Problem Resolution in a Team

‘How can I work with my team to find a unique solution to our problem?’

We often talk about problems in a meeting. We often talk about the same problem in our next meeting as well. And so it goes on! Sound familiar?

This is a very common way people work on problems. How do I know? Because the topic is often brought up in my facilitation work. People then bow their head and sigh in recognition of their work environment. They actually do not want to do this anymore. Unfortunately, it is so ingrained within the business or department they know no different. The common theme becomes they all want better and they want to know how. 

We need to stop talking about the problem and start talking about solutions! Become solution focused. Put your hand up and say we know what the problem is, how do ‘we’ fix it. Many brains are better than one as it enables a broader spectrum of thinking and contribution. Determine whether we need the whole team, members from other teams or a select group who are specialists in their field. Then get together and work together to find and implement a solution. 

Working to a process keeps us focused on selecting and implementing the best solution. 

Define the problem: The most critical point in being solution focused is to ensure the problem is 100% correctly defined. Adequate time must be allocated to ensure time, money and effort will not be sacrificed by heading in the wrong direction with an inappropriate solution. Once defined, consider all the stakeholders who are directly or indirectly involved. What might their contribution have been to the existence of the problem and need to be towards resolution? 

Be curious: Now that we have defined the problem we need to set about asking as many curious questions as possible as a group. The types of questions we need to ask are expansive, open and probing which focus on the what, why, when, where, who and how. A very helpful addition to this process is Mind Mapping. Creating a Mind Map can reveal end to end systems and processes, internal and external influences, policies and procedures, people engagement and much more. It is a creative way to layout visually what is happening for all to see. Why Why and How How questioning is asking Why or How up to 5 times which provides a multitude of answers for consideration.

Discovering solutions: One of the great ways to discover solutions is the tried and tested structure of brainstorming. Two great methods are the use of Post-it Notes and open forum idea generation. When using Post-it notes it is necessary to provide each team member with five or six Post-its and ask each person to write only one idea on each note then post it on the whiteboard. These can then be grouped for commonality and may be placed on relevant points in the Mind Map or elsewhere. Brainstorming is simply having a topic and accepting every persons idea without question and writing them up on whiteboard. Rank top five ideas for potential use. 

Solution selection: It is possible more than one solution will appear viable and a choice will need to be made. Unless it is glaringly obvious, and even then it is important to rank all the potential solutions in a table to determine which is the most suitable. Five columns can be used titled Solution, Must Have Factors, Score, Desirable Factors and Score.

Solution Implementation: Once you have the most desirable solution then comes the implementation ensuring it is measurable so you can the determine modifications and the level of success.

Working together unifies team members on a common cause and contributes to a more sustainable outcome.

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