If you are in business, problem-solving is a constant part of your business life. No problem is simple, or it wouldn’t be a problem. Some problems are critical to the success of your company. One way to make solving problems easier and more effective is to turn a negative problem into a positive result.
Start the process by answering the question, “what is your goal?” Is this problem important enough to spend time and energy on it? If yes, you need to state the problem in writing so it is clear and you can focus on it. For example:
- How could we differentiate our product or service from competitors?
- What new product should we be developing?
- How can we improve our service?
Next, turn the problem into a challenge statement.
Michael Michalko, in his excellent book, “Thinkertoys,” explains this creative process and that the challenge statement has to be written as a positive challenge. For example, “why have revenues slowed down?” focuses on finding the negative reasons. But, if you restate the problem into a challenge such as “In what ways might I get customers to buy more?” you focus on finding positive answers.
For each problem or challenge, state your problem as a positive challenge or statement. For example, instead of:
- Old statement: “How can we reduce costs to improve cash flow? New positive statement: “How could we boost margins on current offerings?’
- Why can’t we stay on plan?” vs. “What could we do to meet consistent deadlines?
- Why is onboarding so complicated?” vs. “What could we do to simplify onboarding?”
Note: Mr. Michalko recommends your challenge statement use the phrase. “In what ways might I …..? He also recommends spending time on crafting your challenge statement. The more time you spend refining your challenge statement, the closer you will be to the solution.
You should be able to generate many different answers or ideas from these questions. Make a list of every idea, and select some that you think have promise.
Then, substitute keywords to broaden your view.
Identify keywords in your challenge statement and substitute other words for them. For example: instead of reducing costs, use eliminate costs. Instead of boost margins use to raise prices. Each word change should give you a broader view of the problem, a different viewpoint, and different ideas. Keep making word changes until you run out of ideas. Your success in creating new problem-solving ideas depends in part on how you define your problem.
You can also create broader perspectives by asking “Why? to each of your ideas or answers. For each “answer”: Why do you want to improve your service? Then, Why do you think improving service will add value? Then, Why will this value enable us to increase prices? Etc.
Now, break your Broadview down to specifics.
With all this information, you can now get down to specifics by breaking each answer into subcategories. These subcategories will generate even more ideas. For example, “When will this new product be ready?” Who could design the new product? These kinds of questions will give you more ideas and make it easier to solve the problem.
Conclusion
This thinking process enables you to restructure existing information into new patterns and ideas and turn these problems into opportunities. You start with your goal, identified the problem, and then turn the problem into a challenge statement which you can analyze in several depths enabling you to create solutions.
