How to Solve Any Problem

How to Solve Any Problem
by Steve Amos © Copyright 2007

If you do not have any problems, you can skip this article. Notice everyone is still reading... :)

Life is full of problems. We encounter them daily in business and in our personal lives. How we handle problems often dictates how others perceive us, our position, and how much we earn.

Here are the basics to successfully solve any problem:

1. Really want to resolve it. Most people are “Wouldn’t it be nice if this went away.” You have to be really ready to change. There are going to be obstacles and failures. It is going to take time and effort. It will upset some people to solve your problem. It can upset you to solve your problem.

To fix anything, someone has to change what they or you are doing. There is a natural resistance to change that does not go away easy. We have all said “That’s the way we always do it” at some point in our life.

2. Why is it a Problem? Who does it bother? Your customer, your coworker, your boss, your significant other, or is it you who are bothered? Why are they bothered? Once you have identified the problem, you can do something about it.

3. What are the causes? What causes affect your problem? Why do the sources do that? Somewhere there is a reason the task was started. The secret is to track back down to the root causes. Then break down what variables can affect your problem. Then you can try changing the variables to see if you can find a solution. This is a basic description of the “Black Box” analysis technique used daily by Engineers.

4. What Changed? The shortcut used to find the source of the problem. If something worked before, and now doesn’t work, this question will often identify the cause. However if something worked poorly, you will only go back to working poorly.

5. Ask everyone involved for their input. Whoever is closest to the problem has the best insights to what is going wrong. They can help ferret out the roots of the problem. Often the answer comes from the person least likely to know the solution. Be open-minded.

Describing a problem to someone helps define it. It's a simple, fast and effective way to analyze problems. Two heads are usually better than one.

6. Stay with it. The first attempt at anything is rarely successful. Try and try again is the only way to solve anything. Solving a problem is often done with stubbornness as much as from talent. Refuse to quit. Be bullheaded. Solutions don’t require a degree. The experience will make you a more talented problem solver.

Thomas Edison had over 900 failures before he succeeded in creating the light bulb. Problem solvers don’t give up.

7. Look for others who have a similar problem. Industry, professional, and self-help groups are often great sources of ideas how to attack a problem. American industry lost a great lead on the rest of the world by not taking others' ideas. Call it the “Not Invented Here” syndrome. Look at other industries for ideas.

8. Try different problem solving techniques. History is full of companies (and people) that found a solution for customers, blossomed, and then died as changes left them behind. Don’t be a One Trick Pony. Learn how other problem solvers succeed and try it yourself.

9. Analyze the consequences. What effects will different solutions have? Solutions need to be evaluated before they are implemented. For instance, starting a war may leave your country’s economy and military ruined. Diplomacy may be a better solution to try first.

10. Test your solution. What consequences will your solution have? Try to model the smallest piece of your problem, and see if it works. Listen carefully to any feedback. Do not take the griping personally that comes with the feedback. Just try to ferret out the facts.
If your solution fails to work, refer to #6. Experience always has value.

11. Sell your solution. Now you think there is a solution. You must start to overcome the resistance to change. Most of the resistance comes when people are told to do something without a reason. If you can explain the reason clearly, your solution is more likely to succeed. Do find the solutions are rarely accepted the first time they are explained. Generally people need three or four exposures to a new idea before they accept it.

12. Give credit to those who helped you. People will be more likely to help you in the future if you have established a track record of not hogging the glory. You will get your share of the credit.

We can see persistence and patience are necessary to solve any problem. Practice and experience will make it easier as you go along. So please don’t give up. Then find your next problem to be solved.

© Copyright Steve Amos 2007