discussion, it may be useful to go from one person to the next to ask which ideas need clarifying and then go to the originator(s) of the idea in question for clarification.

During the fourth step, members use a voting ballot to rank the acceptability of the ideas on the master list. If the list is long, you may ask group members to rank only their top five or so choices. The facilitator then takes up the secret ballots and reviews them in a random order, noting the rankings of each idea. Ideally, the highest ranked idea can then be discussed and decided on. The nominal group technique does not carry a group all the way through to the point of decision; rather, it sets the group up for a roundtable discussion or use of some other method to evaluate the merits of the top ideas.

Specific Decision-Making Techniques

Some decision-making techniques involve determining a course of action based on the level of agreement among the group members. These methods include majority, expert, authority, and consensus rule. Table 14.1 “Pros and Cons of Agreement-Based Decision-Making Techniques” reviews the pros and cons of each of these methods.

Majority rule is a commonly used decision-making technique in which a majority (one-half plus one) must agree before making a decision (Schippers & Rus, 2021). A show-of-hands vote, a paper ballot, or an electronic voting system can determine the majority choice. Many decision-making bodies, including the US House of Representatives, Senate, and Supreme Court, use majority rule to make decisions, which shows that it is often associated with democratic decision making, since each person gets one vote and each vote counts equally. Of course, other individuals and mediated messages can influence a person’s vote, but since the voting power is spread among all group members, it is not easy for one person or party to take control of the decision-making process. In some cases—for example, to override a presidential veto or to amend the constitution—a super majority of two-thirds may be required to make a decision.

Minority rule is a decision-making technique in which a designated authority or expert has final say over a decision and may or may not consider the input of other group members. When a designated expert makes a decision by minority rule, there may be buy-in from others in the group, especially if the members of the group did not have relevant knowledge or expertise. When a designated authority makes decisions, buy-in will vary based on group members’ level of respect for the authority. For example, decisions made by an elected authority may be more accepted by those who elected him or her than by those who did not. As with majority rule, this technique can be time saving. Unlike majority rule, one person or party can have control over the decision-making process.

This type of decision-making is more similar to that used by monarchs and dictators. An obvious negative consequence of this method is that the needs or wants of one person can override the needs and wants of the majority. A minority deciding for the majority has led to negative consequences throughout history. The white Afrikaner minority that ruled South Africa for decades instituted apartheid, which was a system of racial segregation that disenfranchised and oppressed the majority population. The quality of the decision and its fairness really depends on the designated expert or authority.

Consensus rule is a decision-making technique in which all members of the group must agree on the same decision. On rare occasions, a decision may be ideal for all group members, which can lead to unanimous agreement without further debate and discussion. Although this can be positive, be cautious that this is not a sign of groupthink. More typically, groups reach consensus only after lengthy discussion. On the plus side, consensus often leads to high-quality decisions due to the time and effort it takes to get everyone in agreement. Group members are also more likely to be committed to the decision because of their investment in reaching it. On the negative side, the ultimate decision is often one that all group members can live with but not one that is ideal for all members. Additionally, the process of arriving at consensus also includes conflict, as people debate ideas and negotiate the interpersonal tensions that may result.

[table id=10 /]

Influences on Decision Making

Many factors influence the decision-making process. For example, how might a group’s independence or access to resources affect the decisions they make? What potential advantages and disadvantages come with decisions made by groups that are more or less similar in terms of personality and cultural identities? In this section, we will explore how situational, personality, and cultural influences affect decision making in groups.

Situational Influences on Decision-Making

A group’s situational context affects decision-making (Franken & Muris, 2005). One key situational element is the degree of freedom that the group has to make its own decisions, secure its own resources, and initiate its own actions. Some groups have to go through multiple approval processes before they can do anything, while others are self-directed, self-governing, and self-sustaining. Another situational influence is uncertainty. In general, groups deal with more uncertainty in decision-making than do individuals because of the increased number of variables that comes with adding more people to a situation. Individual group members cannot know what other group members are thinking, whether they are doing their work, and how committed they are to the group. Therefore, the size of a group is a powerful situational influence, as it adds to uncertainty and complicates communication.

Access to information also influences a group. First, the nature of the group’s task or problem affects its ability to get information. Group members can more easily make decisions about a problem when other groups have similarly experienced it. Even if the problem is complex and serious, the group can learn from other situations and apply what it learns. Second, the group must have access to flows of information. Access to archives, electronic databases, and individuals with relevant experience is necessary to obtain any relevant information about similar problems or to do research on a new or unique problem. In this regard, group members’ formal and information network connections also become important situational influences.

The origin and urgency of a problem are also situational factors that influence decision-making. In terms of origin, problems usually occur in one of four ways:

• Something goes wrong. Group members must decide how to fix or stop something. Example—a firehouse crew finds out that half of the building is contaminated with mold and must be closed down.
• Expectations change or increase. Group members must innovate more efficient or effective ways of doing something. Example—a firehouse crew finds out that the district they are responsible for is being expanded.
• Something goes wrong and expectations change or increase. Group members must fix/stop and become more efficient/effective. Example—the firehouse crew has to close half the building and must start responding to more calls due to the expanding district.
• The problem existed from the beginning. Group members must go back to the origins of the situation, walk through and analyze the steps again to decide what can be done differently. Example—a firehouse crew has consistently had to work with minimal resources in terms of building space and firefighting tools.

In each of the cases, the need for a decision may be more or less urgent depending on how badly something is going wrong, how high the expectations have been raised, or the degree to which people are fed up with a broken system. Decisions must be made in situations ranging from crisis level to mundane.

Cultural Context and Decision-Making

Just like neighborhoods, schools, and countries, small groups vary in terms of their degree of similarity and difference. Demographic changes in the United States and increases in technology that can bring different people together make it more likely that we will be interacting in more and more heterogeneous groups (Allen, 2011). Some small groups are more homogenous, meaning the members are more similar, and some are more heterogeneous, meaning the members are more different. Diversity and difference within groups has advantages and disadvantages. In terms of advantages, research finds that, in general, culturally heterogeneous groups perform better than more homogenous groups (Haslett & Ruebush, 1999).

Additionally, when group members have time to get to know each other and competently communicate across their differences, the advantages of diversity include better decision making due to different perspectives (Thomas, 1999). Unfortunately, groups often operate under time constraints and other pressures that make the possibility for intercultural dialogue and understanding difficult. The main disadvantage of heterogeneous groups is the possibility for conflict, but since all groups experience conflict, this is not solely due to the presence of diversity. We will now look more specifically at how some of the cultural value orientations we have learned about already in this text can play out in groups with international diversity and how domestic diversity in terms of demographics can influence group decision making.

International Diversity in Group Interactions

Cultural value orientations such as individualism/collectivism, power distance, and high-/low-context communication styles all manifest on a continuum of communication behaviors and can influence group decision making (Yates & de Oliveira, 2016). Group members from individualistic cultures are more likely to value task-oriented, efficient, and direct communication. This could manifest in behaviors such as dividing tasks into individual projects before collaboration begins and then openly debating ideas during discussion and decision-making. Additionally, people from cultures that value individualism are more likely to express dissent from a decision, essentially expressing their disagreement with the group. Group members from collectivistic cultures are more likely to value relationships over the task. Because of this, they also tend to value conformity and face-saving (i.e., indirect) communication. This could manifest in behaviors such as establishing norms that include periods of socializing to build relationships before task-oriented communication (like negotiations) begins or norms that limit public disagreement in favor of more indirect communication that doesn’t challenge the face of other group members or the group’s leader. In a group composed of people from a collectivistic culture, each member would likely play harmonizing roles, looking for signs of conflict and resolving them before they become public.

Power distance can also affect group interactions. Some cultures rank higher on power-distance scales, meaning they value hierarchy, make decisions based on status, and believe that people have a set place in society that is unchangeable. Group members from high-power-distance cultures would likely appreciate a strong designated leader who exhibits a more directive leadership style and prefer groups in which members have clear and assigned roles. In a group that is homogenous in terms of having a high-power-distance orientation, members with higher status would be able to openly provide information, and those with lower status may not provide information unless a higher status member explicitly seeks it from them. Low-power-distance cultures do not place as much value and meaning on status and believe that all group members can participate in decision-making. Group members from low-power-distance cultures would likely freely speak their mind during a group meeting and prefer a participative leadership style.

How much meaning is conveyed through the context surrounding verbal communication can also affect group communication. Some cultures have a high-context communication style in which much of the meaning in an interaction is conveyed through context such as nonverbal cues and silence. Group members from high-context cultures may avoid saying something directly, assuming that other group members will understand the intended meaning even if the message is indirect. Therefore, if someone disagrees with a proposed course of action, he or she may say, “Let’s discuss this tomorrow,” and mean, “I don’t think we should do this.” Such indirect communication is also a face-saving strategy that is common in collectivistic cultures. Other cultures have a low-context communication style that places more importance on the meaning conveyed through words than through context or nonverbal cues. Group members from low-context cultures often say what they mean and mean what they say. For example, if someone does not like an idea, they might say, “I think we should consider more options. This one doesn’t seem like the best we can do.”

In any of these cases, an individual from one culture operating in a group with people of a different cultural orientation could adapt to the expectations of the host culture, especially if that person possesses a high degree of intercultural communication competence (ICC). Additionally, people with high ICC can also adapt to a group member with a different cultural orientation than the host culture. Even though these cultural orientations connect to values that affect our communication in consistent ways, individuals may exhibit different communication behaviors depending on their own individual communication style and the situation.

Domestic Diversity and Group Communication

While it is becoming more likely that we will interact in small groups with international diversity, we are guaranteed to interact in groups that are diverse in terms of the cultural identities found within a single country or the subcultures found within a larger cultural group.

Gender stereotypes sometimes influence the roles that people play within a group. For example, the stereotype that women are more nurturing than men may lead group members (both male and female) to expect that women will play the role of supporters or harmonizers within the group (Hentschel, Heilman, & Peus, 2019). Since women have primarily performed secretarial work since the 1900s, it may also be expected that women will play the role of recorder. In both of these cases, stereotypical notions of gender place women in roles that are typically not as valued in group communication. The opposite is true for men. In terms of leadership, despite notable exceptions, research shows that men fill an overwhelmingly disproportionate amount of leadership positions. We are socialized to see certain behaviors by men as indicative of leadership abilities, even though they may not be. For example, men are often perceived to contribute more to a group because they tend to speak first when asked a question or to fill a silence and are perceived to talk more about task-related matters than relationally oriented matters.

Both of these tendencies create a perception that men are more engaged with the task. Men are also socialized to be more competitive and self-congratulatory, meaning that their communication may be seen as dedicated and their behaviors seen as powerful, and that when their work isn’t noticed they will be more likely to make it known to the group rather than take silent credit. Even though we know that the relational elements of a group are crucial for success, even in high-performance teams, that work is not as valued in our society as the task-related work.

Despite the fact that some communication patterns and behaviors related to our typical (and stereotypical) gender socialization affect how we interact in and form perceptions of others in groups, the differences in group communication that used to be attributed to gender in early group communication research seem to be diminishing. This is likely due to the changing organizational cultures from which much group work emerges, which have now had more than sixty years to adjust to women in the workplace. It is also due to a more nuanced understanding of gender-based research, which does not take a stereotypical view from the beginning as many of the early male researchers did.

Now, instead of assuming biological sex is a factor that creates inherent communication differences, group communication scholars see that men and women both exhibit a range of behaviors that are more or less feminine or masculine. It is these gendered behaviors, and not a person’s gender, that seem to have more of an influence on perceptions of group communication. Interestingly, group interactions are still masculinist in that male and female group members prefer a more masculine communication style for task leaders and that both males and females in this role are more likely to adapt to a more masculine communication style. Conversely, men who take on social-emotional leadership behaviors adopt a more feminine communication style. In short, it seems that although masculine communication traits are more often associated with high status positions in groups, both men and women adapt to this expectation and are evaluated similarly (Haslett & Ruebush, 1999).

In terms of age, for the first time since industrialization began, it is common to have three generations of people (and sometimes four) working side by side in an organizational setting. Although four generations often worked together in early factories, they were segregated based on their age group, and a hierarchy existed with older workers at the top and younger workers at the bottom. Today, however, generations interact regularly, and it is common for an older person to have a leader or supervisor who is younger than him or her (Allen, 2011). The current generations in the US workplace and consequently in work-based groups include the following:

• The Silent Generation. Born between 1925 and 1942, currently in their mid-60s to mid-80s, this is the smallest generation in the workforce right now, as many have retired or left for other reasons. This generation includes people who were born during the Great Depression or the early part of World War II, many of whom later fought in the Korean War (Clarke, 1970).
• The Baby Boomers. Born between 1946 and 1964, currently in their late forties to mid-60s, this is the largest generation in the workforce right now. Baby boomers are the most populous generation born in US history, and they are working longer than previous generations, which means they will remain the predominant force in organizations for ten to twenty more years.
• Generation X. Born between 1965 and 1981, currently in their early thirties to mid-40s, this generation was the first to see technology like cell phones and the Internet make its way into classrooms and our daily lives. Compared to previous generations, “Gen-Xers” are more diverse in terms of race, religious beliefs, and sexual orientation and have a greater appreciation for and understanding of diversity.
• Generation Y. Born between 1982 and 2000, “Millennials” as they are also called are currently in their late teens up to about thirty years old. This generation is not as likely to remember a time without technology such as computers and cell phones. They are just entering into the workforce and have been greatly affected by recent economic crises. They are experiencing significantly high unemployment rates.

The benefits and challenges that come with diversity of group members are important to consider. Since we will all work in diverse groups, we should be prepared to address potential challenges in order to reap the benefits. Diverse groups may be wise to coordinate social interactions outside of group time in order to find common ground that can help facilitate interaction and increase group cohesion. We should be sensitive but not let sensitivity create fear of “doing something wrong” that then prevents us from having meaningful interactions.

Figure 13.1: Social-emotional leaders are reflective thinkers who use their perception skills to analyze group dynamics and maintain a positive climate. Dim Hou. 2019. Unsplash license . https://unsplash.com/photos/2P6Q7_uiDr0

Figure 13.2: Common components of group problems. Kindred Grey. 2022. CC BY 4.0 .

Figure 13.3: The group problem-solving process. Kindred Grey. 2022. CC BY 4.0 .

Figure 13.4: Brainstorming is a good way to generate possible solutions to a problem. Below are some suggestions to make brainstorming more of a decision-making method. Monstera. 2021. Pexels license . https://www.pexels.com/photo/excited-black-woman-using-laptop-9429552/

Figure 13.5: Culturally heterogeneous groups perform better than more homogenous groups. fauxels. 2019. Pexels license . https://www.pexels.com/photo/photo-of-people-near-wooden-table-3184418/

Figure 13.6: It is common to have different generations working together in an organizational setting. Rendy Novantino. 2021. Unsplash license . https://unsplash.com/photos/wJoRe38l8fc

Section 13.1

Benne, K. D., & Sheats, P. (1948). Functional roles of group members. Journal of Social Issues 4(2), 41–49. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4560.1948.tb01783.x

Bormann, E. G., & Bormann, N.C., (1988). Effective small group communication ( 4th ed.). Burgess International Group.

Burke, C. S., Georganta, E., & Marlow, S. (2019). A bottom up perspective to understanding the dynamics of team roles in mission critical teams. Frontiers in psychology , 10 , 1322. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01322

Cragan, J. F., & Wright, D. W. (1991). Communication in small group discussions: An integrated approach (3rd ed.). West Publishing.

Koch, A. (2013, October 24). Individual roles in groups . https://prezi.com/gmbfihtzyjg4/individual-roles-in-groups/

Pavitt, C. (1999). Theorizing about the group communication-leadership relationship. In L. R. Frey (Ed.), The handbook of group communication Theory and research (pp. 313-334). Sage.

Section 13.2

Adams, K., and Galanes, G. (2009). Communicating in groups: Applications and skills (7th ed.). McGraw Hill.

Allen, B. J. (2011). Difference matters: Communicating social identity (2nd ed.). Waveland Press.

Clarke, G. (1970, June 29). The silent generation revisited. Time, 95 (26), 38-40.

Delbecq, A. L., & Van de Ven, A. H. (1971). A group process model for problem identification and program planning. The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science , 7 (4), 466–492. https://doi.org/10.1177/002188637100700404

Franken, I. H. A., and Muris, P. (2005). Individual differences in decision-making. Personality and Individual Differences, 39 (5), 991–998. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2005.04.004

Haslett, B.B., Ruebush, J. (1999). What differences do individual differences in groups make? The effects of individuals, culture, and group composition. In L. R. Frey, D. S. Gouran, & M. S. Poole (Eds.), The handbook of group communication theory and research (pp. 115–138). Sage.

Hentschel, T., Heilman, M. E., & Peus, C. V. (2019). The multiple dimensions of gender stereotypes: A current look at men’s and women’s characterizations of others and themselves. Frontiers in Psychology , 10 . https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00011

Napier, R. W., & Gershenfeld, M. K. (2004). Groups: Theory and experience (7th ed.). Houghton Mifflin.

Osborn, A. F. (1959). Applied imagination. Charles Scribner’s Sons.

Schippers, M. C., & Rus, D. C. (2021). Majority decision-making works best under conditions of leadership ambiguity and shared task representations. Frontiers in Psychology , 12 , 519295. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.519295

Stanton, C. (2009, November 3). How to deliver group presentations: The unified team approach . http://sixminutes.dlugan.com/group-presentations-unified-team-approach/

Thomas, D. C. (1999). Cultural diversity and work group effectiveness: An experimental study. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology 30(2), 242–263. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022022199030002006

Yates, J. F., & de Oliveira, S. (2016). Culture and decision making. Organizational behavior and human decision processes , 136 , 106–118. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.obhdp.2016.05.003

A task-related role that functions to keep the group on track toward completing its task by managing the agenda and setting and assessing goals in order to monitor the group’s progress

This role includes behaviors that are more evenly shared compared to other roles, as ideally, all group members present new ideas, initiate discussions of new topics, and contribute their own relevant knowledge and experiences

The person who has this task-related role asks for more information, elaboration, or clarification on items relevant to the group’s task

This person manages the flow of conversation in a group in order to achieve an appropriate balance so that all group members get to participate in a meaningful way

The person who takes notes on the discussion and activities that occur during a group meeting. This role is the only role that is limited to one person at a time

A maintenance role that is characterized by communication behaviors that encourage other group members and provide emotional support as needed

Group members who help manage the various types of group conflict that emerge during group communication, they keep their eyes and ears open for signs of conflict among group members and ideally intervene before it escalates

This person helps manage the diversity within a group by mediating intercultural conflict, articulating common ground between different people, and generally creating a climate where difference is seen as an opportunity rather than as something to be feared

A group member who makes excessive verbal contributions preventing equal participation by other group members. Can include the “egghead” and the “stage hog.”

This technique guides decision making through a four-step process that includes idea generation and evaluation and seeks to elicit equal contributions from all group members

A commonly used decision-making technique in which a majority (one-half plus one) must agree before making the decision

A decision making technique in which a designated authority or expert has final say over a decision and may or may not consider the input of other group members

A decision-making technique in which all members of the group must agree on the same decision

Communication in the Real World Copyright © by Faculty members in the School of Communication Studies, James Madison University is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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• Service Management Competency
• ITSM Processes
• Problem Management
• Roles and Responsibilities

Problem Roles and Responsibilities

Process owner.

The Problem Process Owner is accountable for the design and maintenance of the lifecycle of the Problem Management process. This role ensures that the process is followed and ensures

that process training is provided for those executing Problem Management activities.. Together, the Process Owner and Managers will maintain continual improvement for the Problem Management process.

Some specific responsibilities are:

Conducts reviews of the Problem Management process and participates in Major Incident Problem reviews

• Monitor and review the execution of the process at a high-level, ensure it remains consistent with the organization’s current culture and ITSM strategy and ensures coordination with all other ITSM and IT Infrastructure Management processes.                
• Provide the description, mission statement, roadmap, strategy, process objectives and metrics to measure success and obtain formal approval for the process and its associated procedures.

Process Manager

• Meet with Problem Owner to review process and procedures
• Accountable for the formal closure of all Problem records for their support area
• Identifies and defines critical success factors, and KPIs
• Reviews After Action Reports

Process Coordinator

The Problem Coordinator is generally a service owner or team designee who drives a specific problem through the life cycle of the Problem Management process.

• Escalate and communicates up the management chain
• Completion of AAR as deemed necessary
• Communication to impacted users
• Gatekeeper of all Know Errors for their particular area

Process Analyst Assignee

This role ensures that the process is used correctly at the team level. They will perform problem investigations, identify fixes or workarounds, document known errors, and perform proactive problem trending (where applicable).  This is a member of the Problem Owning group.

Some activities conducted by this role include:

• Incident matching
• Identifying root cause
• Serving as a point of contact for SME (support groups)
• Validating workarounds and permanent solutions

Process Owning Group

The actual problem solving is likely to be performed by one or more technical support groups (SMEs) and/or suppliers or support contractors. The Problem Owning group provides the SME resources for helping the Problem Analyst Assignee solve the problem.

• Process Guidelines
• Change Management
• Service Asset and Configuration Management
• Incident Management
• Knowledge Management
• Request Fulfillment
• Service Catalog
• Service Level Management
• Training Schedule

Defining Roles and Responsibilities Drives Team Productivity

You can dramatically improve team productivity just by defining roles and responsibilities in your organization. This definitive step-by-step guide teaches you how to define roles and responsibilities in a team, why it’s so important, and how to create a defining roles and responsibilities template that will keep everyone on track.

This is the ultimate guide to defining roles and responsibilities for your organization.

If you want to:

• Improve role clarity within your teams,
• Understand how defining roles and responsibilities strengthens relationships among remote, hybrid, and in-person teams,
• Develop a culture of accountability,
• And drastically increase team productivity;

…then you’ll love this guide. Let’s get started.

What’s Covered in this Guide

Click the links to jump to each section.

• Why Defining Roles and Responsibilities Is Vital for Small Business Success

The Importance of Defining Roles and Responsibilities for Remote and Hybrid Teams

The benefits of defining roles and responsibilities in an organization, how to define team roles and responsibilities [2 steps].

• 4 Tips for Defining Roles and Responsibilities That Will Drive Productivity

Get a Roles and Responsibilities Chart [Template for Defining Roles and Responsibilities]

Why defining roles and responsibilities is vital for small business success.

Role clarity, defined in one study as “the degree of understanding people have of their roles, responsibilities, and processes at work,” is essential for better performance .

Netherlands-based human resource consulting firm Effectory finds team members who are clear about their roles and responsibilities are 53% more efficient and 27% more effective at work. This results in a 25% increase in their overall performance.

When people have high role clarity:

• 86% report high levels of effectiveness
• 84% intend to stay with their companies
• 83% report high levels of productivity
• 75% are more passionate about their work, report greater satisfaction with leadership, and feel more engaged

This study also finds that role clarity extends to an understanding of the roles and responsibilities of other team members. The role clarity of one affects the many. If anyone on a team experiences “role ambiguity,” it can cause confusion and stress, which affects not only individual effectiveness but the company’s overall performance.

When every person is clear about their roles and responsibilities, we're engaged with defined goals and priorities that align with our organization’s purpose. We're essentially free to find our own way to get our work done. Research shows that companies that score highest on engagement are 21% more successful at creating value for their stakeholders and score 17% higher on productivity.

Platforms like Ninety can improve role clarity within organizations by visually displaying everyone's role and responsibilities , linking each person to the processes they're accountable for, and more. Try Ninety's Roles and Responsibilities Chart free for 30 days.

Here’s what defining roles and responsibilities in a team can do for your company:

• Everyone knows what’s expected. When roles are defined, people know what they’re doing and understand how their responsibilities fit into the bigger goals of the entire team. They’re more likely to take ownership of what they need to accomplish.
• Nothing slips through the cracks. When responsibilities are defined, people understand their role in terms of accountability for Issues , To-Dos , and Rocks that could otherwise be forgotten.
• Collaboration is a key action. People understand how to work together more effectively to achieve positive outcomes. When we communicate roles to the entire team , we nurture mutual respect. When responsibilities are distributed equally among the team, people can see the importance of their actions to the overall success of the team and the organization.
• Communication flows better. When everyone understands each others’ roles and responsibilities, we know who we should go to with specific questions. There’s no fumbling around while trying to find the person responsible for a process. Team members can go straight to the source when they clearly understand who is responsible for what.

Your organization will:

Improve the hiring process.

You’ll have an easier time finding the right people for the right seats if the candidates understand the role and its responsibilities. Both external and internal candidates benefit from knowing the clear expectations of any role and what success looks like for that role. Everyone can appreciate why new roles are created, which also enables better transparency within the organization .

Develop an accountable culture.

Developing accountable relationships among leaders and teams requires the clarification of both roles and responsibilities. This enables everyone to work together and adapt to whatever comes next for your organization.

Measuring performance is always a work in progress. When you’re disciplined about making clear agreements among team members given their roles and responsibilities, they understand how to count on each other and build trust among each other as part of the team’s DNA. Your organization gets better results almost immediately and creates a strong structure that enables high performance.

Use time and resources wisely.

With clear roles and responsibilities for everyone, you can look forward to wasting less time, eliminating redundancies, and spending fewer resources on mitigating conflicts among stakeholders — bringing you one step closer to  operational efficiency.

The process for defining roles and responsibilities starts with determining the reason for creating any role within your organization and how the responsibilities of that role enable solutions for addressing a need or problem.

In other words, look at what you need and figure out how to get it.

Step 1. Create clear individual roles and responsibilities.

What are the roles and responsibilities of a remote or hybrid team? Roles and responsibilities work together to define what a person does at work, whether remotely, as part of a hybrid workforce, or working from anywhere. Generally, a role is a person’s place, or seat, on a team. Responsibilities are the duties and tasks assigned to a role.

The standard criteria for creating a job description look like this:

• Seat/Position Description: an overview of the seat’s role within the organization and its function, tasks, and responsibilities.
• Functions/Tasks: a detailed rundown of activities the seat is accountable for.
• Responsibilities: the expected results associated with the position.
• Competencies: a detailed list of skills, capabilities, and capacity to fulfill the responsibilities of the seat.
• Experience and Education: Training and knowledge required for acquiring competency in the position.
• Key Performance Indicators: an explanation of how performance is measured and evaluated.

However, a person’s role on a team is more than a job description. Roles are based on a team’s mission and the contributions required to accomplish it. Contribution involves:

• Knowledge and expertise
• Capabilities

A person’s responsibilities on a team are based on what the team requires them to do in their role to accomplish the team’s mission. Responsible engagement involves:

• Offering guidance, advice, how-to instructions, research, etc.
• Thinking strategically on behalf of the team
• Generating creative ideas and executing them
• Performing specific work related to a team’s mission

Setting clear roles and responsibilities for individual team members helps leaders delegate work so everyone knows what they're supposed to do.

But clear roles and responsibilities on their own won’t encourage great teamwork or sustain high performance. This leads to Step Two.

Step 2. Create clear agreements for people to work together.

People need to know how to support each other as part of a team and the organization. Creating clear agreements about what you can count on from others will enable better teamwork, ensure accountability, and drastically improve team productivity.

Clear roles and responsibilities clarify what each team member can do to achieve success. Clear agreements give everyone a better understanding of what they can count on from everyone else to sustain success. This step will not only improve productivity. It makes it easy to keep great productivity going.

4 Tips for Defining Roles and Responsibilities That’ll Drive Productivity

Tip 1: use your team’s strengths..

Understand how the individual strengths of team members combine to create the uniqueness of your team. This approach can motivate your teams to achieve great things. You avoid grouping people into a standardized mold and focus on out-of-the-box solutions for nearly every challenge you’ll be facing.

Tip 2: Discuss priorities every week.

Think about when priorities aren’t set. It usually leads to lost opportunities, missed deadlines, misunderstandings, poor communication, and a lot of burnout. A well-run weekly team meeting can’t be beaten for effectively collaborating and agreeing on what needs to get done first. 

Tip 3: Show people that you have confidence in them.

When you allow people to take ownership of their roles and responsibilities, it shows them that you feel confident in their ability to get things done. Once they start making decisions, they’ll also be more likely to take the initiative and grow in their role.

Tip 4: Align roles, responsibilities, and individual goals. 

Learning more about your team members’ short- and long-term goals will help you incorporate their passions into the unique organizational and operational goals for your team. It shows you care about their aspirations and that you plan to support their future endeavors. This enables leaders to coach team members based on individual roles and responsibilities, their performance, and how these help achieve bigger goals for themselves and others.

One defining roles and responsibilities template that can help you get the job done brilliantly is the Roles and Responsibilities Chart within Ninety. It’s an interactive, cloud-based template for defining roles and responsibilities at a company, departmental, and individual level. With it, you can create a clear way for everyone to see and understand their roles and responsibilities, how they fit into the bigger company picture, and how performance is measured.

With Ninety's integrated functionality, you can tie in roles and responsibilities, add metrics , and assign ownership and accountability — all from your Roles and Responsibilities Chart

Here are the steps to follow:

1. Build Seats

With five seats to start, all you have to do is customize the chart for your organization. You can add seats at any level and edit each seat to list roles and responsibilities in detail.

2. Assign People to Seats

Easily assign or reassign a person to a seat. Need multiple seats with the same function? Avoid adding duplicate seats by adding multiple people to one seat.

3. Reorganize Accountability

You can move seats, change managers, and make updates at any time. You never have to feel stuck with what you got after you start building your chart.

4. Connect to More Content

Within each seat of the chart, you can connect metrics to specific roles and responsibilities. Easily review team members’ productivity in detail.

5. Share with the Team

Share your chart with other team members and outside stakeholders. Everything prints out neatly to PDF.

Understanding User Roles

Within Ninety, you’ll notice different roles like Owner, Admin, Manager, Team Member, Observer, and Coach. These roles for using Ninety tools give different permissions for viewing and editing content, inviting new users, and more. Here’s an overview.

Owner – The person who creates the company account in Ninety. The owner sees information for every team, even if they are not a member of that team.

Admin – The person with the same user permissions as the owner, except they cannot delete a company account. 

Manager – The person who can access and edit information for teams where they are a member. They have access to Settings, so they can create new teams and users, but only for their own team. They can view only their own 1-on-1 conversations .

Team Member – The person who can access and edit information for the team(s) where they are a member.

Observer – The person who can only view information related to their team(s).

5 Tips for Building Roles and Responsibilities in Ninety

Tip 1: set a first draft deadline.   .

Create a To-Do for each team leader to finish building their teams and seats in the organizational chart, where it is visible to everyone in the company.

Tip 2: Talk about it with others.

Easily review the chart during your weekly meetings . Create an Issue so you can discuss and solve it as a team.

Tip 3: Feel free to assign one Seat to multiple people.

If multiple people have the same seat, they also have the same roles and responsibilities. 

Tip 4: Collaborate until it’s the way you want it.

Your chart is a living document, ever-changing as your company grows and people outgrow their seats. Ninety provides tools for moving seats and changing managers, making for easier organizational changes.

Tip 5: Let it evolve over time.

Once you’ve lived with your chart for a while, you will likely find a reason to change it. Revisit and adjust it whenever you need to evolve. Fully integrated with the rest of your Ninety app, the chart is visible, accessible, and easy to change.

Get access to the Roles and Responsibilities Chart, Issues, To-Dos, Scorecards, Rocks, and more! Sign up for a free trial with access to all Ninety functions, features, and support.

Now that you’ve learned about defining roles and responsibilities, it’s time to put your knowledge into practice:

• A role describes what a person does within an organization that helps build trust among team members.
• A responsibility describes specific tasks a person is accountable for to achieve their team’s goals.
• Role ambiguity creates confusion among team members and redundancies within an organization.
• Clearly defining roles and responsibilities helps companies enable workers to be more focused, work together better, and accomplish more at work.

Want more step-by-step guides and actionable tips on defining roles and responsibilities for your organization? Sign up for our blog below.

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ITIL Problem Management Roles and Responsibilities

This blog will tell you about ITIL Problem Management Roles and Responsibilities, the steps of the ITIL Problem Management process as well as its benefits.

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• Certified IT Service Manager (CITSM) Certification
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According to the report by PayScale , an average ITIL-certified professional earns an annual salary of about £41000. This ITIL Problem Management Roles & Responsibilities guide describes problem management roles: Problem Manager, Problem Coordinator, & Problem Analyst. 

Table of Contents  

1) What is ITIL Problem Management?

2) What are the steps of ITIL Problem Management?

2) Roles and responsibilities of ITIL Problem Management 

3) Benefits of ITIL Problem Management

4) IT Problem Management process flow

   b) Problem Analyst 

   c) Problem Manager 

   d) Problem Coordinator

What is ITIL Problem Management?​ 

What are the steps of ITIL Problem Management?

An ideal Problem Mangement process follows a certain set of steps which allows it to serialise hurdles in a project. ITIL 4 Demand Management becomes integral in resolving challenges by optimising resource allocation and ensuring that the project aligns with the organisation's overall service demands.These hurdles are normally reported by the users or the person operating the service desk as a counter measure to potential errors in future. Overall, this process can be divided in seven steps which are as follows: 

Step1: Detecting the issue

Acknowledging an issue is the first step to fixing it and this is no exception for the Problem Management process. Detecting a recurring issue allows you to investigate it further and analyse the root cause behind it. The most common example of a problem being identified by people is when an unexpected variation exists, that diverts the results from initial plan, however the cause of it is unknown.

Step 2: Logging in

Once a problem has been detected and reported to another team responsible for fixing it, a proper life cycle for the error starts. The details of the error or the problem is analysed, such as the date of occurrence and the severity of the said problem. This step also includes clearly analysing and classifying the problem under a specific category.

Step 3: Running a diagnosis

Once the problem and its type has been determined, a diagnosis for it can be run. This includes accessing the database and trying to detect similar issues in the data body. Any occurrence of similar error is gauged by the same issue occurring across the database on different occasions.

Step 4: Working around the issue

A permanent solution promises that the problem will not come back, but a temporary work around lets you proceed back to work. Working around the said problem and navigating the hurdle is often considered the most effective counter measure rather than brute forcing your way through the problem and ceasing any productivity. 

Step 5: Recording error

Once a problem has been detected and diagnosed, it's time to record the error and maintain a history of similar issues. This helps you analyse if a problem has been addressed, is it being worked on, or it has been resolved. This serves the major function of removing any potential redundancy from the process of Problem Management.

Step 6: Resolution

Resolution is often considered an extension of record keeping, as they share somewhat similarities. This process mostly focuses on the analysis of previous errors which have been resolved during the management process.throughout the management process, an aspect also linked with considerations within ITIL Asset Management . Not only this process helps you keep track of issues that have occurred in the past, but it also allows you to prepare for similar issues in the future. It simplifies the overall process of Problem Mangement, reducing the overall downtime due to an error.

Step 7: Closure

Closure is the last step of this process, to make sure every small segment and a larger body as whole is working as it was intended to. Closure commonly includes a permanent fix to a problem, thus removing the need to work on it in the future.

All those professionals interested in understanding the ITIL framework can join ITIL® 4 Foundation Certification Training Course now! 

Roles and responsibilities of ITIL Problem Management

Problem Management Process Owner  

The design and upkeep of the Problem Management process lifecycle have become the responsibility of the Problem Management Process Owner. Such individual is accountable from beginning to end for how the problem management process operates and progresses. Secondly, they are also responsible for the general well-being and accomplishment of the team's problem-solving process. The process and all supporting documents belong to the problem management process owner. The Process Owner and Managers will focus on continuously improving the Problem Management process. 

Problem Analyst    

The role of a Problem Analyst is to identify the reasons for the problems to find solutions or root causes by enquiring and taking the help of necessary subject matter experts. Further, the information about the resolution of occurrences is documented. Secondly, they are also responsible for examining and deciding whether to accept or reject given errors for a particular problem. Thirdly, they are responsible for implementing remedial measures and fixing known errors.   

The number of problems and the time it takes to resolve them have reduced over time thanks to the utilisation of this data to accelerate resolution and pinpoint long-lasting remedies. Business-critical systems have less downtime and interruption as a result. 

Problem Manager  

aligning seamlessly with the ITIL 4 DPI principles of ITIL Project Management. This involves checking the project status to ensure that deadlines, spending limits and required goals are fulfilled. They are responsible for executing daily operational and managerial tasks for the process flows and reporting to the Problem Management Process Owner. They organise and lead all aspects of the problem-solving process, including assembling the appropriate groups, resources, and data and creating and implementing problem-solving strategies in cooperation with the client.  

In addition, Problem Managers are in charge of analysing data from internal departments affected by the issue. They collaborate with them or consult with other experts to find solutions to those challenging problems. Finally, using this solution, they will identify potential improvement areas. Problem Managers also provide management advice in ITIL Change Management and suggest new processes or techniques on the best ways to handle challenges and prevent future issues. The Problem Manager is in charge of communicating with ITIL Service Management functions and delivering reports to them

Problem Coordinator  

A problem is guided through the Problem Management process by a Problem Coordinator, typically a service owner. In terms of the roles and responsibilities of a Problem Coordinator, they must have the appropriate functional role. The problem management process's effectiveness and reliability are the Problem Coordinators' responsibility. They analyse from time to time to see whether any new issues need to be reported.    

Problem coordinators serve as the watchdogs for all known errors. They alert the Problem Manager, organise root cause analysis, and assign work and known errors to the Problem Analysts. They also ensure that the information entered and errors known in the problem investigations they manage are accurate and updated. Problem Coordinators take accountability for the problems they are responsible for and ensure that these problems progress through the problem management process in an appropriate and sequential path. 

Know the key concepts of Direct, Plan and Improve and the role of Governance, Risk and Compliance by signing up for our ITIL® 4 Strategist: Direct, Plan And Improve DPI course now!

Benefits of ITIL Problem Management

Problem Management can have a certain set of benefits when it is implemented successfully, some of them being as follows, with a particular focus on optimizing IT resources through processes like ITIL capacity management to ensure efficient problem resolution.

1) Constant Service Improvement (CSI): Proactively addressing issues with integrated ITSM operations results in enhanced service consistency and low downtime.  

2) Mishap prevention: Proactive problem management saves significant costs by preventing detrimental incidents.

3) Productivity boost: Efficiency rises significantly when minor problems don't drain time and resources.

4) Agile resolutions: Using best practices in problem analysis lets you easily pinpoint and address service outages.

5) Root cause study: Problem Management lets you round up the previous records of errors, helping you avoid them in future.

6) Higher customer satisfaction:   A consistent service promises better feedback from the customers, earning their loyalty.

7) Service restoration: Visible issues directly translates to increased speed at which a problem is addressed and fixed. As a result, you will witness quicker recovery.

8) Less interruptions: A holistic approach to problems results in more effective resolutions in the long run. 

IT Problem Management process flow

Value is a product of customer-focused organisation efforts and effective IT service management practices an insight foundational to the success of individuals in ITIL Careers . These practices not only benefit users directly but also indirectly impact the overall organisational itil 4 service value system . A systematic process with clearly established inputs and outputs is imperative to actualise this value creation. With the integration of an ITIL® service desk, a seamless flow of the problem-solving process can be created.

IT Problem Management is typically divided into three main phases:

1) Problem Identification: This phase involves detecting and recognising potential problems based on trends, patterns, recurring incidents, and analysis of incident data. The goal is to identify issues before they cause major service disruptions proactively. Problem identification often involves analysing incident records and user feedback to identify commonalities and trends. Once a potential problem is identified, it is documented as a "Problem Record."

2) Problem Control: In this phase, the identified problems are further investigated to determine their root causes. This involves a detailed analysis to understand the underlying reasons behind ITIL Incident Management . The objective is to identify the actual source of the problem and any contributing factors. Once the root cause is identified, appropriate solutions or workarounds are devised to address the issue. This phase also involves assessing the impact and urgency of the problem to prioritise its resolution.

3) Error Control and Prevention: After implementing solutions or workarounds, the focus shifts to preventing the recurrence of similar incidents in the future. This phase involves analysing the effectiveness of the solutions and identifying preventive measures to prevent the same or similar problems from occurring again. This may involve changing processes, systems, or configurations to eliminate underlying weaknesses contributing to the problem. Additionally, knowledge gained from the problem-solving process is documented and shared with relevant teams to enhance organisational learning.

These phases are not strictly linear, and they often involve iterative processes. Problem Management aims to establish a proactive approach to IT incidents, minimise their impact, and enhance the overall quality of IT services by addressing underlying issues. Understanding the difference between ITSM vs ITIL is integral in implementing effective Problem Management strategies, ensuring that organizations can consistently maintain a proactive stance and enhance IT service quality.

Conclusion  

After reading this blog, you would have understood various ITIL Problem Management Roles and Responsibilities. Every organisation can use the ITIL V4 Processes and Framework , specifically ITIL problem management identification and resolution roadmap. For more clear view on problem solving, explore our blog on ITIL Interview Questions that will enhance your proactive issue resolution approach. An organisation employing problem management should aim to keep critical incident rates as low as possible, and this can be achieved through dynamic problem management. 

Learn the ITIL framework and its role in ITSM by signing up for our  ITIL® 4 Foundation Certification Training Course  now!  

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• 4 ways to establish roles and responsib ...

4 ways to establish roles and responsibilities for team success

It’s challenging to stick to a project plan without clear roles and responsibilities. When you define team roles, you can help teammates collaborate and work through projects more efficiently. In this guide, we’ll explain how to establish roles and responsibilities and why doing so will benefit your team.

You know that chaotic feeling of managing a project where roles and responsibilities are unclear? As one team member moves forward with the design, another moves forward with content. Both team members write the copy included in the images, assuming this is part of their role. Because of the miscommunication and duplicated work, the copy takes longer to deliver and you must delay the project.

In this guide, we’ll explain how to establish roles and responsibilities and why doing so will benefit your team.

1. Determine what needs to get done

You can use the following steps when identifying roles and responsibilities at both the organizational and project level. The first step when defining team roles is to determine the various tasks that need to get done. Some questions you can ask to identify these tasks include:

Were past projects completed successfully?

If not, what could have been done better?

What tasks are still on your team’s to-do list?

What tasks does each team member complete daily?

Are these tasks part of each team member’s job description?

When you know how much work needs to get done, you can delegate tasks accordingly.

2. Identify gaps in responsibilities

While this step is most relevant when defining roles at the organizational level, you may also have gaps in responsibilities when working on projects.

After creating your to-do list , compare and contrast these tasks with what team members are doing. This comparison will help you identify any gaps in responsibilities. These gaps may occur unintentionally if team members’ original job description is unclear or if they get pulled into other tasks by others.

When you identify gaps in responsibilities, these gaps become your starting point for team realignment. You can then move team members back to their intended roles and figure out who should take over any additional tasks they were handling.

3. Clarify roles using a RACI matrix

A RACI matrix is a great tool for clarifying team member roles. RACI stands for responsible, accountable, consulted, and informed. You can set up a RACI matrix—or a table—with your tasks on the Y-axis and your team members on the X-axis. 

Assign one of the four RACI letters to each task and team member. This makes it easy for team members to know what their specific role is for each task. 

The legend below explains in greater detail what team roles work best with each letter of the RACI chart.

R = Responsible . This person performs the work. There should only ever be one Responsible per task, so everyone on the team knows who to go with for questions and updates.

A = Accountable . This person is responsible for approving the work and will likely be a manager.

C = Consulted . This person should give input on the work. This could be a team member or someone on another team.

I = Informed . This person should be informed of the progress and the outcome of the work, but they don’t give input on the work as it’s being performed. 

Additional tips for the RACI matrix: 

There should only ever be one Responsible per task ( R ) so team members know who is in charge of the work. If a task has more than one Responsible, team members can easily become confused.

While only one person should be accountable for each task ( A ), that same person can also be Responsible for the task ( AR ). 

It’s also important to limit the number of people you inform, as this can make your project unnecessarily complex ( keep I’s low ).

You can use a RACI matrix to set clear expectations for your team members and as a reference when executing projects. 

4. Get feedback from team members

Asking team members for candid feedback after you complete your RACI matrix can encourage team collaboration and provide insight into whether the roles you’ve assigned seem functional.

When your team members can voice their opinions, you create healthy team dynamics in the workplace by facilitating communication.

You can ask for feedback in several ways, such as: 

Hold a team meeting and ask, “Does anyone have an opinion on the team roles I’ve assigned?”

Schedule 1:1 meetings, so team members have a safe space to voice concerns.

Put out an anonymous survey so team members can share their honest responses.

When to clarify roles and responsibilities

There are roles and responsibilities at the organizational and the project level. As project manager, your job is to define both for your team at different times. Creating a solid team structure at the organizational level is crucial and should be addressed first if you’re noticing gaps in this area. 

For example, if a writer on your team is handling a lot of the project planning, it may be time to refocus their priorities and tasks. If a designer is responding to emails all day, realign your team structure so they have more heads-down time to create. 

Once your team knows their roles and responsibilities at the organizational level, you can approach each project individually. A designer may have general duties for their job role, but for a specific project, they may also be responsible for sending designs back and forth. 

The benefits of establishing roles and responsibilities

When you establish roles and responsibilities, you create a team structure that’s built to last. Team performance will improve when individuals feel confident in the duties they’re assigned.

When team members have individual roles, the team also benefits in other ways, including:

Increased productivity: You’ll notice an increase in productivity when you assign key responsibilities to each team member. When team members have clarity about their roles and responsibilities, they can prioritize the right work and get their most high-impact work done.

Improve hiring process: When you clarify job responsibilities for different roles, you make it easier for hiring managers to meet team needs when searching for new hires. Without a clear list of responsibilities, it may be difficult for recruiters to explain job roles to candidates.

Boost team morale: When there’s a lack of clarity in what your team members should do, they may feel unsure of their skills. Defining roles and responsibilities can boost team morale because everyone will have a task to accomplish. You can also align team members to work on tasks that complement their natural abilities so they feel confident in what they’re doing each day. 

More efficient resources: Your organization will waste less time and money when team members perform the correct job roles. As seen in the example above, two team members who didn’t know their job responsibilities on a project doubled up on work. This duplicate work wasted valuable project time, and as a result, it also wasted money. The more efficient your team is, the leaner the budget and timeline will be. 

With clear and concrete team roles, your team members should feel confident and motivated to achieve their responsibilities. 

Examples of roles and responsibilities

Every role has key responsibilities that fit with that position. When aligned correctly, team members should know their role and only be responsible for tasks that fit under their job role. Take a look at some common roles and the responsibilities these roles may have.

Role: Project manager

Responsibilities: 

Plan and develop the project

Create and lead the team

Monitor and share project progress

Role: Visual designer

Responsibilities:

Produce consistent visual work

Keep team members up to date with project milestones

Create direction for projects and guiding team members

Role: Content writer

Research and write copy

Communicate with designers and managers on progress

Revise copy after receiving feedback from clients

These responsibilities may change based on the organizational culture , work environment, and abilities of each individual team member. You can make your own job responsibilities template that includes more detail such as who the team member reports to and requirements of the role.

Build a strong project team with clear communication and structure

As team leader, it’s your job to prepare your team members for every project. The best way to create a strong team structure is through open communication. With team communication software, you can meet deadlines and reach team goals by making sure everyone knows their roles and responsibilities, when tasks are due, and where work stands.

Related resources

How to scale your creative and content production with Asana

Smooth product launches are simpler than you think

Fix these common onboarding challenges to boost productivity

How Asana uses work management to optimize resource planning

35 problem-solving techniques and methods for solving complex problems

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All teams and organizations encounter challenges as they grow. There are problems that might occur for teams when it comes to miscommunication or resolving business-critical issues . You may face challenges around growth , design , user engagement, and even team culture and happiness. In short, problem-solving techniques should be part of every team’s skillset.

Problem-solving methods are primarily designed to help a group or team through a process of first identifying problems and challenges , ideating possible solutions , and then evaluating the most suitable .

Finding effective solutions to complex problems isn’t easy, but by using the right process and techniques, you can help your team be more efficient in the process.

So how do you develop strategies that are engaging, and empower your team to solve problems effectively?

In this blog post, we share a series of problem-solving tools you can use in your next workshop or team meeting. You’ll also find some tips for facilitating the process and how to enable others to solve complex problems.

Let’s get started! 

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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Problem Manager in ITIL: Skills, Roles and Responsibilities

Home Blog IT Service Management Problem Manager in ITIL: Skills, Roles and Responsibilities

Whether you are a business owner, a successful entrepreneur, or the CEO of a large multinational corporation, problems are unavoidable. Thus, problem-solving skills in management are essential. No matter how methodically you prepare ahead of time or how much money you invest, you will not be able to avoid tragic situations if and when they happen.

Problem management provides the capability to detect and handle problems effectively by implementing procedures to ensure root problems are dealt with and averted. Here we have a guide to assist with who is a problem manager, what are the problem manager's roles and responsibilities, and the problem manager's job description with problem management examples.

What Is a Problem Manager?

So, what is a problem manager? The problem manager is essential in an organization's IT Service Management (ITSM). Problem managers detect, monitor, and fix difficulties that emerge during routine company tasks and jobs. To tackle these difficulties as rapidly as possible, they frequently collaborate with a team of engineers, designers, and other professionals.

Problem managers are responsible for dealing with a wide range of situations. These can range from product errors or quality control issues to customer grievances about defective products or services. The aim is consistently the same: detect and fix problems swiftly, so they do not have a detrimental effect on the company's bottom line. 

You can check out and enroll in the ITIL 4 Foundation Certification to learn how to leverage ITIL to gain optimal value from IT and digital services. The course is designed as an introduction to ITIL 4 and allows individuals to see IT service management via an end-to-end operational model for the creation, delivery, and continuous improvement of technology-enabled goods and services. You can also check out the problem manager resume online and refer to it before applying for the role.

What Is Problem Management?

But what is problem management in ITIL? The procedure by which a problem manager or team finds and resolves an incident or problem inside an IT service is known as problem management. Understanding what triggered a problem or why it occurred is a big aspect of resolving a problem.

It is often more useful to know what variables caused the problem rather than simply recognizing the problem. Instead of just documenting a file's corruption, the problem management team may ask themselves what corrupted it.

The purpose of problem-solving is to figure out what caused a problem so that it doesn't happen again. Problem management is a crucial resource for an IT team as some problems can impede other operations, causing further inefficiencies for the organization. Problem managers regularly work on recognizing faults before they become bigger problems.

Roles and Responsibilities of Problem Manager

Let's check the problem manager's job roles. Problem managers perform a wide range of responsibilities; the most important ITIL problem manager roles and responsibilities include: 

• Monitoring project progress to verify that deadlines are met, budgets are adhered to, and objectives are fulfilled. 
• Collaboration with the customer to create and implement problem-solving solutions. 
• Doing a comprehensive examination of a problem's core causes, including who, what, when, where, why, and how it originated. 
• Analyzes determine the influence of new policies, procedures, or regulations on current processes. 
• Offer management guidance on optimal practices for dealing with difficulties. 
• Examine information from internal departments impacted by the problem to find areas for improvement. 
• Take corrective measures based on best practices for recognizing causes and executing solutions. 
• Coordination with other departments or expert consultation to discover answers to complicated challenges. 
• Propose new procedures or methods to avoid future problems. 

These are some of the essential problem manager responsibilities. You can check out the ITSM Training Courses online to learn about the most recent advancements and best practices in IT Service Management. This course will help you manage and lead IT Service Management across your organization.

Become a project management expert with our PMP training course online . Start your journey to success now!

What Are Problem Manager Skills?

To be effective, the IT problem manager must possess the necessary problem management skills. Let's check the problem manager skills: 

• Communication  

As a problem solver, you must interact with individuals, including other managers, employees, and clients. You must be able to communicate successfully in both writing and verbal formats. You are also required to communicate complex details, so it's necessary to explain technical attributes easily and understandably. 

Problem-Solving Management Skills 

 Problem-solving abilities are required for a problem manager. Utilize these abilities to solve challenges that influence a company's production or customer pleasure and also employ problem-solving abilities to identify solutions to issues affecting a team's morale or performance. 

Critical Thinking 

Critical thinking is the competence to examine a problem and determine the best answer. As a problem manager, you are responsible for solving a problem that was caused by someone else. You can apply critical thinking to assess the problem and come up with a solution that is acceptable to all factions. 

Teamwork 

As managers usually deal with groups of individuals, they must be able to work well with others. An ITIL problem manager can utilize collaboration skills to assist them in handling difficulties with their team members. They can also employ collaboration skills to motivate team members to express their opinions and recommendations. 

Leadership 

As a problem manager, you can utilize your leadership talents to motivate and push your team to discover solutions to difficulties. You can also utilize your leadership abilities to assist your team in collaborating and making choices. Leadership abilities can also assist you in guiding your team through transition, which is an essential problem-manager role.

What Are the Steps of Problem Management?

The problem management process is an organized method for managing problems in IT projects when they are initially reported by users or service desk personnel. The problem-solving procedure is divided into seven phases. 

1. Detection

To fix a problem, you must first acknowledge it. It can be performed in several ways. One is that there is a problem that has been identified or that is being investigated. Other event management solutions can discover a problem automatically, or you can receive a signal from a provider.

A problem is defined when the source of the problem report is unknown. For instance, an event may occur, get rectified, and then repeat. The core reason for this occurrence is unknown. Sometimes a problem is called a problem, one that has existed earlier and is reported. 

When a problem has previously been reported once and has reoccurred, this historical data is available as it was logged. This is a critical phase in the life cycle of any problem management approach. All relevant facts, such as the day, date, and time of the incident, any user information, equipment specifics, and an explanation, must be included in the log. 

Once the problem has been noted, it must be classified to effectively allocate and manage it, as well as prioritize it. This helps the team evaluate how difficult the situation is and when it should be handled. 

3. Diagnosis

After the problem has been recognized and recorded, the investigation for its underlying cause begins. This can be accomplished by searching the known error database for other problems that resemble the one you're attempting to diagnose and seeing whether any reported resolutions are present. 

4. Workaround 

If a workaround can temporarily solve the problem, this is the most effective and fastest way to proceed. It is not a permanent alteration and should not be employed in return for fixing the issue, but it can help to restore the technical ship and decrease downtime and interruption until a permanent modification option is available. Just be wary about accumulating too many technical charges. 

5. Known Error Record

After you've identified, logged, and diagnosed the problem, it's important to collect that information in a known error record. This is when you can go back and check up on problems in IT to see if they're ones you've already dealt with. This makes resolving problems faster and easier, resulting in less downtime and disruption. 

6. Resolution

After you've detected, recorded, and assessed the problem, it's critical to document it in a known error record. It is where you can go back and check up on issues in your IT to see if they're ones you've already dealt with. This speeds up and simplifies problem resolution, resulting in reduced downtime and disturbance.

When you've found a solution to the problem, use standard change methodologies and test it to ensure it works. This procedure is sometimes carried out via a proposal for change document, which must then be accepted before being adopted.

Benefits of Problem Management

When done successfully, problem management can provide various advantages. 

1. Constant Service Improvement

Taking the initiative to resolve a problem can avoid low-level performance and foreseeable problems that can disrupt services. Organizations may proactively minimize difficulties and avoid recurrent incidents by integrating problems with all other ITSM operations. 

2. Avoiding Expensive Mishaps

Incidents caused by difficulties can cost a company a lot of time and money if not handled effectively. On the other side, minimizing occurrences through good problem management saves businesses significant money, but addressing serious issues before they harm services, products, or a company's reputation saves much more money. 

3. Increased Productivity

A business can be more successful if it does not waste time and money dealing with problems that can be avoided. 

4. Reduced Time to Resolution

Best practices for problem analysis will enable the problem manager and team to respond to service outages more quickly and correctly, reducing downtime. To determine the quickest path to the core cause, employ systematic problem analysis to link problems and integrate workflows.

5. Identifying and Learning from Root Causes

When teams practice problem-solving successfully, they can constantly learn from situations. 

6. Increased customer and employee satisfaction

When there are fewer difficulties along the route, customers and employees are more content. When there are issues, it becomes difficult to tolerate, especially when the problems are constant.

7. Accelerate Service Restoration

When IT personnel have visibility into known issues and proven workarounds, services can benefit. 

8. Reduced Service Interruptions

Teams can detect obstacles before they become more serious, avoiding downtime and service disruptions. IT may utilize built-in dashboards to monitor service performance and settings in advance. 

9. Optimized Core Cause Resolution

By integrating problems and managing procedures, IT teams can build systematic problem analyses. IT can provide better answers and solutions with a centralized picture of issues and associated changes.

IT professionals will always have to deal with problems, but they don't have to be slowed down. That's because the problem manager is always on their toes, finding lasting solutions to lessen the volume of incidents substantially. Problem managers save lots of time and effort by designing new methodologies and strategies to streamline activities. 

You can advance your career with the KnowledgeHut ITIL 4 Foundation Certification course offered by top industry experts who provide comprehensive and practical guidance with the renowned IT framework. Enroll now and increase your knowledge and upskill your expertise at your own pace.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

A Problem Manager's role in a firm is to regulate the lifecycle of problems. A Problem Manager prioritizes and plans problems, communicates with stakeholders, notifies the Change Manager, defers problems, makes the decision on the investigation of recognized errors, conducts problem reviews and documents learned lessons, closes problems and briefs stakeholders, monitors the issue and known error resolution progress, and takes the necessary actions.

The demand is high in the field of problem management and ITSM-related project management roles. Professionals who have earned the certification have a high chance of being identified as ideal candidates for problem manager positions. A problem manager's salary in the United States can go upto  $93,355  annually. While an IT problem manager's salary in India is  ₹ 8.5 LPA  

The two types of problem management are reactive problem management and Proactive problem management. 

Problem Management is the process of identifying, prioritizing, and systematically resolving these underlying issues.  

For example, problem management is the process of answering a question, determining the root problem, and taking corrective action to avoid it from happening again.

Three Problem management phases involve: 

• Problem Identification 
• Problem Control 
• Error control 

The key step in the problem management process are: 

• Problem Detection 
• Problem Logging 
• Investigation and Diagnosis 
• Workaround 
• Create a Known Error Record 
• Resolution 

Manikandan Mohanakrishnan

Manikandan Mohanakrishnan is a highly skilled corporate trainer, consultant, and content developer with expertise in a wide range of areas including ITIL 4, PRINCE2, Agile/Scrum, PMP, DevOps, and soft skills. With a passion for delivering exceptional training experiences, Manikandan offers a comprehensive suite of training services covering service management, project management, business simulations, and more. With over 20+ years of experience, he has successfully facilitated numerous programs, including business communications, emotional intelligence, team building, and organizational change management. Manikandan's dedication to empowering individuals and organizations shines through his motivational talks and impactful training sessions.

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Problem Analyst Job Description

Problem analyst duties & responsibilities.

To write an effective problem analyst job description, begin by listing detailed duties, responsibilities and expectations. We have included problem analyst job description templates that you can modify and use.

Sample responsibilities for this position include:

Problem Analyst Qualifications

Qualifications for a job description may include education, certification, and experience.

Licensing or Certifications for Problem Analyst

List any licenses or certifications required by the position: ITIL, V3, IOM, CCNP, CCNA, V4, LEAN, COBIT, GCIH, SANS

Education for Problem Analyst

Typically a job would require a certain level of education.

Employers hiring for the problem analyst job most commonly would prefer for their future employee to have a relevant degree such as Bachelor's and Collage Degree in Computer Science, Education, Technical, Information Technology, Engineering, Business, Information Systems, Business/Administration, Science, Management

Skills for Problem Analyst

Desired skills for problem analyst include:

Desired experience for problem analyst includes:

Problem Analyst Examples

• Microsoft Word (.docx) .DOCX
• PDF Document (.pdf) .PDF
• Image File (.png) .PNG
• You will work closely with Cyber Technology Operations in the APAC region for swift engagement and resolution of P1 issues
• Additionally, you will be responsible for the ongoing Health and Hygiene of the Cyber infrastructure environment
• Manage the incident and problem management process for iSelling
• Ensure incident management KPIs, resolution time, in the service level agreements with line of business are fulfilled and ensure timely resolution of incidents and problems
• Complete management information and reporting on a regular basis
• Plan and prioritize deliverables
• Review all major incidents to ensure problem records are correctly opened and proper ownership is established
• Manage the timely communication of Impact Statements to business stakeholders for all major incidents
• Facilitate root cause analysis (RCA) activity with the appropriate technical team members
• Drive problem investigation with appropriate corrective actions identified
• Generally global scope/accountability
• Bachelors and five (5) years
• ITIL Foundation Certified with at least one intermediate certification
• Lean or Green Belt Six Sigma certified
• Good presentation and communications skills across multiple levels of the organization, including senior management
• As a person you are goal oriented, you work proactive, behave responsible constructive and you have strong ability for decision making
• Effectively troubleshoot, monitor, and analyze bugs within EAN API products and services
• Establish and promote bug priorities to Product teams
• Create, maintain and publish up-to-date Problem Support documentation
• Frequently track and distribute Problem Support metrics and status updates
• Conduct formal CCB root cause reviews for Priority 1/Severity 3 issues meaningful requests from other lines of business for Non-Priority 1 issues
• Conducts activity to restore service of critical incidents by reacting with ownership and urgency, leading cross-functional teams of to diagnose, troubleshoot and resolve service impacting incidents.Facilitating meetings and bridge calls
• Facilitates Root Cause Analysis (RCA) process to identify causes of critical incidents by leading and participating in post mortem efforts for outages
• Has direct responsibility for completion of technical support deliverables defined in the project plan
• Needs to maintain close relations with third parties, like vendors, to be able to monitor progress of reported problems, known caveats, newly available features, software upgrades and hardware products
• Manage the incident and problem management process for ExtWeb
• Experience with Root Cause Analysis (RCA) methods
• Problem solving tools and techniques & methodologies awareness
• Proactive and able to drive ad-hoc and virtual teams for problem resolution
• Experience with root cause analysis and understanding of application architecture (i.e., web tier, server tier, service tier, back end)
• Participate in Incident management activities as required by interacting with internal teams (ITS, TS LOB and TES) areas and external service providers to quickly assume responsibility for problem management once normal service is restored
• Initiate actions to fix potential interruptions to service identified during proactive and trending analysis, , actions to fix interruptions to service caused by errors/faults within TS, TS, EETS impacting EETS Core Services
• Monitor the status of work streams that are established following major incidents impacting TES core services
• Accountable for an effective handoff, transition and progress monitoring of long term action plans as a result of problems within the environment
• Accountable for tracking, reporting and escalating on the delivery of identified short and long term actions that are deemed to be systemic issues in the environment
• Ensure timely notification and escalation of issues/problems, options and recommendations driven out of root cause analysis review
• Perform root cause analysis (RCA) for cases in scope, and for more serious cases
• Host weekly or Daily Problem Management and RCA calls with the eIT Technical resources/internal support teams and SR Leadership
• Provide Communications templates for Major Problems and known errors in the environment that need to be communicated out to other support teams or the business
• Monitoring the CT PAC Problem shared mail box for all engagements & general communications
• Creating RCA entries within the HPSM tool
• Setting up RCA review calls with impacted parties, stakeholders & partner support teams
• Solid understanding of Information Systems (IS) Incident and Problem Management principles
• Conflict management experience and displays consistent flexibility, resilience, teamwork and resourcefulness
• 2 years SQL (Structured Query Language)
• Experience with change control procedures (Remedy or Service Now) nice to have
• 2 years of experience project planning and management experience nice to have
• Prior experience in the administration of technology infrastructure
• Develop well-defined actions designed to ensure the problem does not reoccur
• The timely distribution of the minutes to the target audience
• Populating the RCA records to reflect the documented action-items, owners and target dates
• Working with the CT PAC Change Management team in the event that a failed change with impact is the trigger for the RCA request
• Continuously tracks progress to ensure deliverables within prescribed timelines until full problem closure
• Participate in regular quality assurance reviews with the CT PAC Director, sampling a number of RCAs completed in the previous month testing for robust and effective action-items that will permanently fix the identified root cause
• Participate in the global process calls, actively contributing to the development and enhancement of the tools, policies & processes in use across the firm
• Support the CT PAC Director in terms of providing commentary for the monthly CT/TC Problem Management reporting metrics
• Reviews solution options and/or temporary solutions with subject matter experts and problem owner(s)
• Approves the results of root cause analysis (RCA) and related problem investigation activities
• Prior experience in application development and/or application administration
• 4+ years of Information Technology experience within a support/operations environment or within the financial services industry
• Excellent analytical skills (logical/critical thinking)
• Continuous evaluation of data sources to identify areas of concern
• Determination of underlying root cause and assistance in implementing preventative solutions will also be key responsibilities to ensure first time quality and improved cycle time
• LINUX and/or Windows operating system experience
• Manage corrective actions and their work specific tasks and follow-ups associated with the problems we have identified during a Problem Investigation
• Assist in writing corrective and preventative actions, identifying the gaps to be addressed, and how to address them
• Manage corrective actions and related work specific tasks to facilitate their successful completion
• Sending out appropriate communications throughout the lifecycle of a corrective action
• Satisfying Problem Management policy, standards, process, and procedure guidelines
• Facilitation of meetings required to address delays in the completion of corrective actions and their work tasks
• Audit and approve proposed changes, enforce change management policies and procedures, produce and publish change metrics, conduct training for change practitioners, and lead regularly scheduled change management meetings
• Explain and guide others through the process and address any low level process issues
• Complete formal root cause analysis of internal and external systems
• Effectively organize multiple projects, schedules and meet shifting priorities
• Bachelors or Masters in Computer Science, Information Systems, Engineering, or a related field
• Understanding of and experience with ITSM tools
• SQL, .NET Framework, C#, Jenkins, GIT
• Formal training in Computer Science, Business Administration, Engineering or related discipline with information technology focus
• Understanding of service management frameworks
• Demonstrated strong documentation skills, particularly in writing enterprise level guidelines, standard operating procedures (SOPs) and other procedures

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Project team roles and responsibilities (with examples)

21 Mar 2023 By Jo Johansson

In this article 📖

Your project outcome is only going to be as good as the team behind it. There are no two ways about it—your project’s success depends on the skills, expertise, and experience of the project team you assemble.

That starts with an understanding of project team roles and responsibilities. 

And that’s exactly what we’re here to do today.

What is a project team?

A project team is a group of individuals brought together to work on a specific project or initiative. The team will include roles needed for project planning, development, and implementation.

The team members collaborate to achieve a set of predetermined goals as stated in the project scope . This could be the launch of a product or service, or delivering a new design or feature for a client. 

Each member of the team has a unique set of skills and responsibilities that contribute to the success of the project —ultimately, completing the project on schedule and on budget.  

Establishing a project team helps you ensure important projects have a dedicated group made up of various skills and experiences so the work can be completed as efficiently as possible. 

Team roles can be assigned to full-time or part-time employees, contractors, subject matter experts, or other external stakeholders.

Roles and responsibilities definition 

Roles and responsibilities are related concepts. This article will cover the roles of a project team (what specific positions and functions make up a project team), as well as the responsibilities (the duties and tasks tied to each specific role).

5 key project team roles and responsibilities

Every project has different requirements, so team structure can vary. But the five major roles in a project team are project sponsor, project manager, business analyst, resource manager, and project team member.  

Let’s dive into the roles and responsibilities of each, and how they work together.

1. Project sponsor: The person driving the vision

The sponsor is the in-house champion of a project, overseeing operations from a high level. This person works directly with the project manager, clearing any obstacles that threaten to stall the project and signing off on all major components. 

A member of senior management typically fills this role. A project sponsor’s responsibilities include the following: 

• Creating the project vision
• Earning buy-in from executive leadership
• Making critical decisions
• Approving the project budget 

2. Project manager (or leader): The person managing day-to-day operations

Project managers or leaders are responsible for day-to-day operations and ensuring the project is completed on time, on budget, and achieves its objectives. 

On a small project, the manager might oversee each team member. On a larger-scale project, they are more likely to oversee team leaders, who each manage their own group. 

The project manager is responsible for the following:

• Creating the project plan and schedule
• Recruiting project staff
• Managing the budget
• Managing the project schedule
• Delegating project tasks to team members
• Managing all project deliverables
• Communicating with upper management and other stakeholders

3. Resource manager: In charge of resource allocation and utilization

The resource manager is critical when putting together your project team. Now, if your project isn’t big enough to require a resource manager, you’ll simply have to act as one. So what does that mean exactly?

• Identify the right people for a project
• Match project team roles and skills with project needs
• Allocate and schedule the right resource within the project timeline and budget
• Stay on top of resource availability and utilization
• Monitor and optimize the use of resources throughout the course of the project to make sure it can be completed successfully

4. Business analyst: Makes sure you have the data you need

The business analyst is responsible for gathering and analyzing data related to the project. They help identify the project’s requirements and determine the best approach to achieve the project’s objectives. They work with stakeholders to ensure that the project’s deliverables meet the organization’s needs.

The business analyst ensures the project team has the technology and tools to do their jobs effectively. They might also recommend new tools for streamlining workflows and improving quality, such as resource scheduling software . 

A business analyst:

• Helps define the project and its goals
• Gathers technical requirements from team members
• Documents and analyzes project requirements
• Helps project team solve equipment management problems
• Tests solutions to ensure their effectiveness

5. Project team member (or project delivery team): Individual contributors assigned to different project tasks

Project delivery team responsibilities vary between projects and roles (which may include anything from developers and engineers, to designers and copywriters). 

At a high level, all project team members are assigned the tasks required to complete the project, and are responsible for: 

• Contributing to the project goals and objectives
• Completing individual tasks within the expected time frame
• Collaborating with other team members 
• Communicating with the project manager about roadblocks

Other roles in a project team

Some larger projects require additional project management roles and responsibilities to support the core project team. These may include: 

• An executive sponsor is a senior owner of the project (with more authority than the project sponsor) and the ultimate decision-maker
• A project owner is usually the person who proposed the project. They assist the project manager in ensuring successful implementation
• A project lead is someone who carries out a lot of the tasks of the project manager but doesn’t have as much experience or official qualifications
• A team leader is responsible for training team members and monitoring progress toward project objectives
• A functional manager’s responsibility can vary, but the primary function is to ensure the project team has the resources it needs, and address problems that slow down the project
• A program manager coordinates all projects related to a specific program and provides guidance to the project manager
• A subject matter expert (SME) has advanced knowledge of a specific area, practice, or process. They provide guidance and strategy to the project team
• A project coordinator or project management office (PMO) offers administrative support to the project team and establishes standards to ensure the team’s processes align with broader organizational goals
• Project stakeholders are people (internal or external to the project) who have an interest in and influence over the project. Their responsibilities and interests vary between (and even within) projects
• A steering committee includes senior-level stakeholders (such as the project sponsor) and company managers, and provides strategic support to help define business needs and achieve project outcomes

Project team roles and responsibilities example

Roles in a team project can get confusing (fast). So to demonstrate how project team roles work together, let’s use the example of an in-house marketing team undertaking a website redesign. 

Project sponsor: This is the person who “owns” the project. In this case, the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) might decide the website needed an overhaul as part of a big rebranding initiative. For this project, the responsibilities of the project sponsor could look something like the following:

• Ensures the redesign aligns with strategic business goals 
• Assigns with the project manager
• Provides resources and support for the redesign
• Serves as an escalation point when problems arise

Project manager: This person oversees the execution of the project and manages the team. In this case, let’s say it’s the creative director. The project manager:

• Communicates with the sponsor and project team
• Sets milestones and deadlines
• Ensures the redesign stays on schedule and on budget
• Monitors the progress of the project

Resource manager: As the name implies, this person ensures the team has everything it needs to complete the redesign. In this case, let’s say it’s the chief information officer. 

• Identifies the best project team roles based on the project scope
• Plans and allocates people and resources ( meeting rooms , equipment , etc.)
• Monitors utilization throughout the project and tracks billable hours

Project team members: These are the folks responsible for executing the redesign. They report to the project manager. The following roles need to be assigned:

• Front-end and back-end engineers
• QA engineer
• UX/UI designer
• Visual designer

Project team role and responsibilities matrix

Because roles and responsibilities can vary between projects, it can be helpful to create a RACI project team matrix at the very beginning of the project to clarify the expectations of each position.

RACI stands for responsible, accountable, consulted, and informed. It helps define the roles within a project management team and then identifies who needs to be looped in or assigned to each task.

It’s simple really, if everyone knows their roles within a project team , your project is much more likely to run smoothly.

The project team roles and responsibilities table below shows an example RACI matrix for project sponsors, project managers, resource managers, and project team members, but can be expanded to include more roles and tasks.

Now that we know more about what project team roles to include in a project along with their different responsibilities, find out how you actually go about building your project team here.

Project team roles FAQs

How do you decide what roles are needed on a project team.

To define the team roles needed for your project, outline the goals and key deliverables of the project. Think about the skills you need to ensure those deliverables are high quality, and then match and assign team members accordingly.

What are the benefits of defining project team roles?

The benefits of clearly defined roles include: 

• Increase individual accountability 
• Reduce confusion and overlap
• Give team members a feeling of ownership and clarity around expectations
• Enable project managers to delegate tasks and assess team members’ performance
• Establish a structure for effective problem-solving and collaboration

Can required project roles vary from project to project?

They absolutely can, depending on the nature of the project, the team structure, and the availability of specific skills and expertise. What matters is that the responsibilities for each role are clearly defined before work begins on the project. 

What are the best practices when putting together a project team?

You’ll want to:

• Create a project scope
• Develop and follow a clear project plan 
• Identify the project team roles needed for your project, and schedule your resources
• Establish some core project team values 
• Encourage a collaborative project team culture 

What are the roles in a project team?

To summarize, the roles on a project team can include:

• Project sponsor 
• Executive sponsor 
• Project owner
• Project manager
• Project lead
• Team leader
• Project team member or project delivery team 
• Resource manager 
• Business analyst 
• Functional manager
• Program manager 
• Subject matter expert (SME) 
• Project coordinator or project management office (PMO)

Clearly defined project team roles mean a greater chance of project success

With the right project team, you’ve instantly increased the chances of project success (because let’s not forget— 70% of projects fail ). So you’ll want to invest in getting the right people on board from the get-go.

While it’s tempting to grab whoever’s available to get started faster and track against timelines, the wiser thing to do is to wait, assess, and carefully put together your team. As we said earlier—your project will be better for it.

Find the right people—faster—with Resource Guru

Whether you’re working with a big or small project team, resource management software can help find and allocate the right resources, monitor utilization, and create more accurate resource forecasting .

Try Resource Guru for free for 30 days . (No credit card required. No strings attached.)

Join 28,115 subscribers and get an update from us every month or so :)

Jo Johansson

👋 I'm Jo, Senior Content Marketing Manager at Resource Guru. I spend my days creating educational content that helps people be more productive at work, so they can enjoy their time off work. Got any ideas or requests? Drop me a line at [email protected].

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• Team building

Teamwork is an integral part of any successful organization, and it is essential for team members to understand their roles and responsibilities. In today's fast-paced and dynamic work environment, teams are becoming increasingly diverse, and with that diversity comes the need for clear and defined roles. Understanding team roles and responsibilities is crucial for effective team building and team dynamics. It allows team members to work together efficiently and contribute their unique skills and strengths towards achieving a common goal. In this comprehensive guide, we will delve into the concept of team roles and responsibilities, and how it affects team performance and success. Whether you are a team leader or a member, this article will provide you with valuable insights on how to identify, allocate, and manage team roles and responsibilities effectively.

• Leader/Manager: This individual is responsible for overseeing the team and ensuring that tasks are completed on time and within budget. They also serve as a point of contact for any issues or concerns.
• Facilitator: This person helps to keep meetings on track and ensures that all team members have a chance to contribute their ideas and opinions.
• Communicator: As the name suggests, this role involves keeping the lines of communication open between team members and providing updates on progress or changes.
• Creative Thinker: This individual brings new and innovative ideas to the table, helping the team to think outside the box and come up with unique solutions.
• Quality Controller: This person is responsible for ensuring that the final product meets the required standards and is free of errors or flaws.

Team Building Activities

Key responsibilities, facilitator:, coordinator:, communicator:, problem-solver:, creative thinker:, team player:, effective team dynamics.

Team dynamics play a crucial role in fostering a positive and productive working environment. Effective team dynamics refer to the way in which team members interact and work together to achieve common goals. This includes communication, collaboration, and conflict resolution. When these dynamics are strong, teams are able to overcome challenges and achieve success. One key aspect of effective team dynamics is clear and open communication. Each team member should feel comfortable expressing their ideas, concerns, and opinions.

This allows for effective problem-solving and decision-making within the team. Collaboration is also essential in creating a cohesive team dynamic. Team members should be willing to work together, share responsibilities, and support one another in order to achieve common goals. This requires trust and respect among team members. Furthermore, effective team dynamics involve the ability to address conflicts in a constructive manner. Conflict is inevitable in any team, but how it is managed can make or break the team's success.

Challenges and Conflicts

Effective communication.

Conflict Resolution Skills Inevitably, conflicts will arise within a team. It is important for team members to have the skills to resolve these conflicts in a productive manner. This includes identifying the root cause of the conflict, addressing it directly with the person(s) involved, and finding a mutually beneficial solution. It may also be helpful for teams to establish ground rules or guidelines for handling conflicts in a respectful and constructive manner.

Willingness to Compromise In some cases, conflicts may not have a clear solution that satisfies everyone involved. In these situations, it is important for team members to be willing to compromise in order to reach a resolution. This involves understanding the needs and perspectives of others and finding a solution that may not be perfect, but is acceptable to all parties involved. By effectively communicating, utilizing conflict resolution skills, and being willing to compromise, teams can navigate through challenges and conflicts in a way that maintains a positive and productive team dynamic.

It is important for team members to remember that conflicts are a natural part of any team, and how they handle them can ultimately strengthen their teamwork and achieve common goals. By understanding the different team roles and responsibilities, individuals can work together more effectively and achieve success as a cohesive team. It is also important for team members to communicate openly and be willing to take on different roles as needed for the benefit of the team. Remember, teamwork makes the dream work!.

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Roles and Responsibilities Within a Problem-Solving Team

Self-paced 3 credits

Full course description

After engaging in this course, learners should be able to do the following:

• Determine who should participate on MTSS problem-solving teams     
• Define the roles of problem-solving team members
• Plan effective meetings
• Implement effective problem-solving team practices
• Define the problem-solving team’s role in creating consistent expectations

This course is approved for 3 Continuing Professional Education (CPE) hours. Assessments of learner achievement of the objectives will include reflection/application activities, knowledge checks, and wrap-up questions. You will complete one lesson module at a time.

Credit will be assigned after all lesson modules are completed. Your certificate of completion will be accessible within 24 hours on the TEALearn Student Dashboard of the account used for registration. Instructions on claiming your certificate of completion are available after the last assignment. 

7 Key Tasks and Examples: Responsibilities of a Supervisor

By Status.net Editorial Team on February 7, 2024 — 10 minutes to read

As a supervisor, your primary responsibilities include overseeing and coordinating the daily operations of your team. You’re the go-to point for guidance, support, and sometimes even conflict resolution. Your role means ensuring that the team works efficiently and meets the set targets and standards.

• Leadership : You set the tone for your team’s work environment. By giving clear directions and setting an example, you inspire others to follow suit. For instance, if punctuality is a priority, you’re always on time.
• Communication : Acting as a bridge between upper management and your team, you relay information effectively. You might, for example, convey new company policies and gather feedback from your team to share with higher-ups.
• Performance Management : You track your team’s productivity and quality of work. Suppose a team member is underperforming; you provide constructive criticism and potentially formulate a performance improvement plan.
• Training and Development : You identify skill gaps and recommend training programs. You could mentor a junior team member, enhancing their knowledge for better progress.
• Resource Management : You’re entrusted with managing the tools and materials your team needs. You would allocate these resources wisely to prevent bottlenecks in the workflow.
• Problem-Solving : When issues arise, it’s your job to identify solutions. If there’s a conflict between team members, you would mediate and help find a middle ground.

In essence, your role as a supervisor entails being an approachable leader, an effective communicator, a sharp evaluator of performance, a guide for growth, a judicious resource allocator, and an adept problem-solver.

Key Responsibilities of a Supervisor

In your role as a supervisor, you’ll handle a range of duties tailored to support your team’s success and the smooth running of daily operations. Here’s what that will look like across various aspects.

Setting Goals and Objectives

You’ll need to set clear, achievable goals and objectives for your team, aligning them with the company’s broader mission. For example, you might establish monthly sales targets or project completion benchmarks that help guide your team’s efforts.

Overseeing Daily Operations

Your day-to-day will revolve around monitoring the workflow and ensuring all tasks are completed efficiently. If you’re running a retail space, this can mean coordinating staff schedules and managing inventory.

Managing Staff Performance

You’re accountable for evaluating how well your team members are doing, offering constructive feedback, and addressing any issues that arise. In a customer service setting, you might review call handling times and customer feedback to assess staff performance.

Ensuring Workplace Safety

Your team’s safety is in your hands, which means upholding health and safety regulations. In a warehouse, for instance, this could entail conducting regular site inspections or safety training sessions.

Providing Training and Development

It’s important that you identify training needs and provide opportunities for growth within the team. Say you’re supervising a marketing team; you might set up a workshop on the latest digital marketing trends to keep your team sharp and up-to-date.

Enhancing Team Productivity

You should implement strategies to boost productivity, like optimizing workflows or introducing time-saving tools. As a call center supervisor, you might introduce a new management software to track calls more effectively.

Fostering a Positive Work Environment

You have the chance to create a work atmosphere that promotes collaboration, respect, and well-being. This could be as simple as recognizing employee achievements or arranging team-building activities to strengthen camaraderie.

Communication and Interpersonal Skills

As a supervisor, you play a pivotal role in shaping the dynamics of your team. Your ability to communicate effectively and manage relationships is key to both individual and collective success.

Conducting Effective Meetings

When you organize meetings, ensure they have clear objectives and stick to a pre-defined agenda. Start by stating the purpose and outline the topics to cover. For example, if you’re leading a project kickoff meeting, you might set goals for the project, assign tasks, and discuss timelines.

Resolving Conflicts

Part of your job is to address disputes promptly and fairly. Say two team members have differing views on a project approach, you should listen to both sides, understand their perspectives, and guide them toward a solution that aligns with the team’s goals.

Offering Constructive Feedback

Feedback is an opportunity for growth, so make it specific and actionable. If a team member is struggling with time management, you could suggest they break tasks into smaller, manageable steps and recommend tools to track their progress.

Promoting Team Collaboration

Encourage your team to work together by highlighting individual strengths and creating opportunities for joint problem-solving. If someone excels at data analysis, pair them with someone with strong presentation skills to tackle a project that requires both.

Administrative Duties

Supervisors play a vital role in managing the day-to-day administrative tasks that keep a business running smoothly. Your ability to complete these responsibilities effectively has a direct impact on your team and organization.

Maintaining Employee Records

You are in charge of keeping up-to-date records for each member of your team. This typically includes contact information, employment history, job performance, and any disciplinary actions. For example, you might use a digital system to track an employee’s attendance or update their training certifications.

Budgeting and Resource Allocation

You’ll manage your department’s budget and make decisions on where to allocate resources. This could mean determining how to divide funds across projects or deciding if additional staff can be hired based on financial reports.

Adhering to Company Policies

You’re expected to understand and adhere to all company policies. This includes implementing health and safety protocols and ensuring that team members are aware of and follow these guidelines. When a new policy is introduced, it’s your job to update your team and integrate this policy into daily operations.

Reporting to Management

As a supervisor, you regularly compile reports and updates to keep management informed about your team’s progress. This might involve reporting on sales figures, project status, or employee productivity, giving higher-ups critical insights into department performance.

Strategic Planning and Implementation

When you step into a supervisory role, one of your key duties is to engage in strategic planning and implementation. This process means you’re responsible for setting goals, developing strategies to meet those objectives, and guiding your team to execute these plans effectively.

• First, you’ll need to identify the long-term goals for your team or department. For example, increasing the team’s sales by 20% within the next fiscal year. Once you have clear objectives, you can start crafting a strategic plan which includes specific, measurable steps.
• Now, let’s talk about implementation. You take the strategies from your plan and translate them into actionable tasks for your team. You’re the driving force behind turning those abstract strategies into concrete results. For instance, you might roll out a new training program to improve product knowledge among your sales staff, aiming to increase customer satisfaction and sales numbers.
• You also have to monitor the progress of these strategies. For example, keep track of monthly sales figures to see if your team is on pace to hit the 20% increase mark. If things aren’t going as planned, be ready to make adjustments. This might involve shifting resources, altering tactics, or providing additional support to your team.

Effective strategic planning and implementation are about clear communication, adapting to changes, and leading by example. Your team will look to you for direction and motivation, so keep your plans realistic, stay flexible, and always show your commitment to achieving those goals together.

Performance Evaluation and Improvement

Supervisors have a pivotal role in shaping their team’s productivity and career growth through effective performance evaluation and improvement.

Developing Performance Metrics

First, you need to establish clear performance metrics that align with your company’s goals. These should be quantifiable and easily understandable by your team. For example, if you are supervising a sales team, a performance metric could be the number of successful client acquisitions per quarter.

Implementing Improvement Strategies

Once metrics are set, you should identify and implement strategies to help your team meet or exceed these benchmarks. This might entail providing additional training sessions for customer service representatives to enhance their interaction skills or updating the software tools used by your data analysis team to increase efficiency.

Conducting Regular Performance Reviews

Regular performance reviews allow you to track progress and provide feedback for ongoing improvement. During these sessions, if a team member has excelled in client communication, highlight this success, and discuss how these skills can be shared with the team. Conversely, if an employee’s performance is lagging, work together to establish a clear and actionable plan for development.

Quality Control and Assurance

As a supervisor, you play a pivotal role in maintaining the standards of the products or services your team provides. You ensure that deliverables meet the established quality criteria before they reach the customer. A significant part of your job is to implement and monitor quality control procedures, identifying any issues that could affect the final outcome.

• For instance, you should regularly review your team’s work through audits or performance reviews. Let’s say you’re overseeing a manufacturing process; you would perform spot checks on the production line, test samples for defects, and then document any issues. You’d need to provide feedback and guidance to your team to prevent future occurrences.
• Another component of your responsibility is assurance. This typically means setting up training programs to help your team understand quality standards and why they matter. If you’re in a service-oriented industry, you might conduct role-playing exercises to help employees handle different scenarios with clients.
• Communication is key. Keep your team informed about any updates in quality expectations or new methodologies. For practical application, imagine introducing a new software that tracks quality metrics; you’d explain how the tool improves the team’s ability to maintain high-quality work.
• Lastly, you address customer complaints related to quality. You need to investigate these issues, find the root causes, and take corrective actions. By doing this, you not only resolve the immediate problem but also demonstrate a commitment to continuous improvement.

Crisis Management and Problem Solving

When you’re a supervisor, managing crises and solving problems is part of your job. You must act quickly to identify the issues and implement solutions to minimize the impact. Your role in this includes assessing the situation, making decisions, and guiding your team through the resolution process.

First, assess the situation:

• Gather information: Quickly collect all relevant details about the crisis.
• Analyze the impact: Determine how the crisis affects your team and operations.

Next, make decisions:

• Identify options: List possible actions that could resolve the problem.
• Evaluate outcomes: Consider the potential consequences of each action.

Lastly, guide your team:

• Communicate clearly: Keep your team informed about the crisis and your plan.
• Delegate tasks: Assign roles and responsibilities to team members to tackle the issue.
• Follow up: Ensure that solutions are implemented effectively and learn from the experience.

Example : Imagine a safety incident occurs on the production floor. You must quickly understand what happened, ensure everyone is safe, and stop the problem from escalating. You might decide to temporarily halt production, which, although impacting schedules, ensures safety. Then, communicate with your team, delegate tasks to address the immediate risks, and plan to resume operations safely.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can you outline the key duties a supervisor has to perform daily.

Your daily duties as a supervisor include delegating tasks, monitoring staff performance, and providing feedback. You also need to ensure that the day’s objectives are clearly understood by your team.

Could you give an example of the core roles a supervisor plays in a team setting?

As a supervisor, you act not just as a manager but as a leader. For instance, you might mediate conflicts within the team and work to create a collaborative environment where everyone’s ideas are valued and considered.

What are the top priorities a supervisor should focus on to maintain team efficiency?

To keep your team running smoothly, you should prioritize setting clear goals, managing resources effectively, and keeping communication lines open to quickly address any issues that arise.

How does a supervisor effectively support and develop their staff?

You can support and develop your staff by identifying their strengths and weaknesses and providing opportunities for training and professional development. Regular one-on-one meetings can help you guide their growth.

What are the essential supervisory skills necessary for effective leadership?

Important supervisory skills include effective communication, decision-making, problem-solving, and time management. These help you lead your team confidently and handle challenges as they come.

In what ways can a supervisor ensure the successful implementation of company policies?

As a supervisor, you can ensure company policies are followed by clearly explaining their importance to your team and overseeing their application in daily operations. Regular training sessions can also reinforce policy awareness and adherence.

• Key Leadership Skills You Need (to Lead a Team)
• 24 Key Qualities of a Good Supervisor (Traits and Skills)
• Timeboxing: Mastering Productivity (with Examples)
• Leadership Self Evaluation Comments Examples
• Qualities of a Good Employee (6 Key Traits with Examples)
• Team Building Questions: 150 Purposeful Examples to Boost Group Dynamics

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Developing a Successful MTSS/RTI Team

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The MTSS/RTI team is a school-based, problem-solving team; it is the engine that drives the MTSS/RTI practice. The MTSS/RTI team exists to proactively address system needs by reviewing school-wide data (within grade levels and classrooms) and support individual student growth by helping to monitor progress and make decisions for students at Tier 3. The site administrator should play an active role in recruiting and ultimately designating the composition of the MTSS/RTI team. The most successful teams consist of volunteers, so it is important that site administrators make an effort to designate members who truly want to be involved. MTSS/RTI team membership is made up of both standing members who contribute expertise from their respective disciplines and those who may be invited to address a specific concern. Examples of standing members on the MTSS/RTI team include: administrator, general education teacher, school psychologist/counselor, dean, content area specialist, ELL teacher, special education teacher, and grade-level or department representatives. 
 

How to Develop a Successful School Level MTSS/RTI Team?

Whether developing a team for the first time, filling open “positions,” or refining your current team dynamics, it is important to spend time reflecting on individual and group qualities that make for a success team. In order to do this, we must have a good understanding of what the team does, what individual characteristics help make the team successful, what skills the team members need to bring to the group, and what expectations can be established to help the team be successful, which we will cover below.

What Are the Responsibilities of the MTSS/RTI Team?

In a typical school, the MTSS/RTI team meets regularly with a structured agenda that varies throughout the month to: 

• Review universal screening data;
• Review school-wide data, consider feedback and concerns from PLCs/grade or content teams, and make data-based decisions;
• Provide input on professional development as it relates to the school’s MTSS/RTI practice and Tier 1 needs; 

• Provide input regarding school site intervention/enrichment schedule, curriculum, and/or course offerings; 

• Support grade levels/departments in serving students during intervention blocks in collaboration with general education teachers; 

• Discuss and communicate with the site administrator on issues relevant to the MTSS/RTI process; 

• Consult and collaborate with administrators, counselors, teachers and parents about MTSS/RTI
, problem-solving practice, and procedural integrity; 

• Hold problem-solving meetings (that include parents) for individual students; 

• Refer students for comprehensive special education evaluations when data indicate this step is warranted.

What Are the Characteristics of Effective MTSS/RTI Team Members?

MTSS is a system level practice, therefore, an MTSS team should consist of educators capable of leading system level change and management. According to the work of Chenoweth and Everhart (2002), effective leadership teams consists of individuals possessing the following characteristics:

• they are committed to school-wide change;
• they are respected by colleagues;
• they possess leadership potential;
• they demonstrate effective interpersonal skills; and
• they are self-starters with perseverance to see projects through

To promote a healthy school climate, the MTSS/RTI team, like any leadership team, should reflect the diversity of the staff, students, and broader community. In addition, the team members should bring a diversity of skills and expertise to best fill out the responsibilities of different roles. 

What Roles & Responsibilities Do MTSS/RTI Team Members Hold?

Successful teams clearly articulate everyone’s roles and responsibilities so people are adequately able to prepare for what is expected of them and bring their best to the team. The following are typical roles and responsibilities that should be explicitly assigned to members of the MTSS/RTI team, given individual strengths and abilities:

• Provides leadership at MTSS/RTI team meetings
• Facilitates monitoring of instructional integrity within grade levels/departments
• 
Ensures progress monitoring for all students in Tiers 2 and 3 (both for students with IEPs and those without IEPs) 
 
• Ensures school schedule and resource allocation enables a successful MTSS practice
• Celebrates and communicates success
• Coordinates and sets agenda for MTSS/RTI team meetings
• Provides expertise to MTSS/RTI team regarding problem-solving protocol 
• Provides expertise in data analysis 
• Identifies trends in student/staff need across school
• Serves as a liaison between PLC/grade-level/department team and MTSS/RTI team 

• Attends grade level PLC/MTSS/RTI meetings on a regular basis
• Identifies trends in student/staff need across grade-level or content area
• Presents data/background information on student being discussed (in absence of classroom teacher)

• Provides expertise to MTSS/RTI team regarding interventions and skill remediation
• Supports MTSS/RTI team with data interpretation and ensures linkage of data to selected interventions 
• Gathers progress monitoring data from PLCs and Tier 3 interventionists for review during MTSS/RTI meetings
• Consults/collaborates with classroom teachers regarding differentiated instruction 
• Provides experience with and knowledge of student being discussed
• Presents data/background information on student
• Ensures next steps are documented and communicated with student and/or family

How Can a Team Be Set up for Success?

According to the Center for Collaborative Education , the following areas and questions should be considered:

• How often do we need to meet in order to do our work?
• Where and when will we meet?
• What equipment/tools do we use to facilitate our meetings?
• How long should our meetings be?
• Will we start on time or wait for any late team members?
• What is our plan for addressing tardiness and attendance of team members?
• How will we show respect for each other?
• How will we encourage active listening?
• How will we encourage everyone’s participation?
• What is our decision-making process?
• Is consensus needed for decision-making?
• How do we document and communicate our decisions?
• How can we ensure workload is distributed?
• How do we help each other balance our MTSS team work with other school responsibilities?
• How do we prioritize our workload?
• How will we make sure that tasks are completed on time?
• Enforcement of norms
• How do we hold ourselves accountable to these norms?
• What is our plan if norms are not followed?

In addition to clearly communicating individual roles and responsibilities, healthy and successful teams have a shared understanding of how they are expected to function as a group. While some groups develop these expectations or understandings organically, it should not be assumed that everyone is aligned. Clearly articulating expectations, or operational norms, will help promote a healthier team dynamic.

References:

Chenoweth, T. G., & Everhart, R. B. (2002). Navigating comprehensive school change: A guide for the perplexed. Larchmont, NY: Eye on Education.

Dr. Eva Dundas

Dr. Dundas is the Chief Learning Officer of Branching Minds, where she pursues her mission to bridge the gap between the science of learning and education practice. Dr. Dundas has a Ph.D. in Developmental and Cognitive Psychology from Carnegie Mellon University where she conducted research on how the brain develops when children acquire visual expertise for words and faces. Her research also explores how the relationship between neural systems (specifically language and visual processing) unfolds over development, and how those dynamics differ with neurodevelopmental disorders like dyslexia and autism. She has published articles on that subject in the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, Neuropsychologia, Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, and Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. Dr. Dundas also has a M.Ed. in Mind, Brain, and Education from Harvard University; and a B.S. in Neuroscience from the University of Pittsburgh.

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Into all problem-solving, a little dissent must fall

Events of the past several years have reiterated for executives the importance of collaboration and of welcoming diverse perspectives when trying to solve complicated workplace problems. Companies weren’t fully prepared for the onset of a global pandemic, for instance, and all that it engendered—including supply chain snarls and the resulting Great Attrition  and shift to remote (and now hybrid) work, which required employers to fundamentally rethink their talent strategies . But in most cases leaders have been able to collaborate their way through the uncertainty, engage in rigorous debate and analyses about the best steps to take, and work with employees, suppliers, partners, and other critical stakeholders to react and, ultimately, recover.

And It’s not just COVID-19: many organisations have had to rethink their business strategies and practices in the wake of environmental concerns, the war in Ukraine, and social movements sparked by racial injustice, sexual misconduct, and widespread economic inequity . Ours are fast-moving, complex times, rich not just in worrisome challenges but also in exciting potential—organisations that enable innovation will find ample opportunities to thrive. So now more than ever, decision makers can’t act alone; they must bring diverse perspectives to the table and ensure that those voices are fully heard . 1 Sundiatu Dixon-Fyle, Kevin Dolan, Vivian Hunt, and Sara Prince, “ Diversity wins: How inclusion matters ,” McKinsey, May 19, 2020.

But while many leaders say they welcome dissent, their reactions often change when they actually get some. They may feel defensive. They may question their own judgment. They may resent having to take time to revisit the decision-making process. These are natural responses, of course; employees’ loyalty and affirmation are more reassuring to leaders than robust challenges from the group. There is discomfort, too, for potential dissenters; it is much safer to keep your thoughts to yourself and conform  than to risk expulsion from the group. 2 Derived from this work on the evolutionary origins of social and political behavior: Christopher Boehm, Hierarchy in the Forest: The Evolution of Egalitarian Behavior , Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2001.

What’s missing in many companies, in our experience, is the use of “contributory dissent” or the capabilities required to engage in healthy if divergent discussions about critical business problems. Contributory dissent allows individuals and groups to air their differences in a way that moves the discussion toward a positive outcome and doesn’t undermine leadership or group cohesion . 3 McKinsey itself has established obligation to dissent as one of its core values alongside those focused on client service and talent development. For more, see Bill Taylor, “True leaders believe dissent is an obligation,” Harvard Business Review , January 12, 2017.

McKinsey’s research and experience in the field point to several steps leaders can take to engage in healthy dissent and build a culture where constructive feedback is expected and where communication is forthright. These include modeling “open” behaviors, embedding psychological safety  and robust debate into decision-making processes, and equipping employees with the communication skills that will allow them to contribute dissenting opinions effectively.

In this article we outline the steps leaders can take to encourage healthy dissent, and the actions teams and individuals can take to share their voices and perspectives most effectively. It takes both sides, after all, to engage in robust debate, find the right solutions, and enable lasting, positive change.

How leaders can encourage contributory dissent

Senior leaders in an organisation play a central role in ensuring that individuals and teams see contributory dissent as a normal part of any discussion. They can signal the importance of dissent by taking a series of steps to institutionalise the practice within an organisation and empower employees to share their ideas freely and productively. Specifically, senior leaders should strive to inspire rather than direct employees to collaborate, explicitly demand dissent and, taking that one step further, actively engage with naysayers (see sidebar “How to encourage healthy dissent”). 4 Leaders can also draw on McKinsey’s “influence model” for changing mindsets and behaviors: role modeling, fostering understanding and conviction, reinforcing with formal mechanisms, and developing talent and skills. For more, see Tessa Basford and Bill Schaninger, “ The four building blocks of change ,” McKinsey Quarterly , April 11, 2016.

Inspire, don’t direct

How to encourage healthy dissent.

To encourage dissent through personal leadership:

Lead to inspire, not to direct:

• Empower the group to come up with ideas: “None of us knows the answer yet, but we can work it out together if we harness the best of everyone’s thinking.”

Foster dissent by actively seeking it:

• Explicitly seek dissent; give people permission and encouragement.
• Consider including dissent as a stated organisational value.
• Make provision for open discussion in the buildup to decisions.

Welcome open discussion when it comes:

• Listen to dissenters and naysayers, and thank them for their insights.
• Recognise this as a usefully unfiltered channel for understanding the organisation’s perceptions on issues.
• Seek to bring dissenters along the decision journey, so they become positive influencers later during implementation.
• Employ deliberate techniques such as red teaming and pre-mortems to widen the debate and mitigate groupthink.

As the inspirational speaker Simon Sinek put it, “The role of a leader is not to come up with all the great ideas. The role of a leader is to create an environment in which great ideas can happen.” 5 Simon Sinek, Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action , New York, NY: Portfolio, 2009. That is especially important for fostering an atmosphere of collaboration and contributory dissent. Rather than immediately jump into a discussion about solutions, one senior leader in an international organisation addressed his team’s anxiety in the wake of a crisis. “Let me guess,” he said, “you’re all feeling confused and uncertain about the way ahead. Terrific. I’m so glad we are of one mind and that we all understand our situation correctly! I’m sure that we can work it out together, but it’s going to require the best of everyone’s thinking. Let’s get started.” His authenticity and understated humor allowed him to connect with the group and inspired them to keep calm, carry on, and generate solutions that the leader alone couldn’t have come up with. Harvard professor Ron Heifetz describes this as creating a holding environment, a key element of adaptive leadership. 6 Ronald A. Heifetz and Mary Linksy, Leadership on the Line: Staying Alive through the Dangers of Leading , Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press, 2002; Ronald Heifetz, Alexander Grashow, and Marty Linksy, The Practice of Adaptive Leadership: Tools and Tactics for Changing Your Organization and the World , Boston, MA: Harvard Business Press, 2009.

Explicitly demand dissent

It’s not enough for leaders to give people permission to dissent; they must demand it of people. In many companies, individuals and teams may (understandably) default to collegiality, not realizing that there are ways to challenge ideas while still respecting colleagues’ roles and intellect. It’s on senior leaders, then, to help employees understand where the boundaries are. In World War 1, Australia’s General Sir John Monash was determined to develop better tactics to overcome the catastrophic impasse of trench warfare. He knew there were answers to be found from the experience of soldiers in the trenches, but he needed to loosen the military discipline of blind obedience: “I don’t care a damn for your loyal service when you think I am right; when I really want it most is when you think I am wrong.” Monash scheduled open battle planning sessions and pulled in advice from whoever offered it. In doing so, he built ownership of and confidence in his plans among all ranks. The resulting orchestration of tanks, artillery, aircraft, and troops led to rapid advances along the Somme Valley, and Monash garnered respect and appreciation from his troops, whose chances of survival and ultimate victory had increased markedly.

Actively engage with naysayers

Taking the demand imperative one step further, it’s beneficial for leaders to actively seek out the views of vocal naysayers , who can turn into influential champions just by being part of the conversation. They can immediately improve the nature of business debate and may boost the quality of the final decision, although engaging with naysayers can be tough. Some dissenting opinions can be ill-informed or uncomfortable to hear. The objective for senior leaders, then, is to put their discomfort aside and listen for signs of cognitive dissonance within an organisation. As an example, front-line employees may say things like “We’re not considered strategic thinkers,” or “The company doesn’t put people first,” while senior management may actually feel as though they have made strides in both of those areas. Still, leaders need to absorb such comments, treat them as useful data points, assess their validity, and engage in what may be a challenging discussion. They may want to use red teams  and premortems , in which teams at the outset anticipate all the ways a project could fail, to frame up dissenting opinions, mitigate groupthink, and find a positive resolution. These behaviours also serve to enhance organizational agility and resilience .

How leaders can establish psychological safety

Senior leaders need to establish a work environment in which it is safe to offer dissenting views. The McKinsey Health Institute’s work on employee well-being points to a strong correlation between leadership behaviors, collaborative culture, and resistance to mental health problems and burnout : only 15 percent of employees in environments with low inclusivity and low support for personal growth are highly engaged, compared with 38 percent in high-scoring environments. 7 “ Addressing employee burnout: Are you solving the right problem? ,” McKinsey, May 27, 2022. Leaders can build psychological safety (where team members feel they can take interpersonal risks and remain respected and accepted) and set the conditions for contributory dissent by rethinking how they engage in debate—both the dynamics and the choreography of it.

The dynamics of debate

The poet and playwright Oscar Wilde described a healthy debating culture as one in which people are “playing gracefully with ideas”— listening to, and even nourishing, opposing points of view in a measured and respectful way. 8 The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde, Volume 2: De Profundis, “Epistola: In Carcere et Vinculis,” Oxford, United Kingdom: Clarendon Press, 2005. Indeed, the best ideas can emerge at the intersection of cultures and opinions. In 15th century Florence, for instance, the Medici family attracted and funded creators from across the arts and sciences to establish an epicenter of innovative thinking that sparked the Renaissance. 9 Frans Johansson, The Medici Effect: Breakthrough Insights at the Intersection of Ideas, Concepts, and Culture , Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press, 2004. Closer to this century, we have seen cross-discipline innovations like the application of biologists’ research on ant colonies to solve problems in telecommunications routing. And in the business world, extraordinary innovations have been achieved by open-minded leaders bringing together smart people and creating the conditions for playful exploration.

To achieve a state of “graceful play,” senior leaders must carefully manage group dynamics during debates. Rather than lead with their own opinions, for instance, which might immediately carry outsize weight in the group and stifle discussion, senior leaders can hold back and let others lead the discussion . They can lean in to show genuine curiosity or to explicitly recognise when a dissenting view has changed their thinking. But by letting other, more junior voices carry the agenda and work through ideas, however imperfect, senior leaders can establish a climate of psychological safety—and garner more respect from colleagues long term. 10 Amy C. Edmondson, The Fearless Organization: Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace for Learning, Innovation, and Growth , Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 2019.

Leaders will also need to be aware of cultural differences that may crop up during debates. For example, many Australians speak candidly and are happy to address issues squarely. By contrast, the concept of “face” is so important in many Asian cultures that a more circumspect approach is taken. And the Pacific and Maori cultures emphasize displays of both strength and respect. 11 Erin Meyer, The Culture Map: Breaking through the Invisible Boundaries of Global Business , Philadelphia, PA: PublicAffairs, 2014. These differences in debate dynamics really matter. They can be a great source of hybrid vigour, 12 “Heterosis, also called hybrid vigour: the increase in such characteristics as size, growth rate, fertility, and yield of a hybrid organism over those of its parents. The first-generation offspring generally show, in greater measure, the desired characteristics of both parents.” Encyclopedia Britannica , accessed September 19, 2022. if sensitively managed, or a source of conflict and disenfranchisement if not. To approach these differences in a positive way, senior leaders could undertake a mapping exercise that identifies the different styles of the cultures present, thereby providing validation and enabling pragmatic measures to integrate them.

Choreographing debate

Beyond just managing debate dynamics, business leaders must take a hand in choreographing the debate and, specifically, in helping to design collective-thinking processes  so people know how best to play their part. Business leaders may adopt a structured approach  to brainstorming, for instance, or plan strategic off-site schedules that combine deliberate thinking with “distracted” thinking—taking time to engage in a social activity, for instance—to take advantage of employees’ deep-thinking processes.

How deliberate choices by the leader can optimise a decision-making process

A leader must consciously assess each new situation and design the collective-thinking process accordingly, then articulate this so that people know how best to play their part.

In doing so, the leader should consider an array of questions, the answers to which will determine the context, for example:

• What does success look like?
• Will the organisation underwrite initial failures in the interests of agility and innovation?
• How broad and freethinking an analysis is required?
• What are the explicit expectations for contributory dissent?
• Are any topics and behaviours out of bounds?
• Who will lead the discussion, and how will comments be captured?
• Does urgency mean that it’s better to be directive?
• Who will be consulted?
• Which decisions can be delegated, and to whom?
• Whose support needs to be built?
• What parameters and boundaries exist?
• Are there interim decisions and communications required?
• What form should the deliverable outcomes take?
• When are the deliverables required?
• Direction setting on these parameters by the leader focuses the team, while also creating space for creativity and iterative learning.

To create a sustainable structure for debate, business leaders will need to consider questions relating to team structure and rules of engagement: What does success look like when it comes to contributory dissent? What topics and behaviors are out of bounds? Who will lead the discussion, and how will comments be captured? Who has the final say on decisions, or which decisions can be delegated, and to whom? (For a more comprehensive explanation, see sidebar “How deliberate choices by the leader can optimise a decision-making process.”)

Having these parameters in place can free up the team to think more creatively about the issue at hand. Establishing such protocols can also make it easier to raise dissenting opinions. At one company, people are asked to call out their underlying values or potential biases when expressing a dissenting view. During meetings of the promotion committee, for instance, a statement like “I think we are making the wrong decision” would be rephrased as “I am someone who values experience over collaboration, and this decision would risk losing too much institutional knowledge.”

How individuals and teams can engage and dissent

As we’ve shared, senior leaders can take steps to set conditions for robust discussion and problem-solving, but individuals and teams themselves must also have the right mindsets and skills for contributory dissent to work well (see sidebar “How teams and individuals can dissent effectively”). In particular, they must embrace the obligation to dissent, actively make space to analyse ideas that are different from their own, and then find ways to either iterate on others’ ideas or respectfully agree to disagree.

Embrace the obligation to dissent

How teams and individuals can dissent effectively.

For dissent to be effective, its delivery requires courage and tactical skills underpinned by sincere respect and grace. Speaking up with respect is the right thing to do, and the responsibility to do so exists, even if there is uncertainty. The following guidelines are useful in enabling effective dissent:

Prepare a welcome for dissenting views:

• Understand the context and motivations of others, appreciate their views, and syndicate your own.
• Stop and strategise before wading into the conversations, establish a solid platform for agreement, and explicitly seek permission to dissent.

Play the long game:

• Be open minded and iterative. Don’t expect to succeed on the first try.
• Listen to others for what their views might add rather than to defend your own.

Withhold assent if you need to, but do it carefully:

• Withholding assent is a legitimate option if done judiciously.
• Minimise offense to and loss of face for the decision maker.
• If principles or legality is at stake, document your dissent.

Individuals and teams need to exhibit a certain amount of humility and confidence in order to speak truth to power with respect; they must be sure for themselves that doing so is the right thing to do. To build this confidence, individuals and teams should remember that the very act of dissent can be valuable, even if the contribution itself isn’t 100 percent baked. Others can react or build on the dissenting view—which, in itself, can be a satisfying process for a dissenter. If the ultimate decision isn’t what they proposed, they still helped shape it by offering and testing a worthy possibility.

Make space to analyse different views

Individuals and teams may need time to determine their positions on an issue. During this period, it’s important to be (and seen to be) open-minded and respectful of others’ views. That means asking lots of questions, gathering information, assessing others’ motivations, and acknowledging their views before syndicating alternatives of your own. Much of this fact gathering can be done one-on-one, in a nonconfrontational way, in offline conversations rather than in a tension-filled meeting room. In these conversations, individuals could start by reaffirming a shared commitment to finding a solution to the issue at hand, their respect for the decision-making process and the group, and areas of broad agreement. They could also signal their possible intention to dissent and seek permission to do so rather than confronting people head-on. People will find it harder to refuse that permission, and will be less likely to get defensive, when approached with statements like “This is a great discussion, and I love the vision of where we are headed, but would it be OK for us to explore some alternatives for how to get there?”

Agree to iterate …

Individuals and teams that decide to offer dissenting views should agree to iterate on other solutions, rather than digging in. Their dissenting opinions should be cogent, persuasive, and open-minded—but dissenters shouldn’t expect to change hearts and minds on the first try. They should plant seeds gently and bide their time; they might even see their idea come back as someone else’s. The critical skill required here is active, open listening: dissenters should listen carefully for others’ additive insights and find ways to build on them. In their contributory dissent, individuals and teams can take a moment to summarize what others have said and then use statements like “Can I offer another take?” and then allow the momentum of the conversation to take over.

… or agree to disagree

But what happens if, after all the considered and tactful input, the dissenter still believes a decision is heading in the wrong direction? In our experience, withholding assent then becomes a legitimate option: people shouldn’t agree if they don’t agree. This is where all the careful, respectful groundwork the dissenter has done can pay dividends. In fact, a dissenting view gains even more power when an individual can say something like, “I still believe in my alternate solution, but I’m grateful for the opportunity to contribute to this process, and I respect that you have the final say.” In this case, the dissenter is supporting the leader while flagging that the open debate hasn’t convinced them to change their initial view.

Of course, withholding assent should be a relatively rare action, taken only after an individual or team has shown that they can accommodate other views and have aligned with the consensus when they believe it’s right to do so. Think of US Supreme Court associate justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who joined the consensus view on many decisions but who is especially celebrated for the positive changes that arose from her highly influential dissenting opinions on issues such as gender equity, human rights, and religious freedom.

Contributory dissent can help strengthen employee engagement, unlock hidden insights, and help organisations solve tough challenges. But putting it into practice takes courage and humility, and it won’t just happen by accident. Leaders need to be intentional about welcoming challenges to their plans and opinions, even when it’s uncomfortable to do so. They need to establish cultures and structures where respectful debate can occur and where individuals and teams feel free to bring innovative—and often better—alternative solutions to the table.

Ben Fletcher is a senior partner in McKinsey’s Sydney office, Chris Hartley is a partner in the Melbourne office, Rupe Hoskin is a senior expert in the Canberra office, and Dana Maor is a senior partner in the Tel Aviv office.

The authors wish to thank Jacqueline Brassey, Nikki Dines, Richard Fitzgerald, Sam Hemphill, Ayush Jain, Jemma King, and Martin Nimmo for their contributions to this article.

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Big companies need a better art of problem-solving. You can't simply rely on luck or intuition. Data and analytics must become your greatest allies in your decision-making process. However, it's not just about employing any tool you find; it's about finding the right tool for your needs. In the case of big companies, Dhiraj Rajaram has the solution. Dhiraj is the founder of Mu Sigma, where he leads the company's strategic direction. Before starting Mu Sigma, he gained experience at Booz Allen Hamilton and PwC. Dhiraj was listed in Fortune Magazine's "40 under 40" in 2011 and 2013. In 2012, Ernst and Young India honored him with the "Entrepreneur Of The Year India" award in the Services sector. Additionally, in early 2014, CNBC TV18 India Business Leaders Awards presented him with the Young Turk award. In this episode, we discuss: - The financial benefits of systemized decision-making - The art of problem-solving - Financial planning and optionality through analytics - The changing role of CFOs - AI and machine learning in finance

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• Published: 15 May 2024

Wavefunction matching for solving quantum many-body problems

• Serdar Elhatisari   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-7951-1991 1 , 2 ,
• Lukas Bovermann   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-7765-1643 3 ,
• Yuan-Zhuo Ma   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-0892-4457 4 , 5 ,
• Evgeny Epelbaum   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-7613-0210 3 ,
• Dillon Frame 6 , 7 ,
• Fabian Hildenbrand 6 , 7 ,
• Myungkuk Kim 8 ,
• Youngman Kim 8 ,
• Hermann Krebs 3 ,
• Timo A. Lähde   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-3251-1035 6 , 7 ,
• Dean Lee   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-3630-567X 4 ,
• Ning Li 9 ,
• Bing-Nan Lu 10 ,
• Ulf-G. Meißner   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-1254-442X 2 , 6 , 7 , 11 ,
• Gautam Rupak 12 ,
• Shihang Shen   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-8051-6466 6 , 7 ,
• Young-Ho Song   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-0361-3251 13 &
• Gianluca Stellin 14  

Nature ( 2024 ) Cite this article

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• Quantum simulation
• Theoretical nuclear physics
• Theoretical physics
• Ultracold gases

Ab initio calculations have an essential role in our fundamental understanding of quantum many-body systems across many subfields, from strongly correlated fermions 1 , 2 , 3 to quantum chemistry 4 , 5 , 6 and from atomic and molecular systems 7 , 8 , 9 to nuclear physics 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 . One of the primary challenges is to perform accurate calculations for systems where the interactions may be complicated and difficult for the chosen computational method to handle. Here we address the problem by introducing an approach called wavefunction matching. Wavefunction matching transforms the interaction between particles so that the wavefunctions up to some finite range match that of an easily computable interaction. This allows for calculations of systems that would otherwise be impossible owing to problems such as Monte Carlo sign cancellations. We apply the method to lattice Monte Carlo simulations 15 , 16 of light nuclei, medium-mass nuclei, neutron matter and nuclear matter. We use high-fidelity chiral effective field theory interactions 17 , 18 and find good agreement with empirical data. These results are accompanied by insights on the nuclear interactions that may help to resolve long-standing challenges in accurately reproducing nuclear binding energies, charge radii and nuclear-matter saturation in ab initio calculations 19 , 20 .

Quantum Monte Carlo simulations are a powerful and efficient ab initio method for describing quantum many-body systems using stochastic processes 1 , 9 , 15 , 16 , 21 , 22 , 23 . If the Monte Carlo amplitudes are positive, then the computational effort grows only as a low power of the number of particles. For many problems of interest, a simple Hamiltonian H S can be found that is easily computable using Monte Carlo methods and describes the energies and other observable properties of the many-body system in fair agreement with empirical data 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 . However, realistic high-fidelity Hamiltonians usually suffer from severe sign problems with positive and negative contributions cancelling each other so that Monte Carlo calculations become impractical. Here we solve the problem using an approach called wavefunction matching. While keeping the observable physics unchanged, wavefunction matching creates a new high-fidelity Hamiltonian H ′ such that the two-body wavefunctions up to some finite range match that of a simple Hamiltonian H S , which is easily computed. This allows for a rapidly converging expansion in powers of the difference H ′ −  H S . Although wavefunction matching can be used with any computational scheme, we focus here on quantum Monte Carlo simulations where the method presents a practical strategy for evading sign oscillations in high-fidelity calculations. While H S and H ′ act on many-body systems, the wavefunction-matching process is done at the two-body level only. For the sake of clarity, we define H S and H ′ as containing only two-body interactions. Later we also consider the inclusion of three-body interactions. However, that analysis is separate from wavefunction matching.

A unitary transformation U is a linear transformation that maps normalized orthogonal states to other normalized orthogonal states. Starting from a high-fidelity Hamiltonian H with only two-body interactions, wavefunction matching defines a new Hamiltonian H ′ =  U † HU , where U † is the Hermitian conjugate of U . The unitary transformation is performed at the two-body level. In each two-body angular momentum channel, the unitary transformation U is active only when the separation distance between two particles is less than some chosen distance R . For the calculations presented here, the value R  = 3.72 fm is used. The dependence on R is extensively discussed in  Supplementary Information .

Let us write ψ 0 ( r ), \({\psi }_{0}^{{\prime} }(r)\) and \({\psi }_{0}^{{\rm{S}}}(r)\) for the two-body ground-state wavefunctions of H , H ′ and the simple Hamiltonian H S , respectively. Here r is the distance between the two particles. The transformation U is defined such that \({\psi }_{0}^{{\prime} }(r)\) is proportional to \({\psi }_{0}^{{\rm{S}}}(r)\) for r  <  R . The simple Hamiltonian is chosen so that the constant of proportionality is close to 1. For r  >  R , however, U is not active and so \({\psi }_{0}^{{\prime} }(r)\) remains equal to ψ 0 ( r ). The key point to notice here is that \({\psi }_{0}^{{\prime} }(r)\) and \({\psi }_{0}^{{\rm{S}}}(r)\) are numerically close to each other for all values of r . This can be seen visually in Fig. 1a and is the reason why perturbation theory in powers of H ′ −  H S converges quickly when starting from low-energy states of H S .

a , Pictorial representation of wavefunction matching. The simple Hamiltonian H S is an easily computable Hamiltonian whereas the high-fidelity Hamiltonian H is not. A unitary transformation on the two-nucleon interaction with finite range R is used to produce a new Hamiltonian H ′ that is close to H S . In each two-body channel, the ground-state wavefunction of H ′ matches the ground-state wavefunction of H for r  >  R and is proportional to the ground-state wavefunction of H S for r  <  R . b , The Tjon band correlation between the binding energies of 3 H ( B 3 ) and 4 He ( B 4 ). The grey band is the predicted result from ref. 31 . The black open box shows the empirical point. The green diamond, blue circle and red square points show the results at LO, NLO and N3LO in chiral effective field theory, respectively. The open points show the results from the first-order perturbative calculations using the Hamiltonian H and the filled points are the results of the first-order perturbative calculations using the Hamiltonian H ′. The error bars show standard deviations.

Wavefunction matching will now be applied to ab initio Monte Carlo nuclear lattice simulations 15 , 16 , 25 , 26 , 28 using the framework of chiral effective field theory (χEFT) 17 , 29 . For our realistic Hamiltonian H , we use χEFT two-nucleon interactions at next-to-next-to-next-to-leading order (N3LO) with lattice spacing a  = 1.32 fm using a low-energy scheme described in  Supplementary Information . For our simple Hamiltonian H S , we use a χEFT interaction at leading order. Details of the interactions can be found in  Supplementary Information . In the following, we use the term ‘local’ for interactions that do not change the positions of particles and ‘non-local’ refers to interactions that do change the relative positions of particles. The ‘range’ of the interaction refers to the separation distance beyond which the interaction between particles becomes negligible.

We calculate all quantities up to first order in perturbation theory, which corresponds to one power in the difference H ′ −  H S . As a first test, we consider the energy of the deuteron, 2 H. The wavefunction-matching calculation gives a binding energy of 2.02 MeV, compared with 2.21 MeV for the true binding energy of H and 2.22 MeV for the experimentally observed value. The residual error of 0.1 MeV per nucleon is due to corrections beyond first order in powers of H ′ −  H S . If one does not use wavefunction matching and instead performs the analogous calculation to first order in H  −  H S , the result is a much less accurate binding energy of 0.68 MeV.

As a second test of wavefunction matching, we calculate the binding energies of 3 H and 4 He. The Tjon band describes the universal correlations between the 3 H and 4 He binding energies 30 , 31 . Provided that there are no long-range non-local interactions, any realistic two-nucleon interaction produces binding energies that lie on the Tjon band. The inclusion of any short-range three-nucleon interaction also preserves this universal relation. In Fig. 1 , we show wavefunction-matching calculations using two-nucleon interactions only. At leading order (LO) the calculated point falls outside the Tjon band as the Coulomb interaction is not included, whereas the next-to-leading order (NLO) and N3LO results lie squarely in the middle of the band. We are using a low-energy scheme where the two-nucleon interaction is the same at NLO and next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) 32 . The empirical point is also shown in Fig. 1 . The good agreement with the Tjon band suggests a residual error of 0.1 MeV per nucleon or less for 3 H and 4 He. In  Supplementary Information , we present numerical evidence that the estimate of 0.1 MeV error per nucleon is also valid for light and medium-mass nuclei. This can be compared with the substantial deviation from the Tjon line if one does not use wavefunction matching and performs the analogous calculation to first order in H  −  H S . Before proceeding to larger nuclei and many-body systems, we first comment on the current status of ab initio calculations of nuclear structure using χEFT. The following analysis is not directly connected to wavefunction matching. Instead, it is a separate theoretical framework designed to help push beyond the current limitations of ab initio nuclear structure theory.

There has been tremendous progress in the past few years towards producing accurate results for nuclear structure across much of the nuclear chart using a variety of different computational approaches 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 . But there is also ample evidence that the calculations are sensitive to the manner in which the short-distance features of the interactions are regulated 20 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , a warning sign that systematic errors are not fully under control. Current ab initio calculations have difficulty simultaneously maintaining high-fidelity two-nucleon phase shifts and mixing angles and describing the saturation energy and density of symmetric nuclear matter as well as the binding energies and charge radii of light and medium-mass nuclei. Previous ab initio nuclear structure calculations have either not addressed some of the relevant observables or require further improvement in one or more of these areas. We aim to identify the problem and point to a viable solution.

The results in refs. 49 , 50 showed that the range and locality of the nuclear interactions have a strong influence on nuclear binding and that the α–α interaction is highly sensitive to the range and locality of the nucleonic interactions as well as omitted higher-order interactions. These same arguments apply to other interactions involving α particles and nucleons. In  Supplementary Information , we use the formalism of cluster effective field theory 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 for α-particles and nucleons to provide a simple counting argument for the number of parameters that require tuning to reduce unwanted errors. Our strategy is to tune the short-distance features of the three-nucleon interactions to achieve this error cancellation. We should emphasize that our calculations are full A -body calculations, and cluster effective field theory is only used to diagnose sensitivities to short-distance physics.

In χEFT, three-nucleon forces first appear at order NNLO. These include terms associated with the exchange of two pions and whose coefficients are determined from pion–nucleon scattering. There are also two interactions with singular short-distance properties that must be regulated and the corresponding couplings fitted to empirical data. As shown in Fig. 2a , c D corresponds to the short-range interaction of two nucleons linked to a third nucleon through the exchange of a pion, and c E corresponds to the short-range interaction of all three nucleons. At N3LO, there are additional terms associated with the exchange of two pions as well as readjustments of the c D and c E coefficients 55 , 56 , 57 . Four-nucleon interactions also appear at N3LO but are not considered in this work.

a , Short-range three-nucleon forces at NNLO. The first is the one-pion exchange term c D shown on the left. The other is the purely short-range term c E shown on the right. At order N3LO, there are additional three-nucleon interactions associated with the exchange of two pions, as well as the corrections from the renormalization of the c D and c E terms. b , Results for nuclear binding energies ( B A ) using wavefunction matching. Calculated ground-state and excited-state energies of some selected nuclei with up to A  = 58 at N3LO in χ EFT and comparison with experimental data. The symbols with a black border indicate nuclei with unequal numbers of protons and neutrons. The nuclei used in the fit of the higher-order three-nucleon interactions are labelled with open squares and the other nuclei are predictions denoted with filled diamonds. The error bars show standard deviations.

We tune the short-distance features of the c D and c E three-nucleon interactions to minimize errors in the binding energies of selected light and medium-mass nuclei. A total of six additional three-nucleon parameters are adjusted, and in  Supplementary Information we present the details of these parameters along with a detailed description of the fitting procedure and the resulting uncertainty. We find that with just one parameter, the root-mean-square-deviation (RMSD) for the energy per nucleon drops from 1.2 MeV down to 0.4 MeV. With the addition of a few additional parameters, the RMSD per nucleon drops further to about 0.1 MeV. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that the α–α interaction has a key role in nuclear binding and that there are several additional cluster interactions that are sensitive to short-distance physics.

In Fig. 2b , we present the results for the nuclear binding energies using wavefunction matching. We show ground-state and excited-state energies of selected nuclei with up to A  = 58 nucleons and comparison with experimental data. The symbols with a black border indicate nuclei with unequal numbers of protons and neutrons. The nuclei used in the fit of the three-nucleon interactions are labelled with open squares, and the other nuclei are predictions denoted with filled diamonds. The one-standard-deviation error bars shown in Fig. 2 represent uncertainties due to Monte Carlo errors, infinite-volume extrapolations and infinite projection time extrapolations. As described in  Supplementary Information , we estimate the additional systematic errors due to truncation of the expansion in powers of H ′ −  H S to be approximately 0.1 MeV per nucleon. However, this source of systematic error can be significantly reduced by allowing for variational optimization of the Hamiltonian used to prepare the nuclear many-body wavefunction. We perform this variational optimization so that the remaining systematic error is smaller than the estimated computational error due to other sources. In  Supplementary Information , we also compute the additional systematic errors due to uncertainties in the chiral interactions.

In Fig. 3a , we present the results for the charge radii of nuclei with up to A  = 58 nucleons. No charge radii data were used to fit any interaction parameters. The one-standard-deviation point estimate error bars shown in Fig. 3 represent computational uncertainties due to Monte Carlo errors, infinite-volume extrapolation and infinite-time extrapolation. The agreement with empirical results is quite good, with an RMSD of about 0.03 fm. An extended analysis for selected nuclei that also includes uncertainties from the interactions are presented in  Supplementary Information . We note that the larger errors for the heaviest nuclei are statistical and can be decreased by utilizing greater computational resources. The specific terms included in the calculations of the charge radii are detailed in  Supplementary Information .

a , Predictions for charge radii ( R ch ) of nuclei up to A  = 58 at N3LO in χEFT and comparison with experimental data. The symbols with a black border indicate nuclei with unequal numbers of protons and neutrons. b , Predictions for pure neutron-matter energy per neutron and symmetric nuclear-matter energy per nucleon as a function of density at N3LO in χEFT. For pure neutron matter, we use the number of neutrons from 14 to 80 and various box sizes from 6.58 fm to 13.2 fm. For symmetric nuclear matter, we use nucleon numbers from 12 to 160 and a periodic box of length 9.21 fm. For comparison, we show the results from variational calculations (APR) 65 , auxiliary-field diffusion Monte Carlo simulations (GCR) 66 , many-body perturbation theory using N3LO/NNLO (two-nucleon (2NF)/three-nucleon (3NF)) chiral interactions (EM 500 MeV, EGM 450/500 MeV and EGM 450/700 MeV) 67 and coupled cluster theory using NNLO chiral interactions with explicit delta degrees of freedom (ΔNNLO) 68 . The empirical saturation point is labelled with a black rectangular box. E denotes energy, ρ is the nucleon density, and ρ 0 is the saturation density of symmetric nuclear matter. The error bars show standard deviations.

In Fig. 3b , we present lattice results for the energy per nucleon versus density for pure neutron matter and symmetric nuclear matter. None of the neutron-matter and symmetric nuclear-matter data were used to fit any interaction parameters. The density is expressed as a fraction of the saturation density for nuclear matter, ρ 0  = 0.16 fm −3 . For the neutron-matter calculations, we consider 14 to 80 neutrons in periodic box lengths ranging from 6.58 fm to 13.2 fm. For the symmetric nuclear-matter calculations, we use system sizes from 12 to 160 nucleons in a periodic box of length 9.21 fm. The comparisons with several other published works are shown and detailed in the figure caption. We see that the neutron-matter calculations agree well with previous calculations. Within the uncertainties due to finite system size corrections, the symmetric nuclear-matter calculations show saturation at an energy and density consistent with the empirical saturation point labelled with the black rectangular box. The relative uncertainties due to finite system size are at the 10% level for the energy. Additional calculations with larger systems are needed to reduce the thermodynamic extrapolation error further.

The one-standard-deviation point estimate error bars shown represent computational uncertainties due to Monte Carlo errors and infinite projection time extrapolation. These lattice simulations of symmetric nuclear matter are qualitatively different to other theoretical calculations that assume a homogeneous phase. The lattice simulations show phase separation and cluster formation, just as in the real physical system. Owing to the finite number of nucleons in these calculations, some oscillations due to nuclear shell effects can be seen in the energy per nucleon.

Another interesting feature of the lattice results is that symmetric nuclear matter without three-nucleon forces is underbound rather than overbound. This is different from what is found in other calculations using renormalization-group methods 58 , 59 , 60 . As discussed in  Supplementary Information , wavefunction matching is very different from renormalization-group transformations. Wavefunction matching implements a unitary transformation that has finite range, and the process can be viewed as defining a new χEFT two-nucleon Hamiltonian H ′. The interaction in H ′ has a range no larger than that of H and H S for the low-energy interactions. Therefore, one does not need to reconstruct the many-body forces induced by the unitary transformation and can simply treat H ′ as the new χEFT two-nucleon Hamiltonian. Wavefunction matching has some characteristics similar to the unitary correlation operator method (UCOM) 61 , 62 , 63 . However, the unitary transformation in UCOM has properties that are more similar to renormalization-group transformations and, therefore, is also quite different from wavefunction matching. The induced forces generated by wavefunction matching have been investigated in a toy model 64 . A detailed discussion of the theory and applications of wavefunction matching and its implementation in continuous space are presented in  Supplementary Information .

In summary, we have presented an approach for solving quantum many-body systems called wavefunction matching. Wavefunction matching uses a transformation of the particle interactions to allow for calculations of systems that would otherwise be difficult or impossible. We have applied the method to lattice Monte Carlo simulations of light nuclei, medium-mass nuclei, neutron matter and nuclear matter using high-fidelity chiral interactions and found good agreement with empirical data. Judging from the accuracy of the predictions, we have been successful in cancelling systematic errors in nuclear structure calculations by tuning the short-distance features of the three-nucleon interactions. These developments may help resolve long-standing challenges in ab initio nuclear structure theory.

Although we have focused on Monte Carlo simulations for nuclear physics here, wavefunction matching can be used with any computational method and applied to any quantum many-body system. This also includes quantum computing algorithms where wavefunction matching can be used to reduce the number of quantum gates required. All that is needed is a simple Hamiltonian H S that produces fair agreement with empirical data for the many-body system of interest and is easily computable using the method of choice. Further details on the implementation and theory of wavefunction matching are given in  Supplementary Information .

Data availability

All of the data produced in association with this work have been stored and are publicly available at https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1MByuG6NMagcgmURe4py-kwr9vksnHCl4 .

Code availability

All of the codes produced in association with this work have been stored and can be obtained upon request from the corresponding author, subject to possible export control constraints.

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Acknowledgements

We thank members and partners of the Nuclear Lattice Effective Field Theory Collaboration (J. Drut, G. Jansen, S. Krieg, Z. Ren, A. Sarkar and Q. Wang) and S. Bogner, A. Ekström, H. Hergert, M. Hjorth-Jensen, D. Phillips, A. Schwenk and W. Nazarewicz for discussions. We acknowledge funding by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) and the NSFC through the funds provided to the Sino-German Collaborative Research Center TRR110 ‘Symmetries and the Emergence of Structure in QCD’ (DFG project ID 196253076 - TRR 110, NSFC grant number 12070131001), the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) President’s International Fellowship Initiative (PIFI) (grant number 2018DM0034), Volkswagen Stiftung (grant number 93562), the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (ERC AdG EXOTIC, grant agreement number 101018170, and ERC AdG NuclearTheory, grant agreement number 885150), the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK project number 120F341), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grants numbers 12105106 and 12275259), NSAF No.U2330401, US National Science Foundation (PHY-1913620, PHY-2209184, PHY-2310620), US Department of Energy (DE-SC0021152, DE-SC0013365, DE-SC0023658, DE-SC0024586, NUCLEI SciDAC-5 project DE-SC0023175), the Rare Isotope Science Project of the Institute for Basic Science funded by the Ministry of Science and ICT (MSICT), the National Research Foundation of Korea (2013M7A1A1075764, RS-2022-00165168), the Institute for Basic Science (IBS-R031-D1, IBS-I001-D1) and the Espace de Structure et de réactions Nucléaires Théorique (ESNT) of the CEA DSM/DAM. Computational resources provided by the Gauss Centre for Supercomputing e.V. ( www.gauss-centre.eu ) for computing time on the GCS Supercomputer JUWELS at Jülich Supercomputing Centre (JSC) and special GPU time allocated on JURECA-DC as well as the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility through the INCITE award ‘Ab-initio nuclear structure and nuclear reactions’, and partially provided by TUBITAK ULAKBIM High Performance and Grid Computing Center (TRUBA resources). Computational resources were also partly provided by the National Supercomputing Center of Korea with supercomputing resources including technical support (KSC-2021-CRE-0429, KSC-2022-CHA-0003, KSC-2023-CHA-0005), and the Southern Nuclear Science Computing Center in the South China Normal University. We have complied with community standards for authorship and all relevant recommendations with regard to inclusion and ethics.

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Code development, testing, optimization and production runs were led by S.E. with contributions from F.H., M.K., T.A.L., D.L., N.L., B.-N.L., Y.-Z.M., G.R., S.S. and Y.-H.S. Conceptual work and tests were led by L.B. with contributions from S.E., E.E., D.F., H.K. and D.L. S.E., T.L., D.L., U.-G.M. and Y.K. supervised the research effort. Additional code development, testing, optimization and production runs in response to reviewer comments were performed by Y.-Z.M. The literature search was led by G.S. All authors contributed to the writing, editing and review of this work.

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Elhatisari, S., Bovermann, L., Ma, YZ. et al. Wavefunction matching for solving quantum many-body problems. Nature (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07422-z

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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

This article is part of the research topic.

Research on Teaching Strategies and Skills in Different Educational Stages

Shaping Future-Ready Graduates with Mindset Shifts: Studying the Impact of Integrating Critical and Design Thinking in Design Innovation Education Provisionally Accepted

• 1 Singapore Institute of Technology, Singapore

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

In an era marked by rapid change and complex global challenges, Institutes of Higher Learning (IHLs) are tasked with preparing students to navigate and address these evolving demands. This paper explores the critical role of Higher Education (HE) in equipping students with the necessary skills and mindsets to tackle real-world problems through innovative solutions. Integrating critical thinking and design thinking within a Design Innovation module is central to this exploration. The study is undergirded by a conceptual framework that blends critical, design, and futures thinking, focusing exclusively in this paper on applying critical thinking (CT) and design thinking (DT). The research investigates two primary questions: (1) How do students' DT and CT mindsets change after participation in a Design Innovation module? (2) Is CT a prerequisite for developing DT? This study aims to illuminate the shifts in students' mindsets from before to after the completion of the module, highlighting the importance of developing key dispositions for ethical and socially responsible problem-solving. Results show a statistically significant increase in CT and DT disposition scores from pre-to post-test, suggesting a shift to more positive CT and DT mindsets after going through the Design Innovation module. In addition, a significant moderation effect of pre-test CT mindset on the relationship between pre-test and post-test DT mindset scores was observed, implying that CT was a prerequisite for DT. The findings offer insights into the module's effectiveness in fostering future-ready graduates' thinking capabilities on innovating for real-world challenges and highlight the need for our future-ready students to achieve critical competence and creative confidence. Finally, we conclude the paper with recommendations for educators to integrate CT skill development intentionally and in tandem with DT skill development for a balanced approach to developing critical competence and creative confidence in interdisciplinary courses.

Keywords: Critical Thinking, design thinking, Design innovation, 21st-century skills and dispositions, interdisciplinary learning A. Tolerance for -Being comfortable with Ambiguity -Uncertainty

Received: 19 Dec 2023; Accepted: 15 May 2024.

Copyright: © 2024 Patel, Puah and Kok. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) . The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Dr. Nadya S. Patel, Singapore Institute of Technology, Singapore, Singapore

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