“Snow and adolescence are the only problems that disappear if you ignore them long enough.”
Earl Wilson, New York Post
It is necessary for leaders to be able to separate assumptions from facts in order to quickly get to the root cause of a problem. To get out of the potentially expensive firefighting mode, organizations must analyze situations systematically and holistically to prevent recurrence. Done well, effective problem solving translates directly into increased productivity at an employee and organizational level. This approach allows an individual to improve the consistency in which they apply their technical expertise. It also helps retain event knowledge so that future customer impact can be quickly removed.
When to use analytical problem solving
- Significant cost of problems staying unresolved
- Significant performance variation and downtime
- Customer satisfaction is suffering
- Recurring issues and problems
- Unforeseen risks cause significant damage
- Unexplained loss in market share
Guiding principles
Our holistic approach is built on the premise that people can resolve issues more effectively when they approach problems and decisions in a rational way. As a true solutions provider, we integrate our methodology into the business processes of our clients to maximize the bottom line results. Although each client’s program is custom built, they are all based on these core principles:
- There are specific points in the life cycle of a problem process that are key for solving the issue permanently with minimum time, money and effort.
- The process ensures each step will be done well the first time, effectively and efficiently.
- Generated solutions leverage internal knowledge complemented by organized critical thinking
- The methodologies are scalable to any sized organization
Per our client results, our approach consistently improves bottom-line results while strengthening an organization’s capability foundation.