Problem solving strategies to enhance business performance

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Systema cProblemSolvingStrategies:
ImprovingCustomerSa sfac onandEciency
Problemsolvingstrategiesarecommonplaceinbusinessanditisessen althat
therighttoolisusedforthespecificprobleminhand.
Processimprovementandeec veproblemsolvingstrategiesaretwo
weaknessesofmanycompanies.Everycompanyhasproblems.Everysingle
one.Thedierencebetweentheoutstanding,worldclassperformersandthe
averagecompaniesishowwelltheyreacttoissueswhentheyarise.More
importantly,howwelltheyputtobedissuesthathaverisen,sotheydonot
comeback.

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Thebe erperformingcompanieshavealsofoundwaystogetbe eratwhat

theydocon nuously.
Somecompaniesbelievethatscrap,wasteanddefectsarejustthecostofbeing
inbusiness."It'swhathappensit'slife!"They'reright!Itisacostacostthat
canbeavoided,becausethiscostisacostofpoorquality!
Thiscostaddsup,andup,andupintheformofdollars,euros,Poundsthatcan,
anddoesaectyourcompany'sabilitytoremainprofitable...andstayin
business.Remember,theonlythingthateventuallykillsabusinessishavingno
cash!
Follow @eba_business

JidokaFindingtheproblemandelimina ngthosepebbles.
TheJapanesecalltheartofproblemsolvingstrategiesasJidoka.Plainand
simply;itisthemethodofspo ngproblemsastheyariseinthework
place,stopping,analysingandspending metoresolvethatissuesoit
doesn'thappenagain.Thisinvolvesacon nuousimprovementculture,
whichtakes meandgreatleadership.
Notusingeec veproblemsolvingstrategiestoiden fy,containand
eliminatetherootcauseshasamassiveanddetrimentalimpacton
businessperformanceandstability,andul matelyseriouslyjeopardises
thebusiness'compe venessandexistence.

Pickingtherightissue
Inbusiness,errorsaremade;issuesarise,sohowdoyouknowwhatproblem
todealwithamongstthemountainofproblemsthatmayexist.Wheredoyou
start?Whatproblemstrategiesaretheretohelpdiagnoseandeliminatethe
causesamongstthemyriadofissues?
Simplyput,onemustfindthebiggestimpact,eitherbynumberof mesthe

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issuearisesorthefinancialimpactithasonthebusiness,oranyotherscoring
method.Thenitisacaseoffocusingtheproblemsolvingeortonthisissue
un litisresolved.
TheParetochartisaneec vetoolforjustthis.Itenablestheorganisa onto
visuallyiden fythebiggestissueandthenallowstheteamtofocuson
rec fyingit.Onceeliminated,onecanfocusonthenextbiggestissueandsoon
andsoforthinastructuredandlogicalway.
Theoldclicheof,"HowdoyoueatanElephant?"Theanswer:onebiteata me
andthisisverytrueinproblemsolving.Youcan'tchangetheworldovernight
butyoucanfocusthecompany'sresourcesandenergyonthebiggestimpact
problemorthetop5issues,ratherthanboilingtheocean,sotospeak,star ng
everythingandnotcomple nganything.

ProblemSolvingStrategiesRoadMap
Whenthinkingoftheterm'problemsolvingstrategies',onecanbeforgivenfor
conjuringupamyriadofsta s calandindepthanalysistools,howeverthe
visionofKaizenandtheiden fica onandelimina onofanythingthatisa
varia ontostandardiswhatproblemsolvingstrategiesisallabout.
Yousimplypickthemostappropriatetoolfortheproblemathand.
Thereareacoupleofwellknowncon nuousimprovementroadmapsthat
shouldbeused,likePDCAorDMAIC,butinessence,problemsolvingisall
aboutthefollowing:
1.Iden fytheproblem
2.Iden fytherootcauses
3.Brainstormthesolu ons
4.Selecttheappropriatesolu on
5.Implementandchecktheimpactofthesolu on
Thediagrambelowsummarises.

Iden fytheProblem
Youmayknowthereisaproblem,butdoyouknowwhattherootcauseis?Can
youputyourfingerontheactualproblem?Arethereanumberofissuesthat
arejustsymptomsofabiggercause?
Itcanbeeasytogetlostintheseeofissuesandproblemsinabusiness,but
keepingitsimpleisthemainaimofthegame.

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Simplyput,ifyouhaveaproblemsomewhereanditiscausingabigimpact,
measureit!Understandtheprocess:Whatistheactualproblem?Howmany
mesdoesithappenandwhatgenericfactorsarecausingthis?
SimpleVisualtoolstofirstlyexposetheproblemareQCPCcharts,andPareto
Diagramstodisplayquick,simpleandvisualunderstandingoftheproblem,its
occurrenceandthegenericreasonswhycanbecaptured.
A erthis,thenextthingtodoistounderstandtheproblemfurtheranddrill
downtotherootcauses..

Iden fytheRootCauses
AnalysistoolsliketheProcessflowchart,Sca erdiagrams,histogramsand
otherscanhelppinpointatwhatpointintheprocessissuesarise,butasimple
tooltohelpkickstarttherootcauseanalysisistheFishbonediagram.
Theobjec vehereistowadethroughthesymptoms,andiden fytheroot
causestotheproblem.

BrainstormAlterna veSolu ons

Useagroup,preferablycrossfunc onal,tounderstandtheproblem,iden fy
thepoten alcausesandagreewhattheythinktherootcausesare.
Atthispoint,asimpleexercisewouldbetodiscusstheproblemandinturn,get
eachindividualwithintheteamtoiden fypossiblecauses.Noideaisabad
idea,andtheremitistogetasmanyideasaspossible.
Thisprocesscanbeoveronesessionoranumberofdetailedsessions.The me
spanwillverymuchdependonthesizeoftheproblem.

SelecttheMostAppropriateSolu on
Anagreementmustbereachedbytheteamastowhattherootcause(s)are,
andso,fromtheideasgeneratedinthepreviousstep,theteammustagreeas
towhatthetopthreepossiblerootcausesare.
Onceagreed,it'sontothenextstagetoworkoutpossiblesolu onstoremove
therootcauses.

ImplementandCheckSolu on
Rootcausesandcountermeasureshighlightedandagreed?Thenextstepisto
implementthesolu ons,checkingtheimpactofthem,andmeasuringto
ensurethattherootcause(s)hasgone,thustheproblemhasbeeneliminated.
Thisstagemaytake metogatherthedataandmeasuretheprocessoutputs
totrulyiden fytheimpactofthesolu onallthe mesearchingtoseethe
levelofimpacttotheini alproblemandwhethertheproblemiss llthere.
Iftheproblemisinfacts llthere,thenitsbacktothegroupbrainstorming
stageforfurtheranalysis,andrepeattheprocessagain.

ProblemSolvingTools
Remember,thekeyistoeliminateproblemsassoonasyoucan,therefore
crea ngacon nuousimprovementculture,whichembedsJidokaprinciples.

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Anumberofproblemsolvingstrategiesarecurrentlypopularandcanbeseen
below,sogivethemagoandseehowyougeton.Thesetoolscanbeusedin
anyindustry,companyorsector,withtheremitofiden fyingtheproblemat
source,correc ngthisproblemandremovingtherootcausesforgood.
Con nuouslystrivingforthisrelentlessiden fica onandelimina onof
problemswillmeanthatyourcompanyismorecompe veandiseec vely
usingproblemsolvingstrategiestogainleverageonthecompe on.

Dependinguponthecomplexityofaproblem,your
organisa onmaychoosetouseanyone,orindeedanumber
of,thefollowingproblemsolvingstrategies:
KepnerTregoeProblemsolving
SixSigmaTools
5Whys
Fishbonediagram
ConsensusDecisionmaking
TQMTools
LeanManufacturingPrinciples
5StepApproach
FailureModeeectsAnalysis(FMEA)
8DProblemSolving

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