14 Sep 7 Step Thinking for problem solving… A leadership way.

MSEM Focused::
7 Step Thinking for problem-solving… A leadership way.

Huh …who takes 7 steps just for thinking? The problem is serious and needs to be quickly solved. It’s a very simple process, understand the problem and solve it. yes, that’s what we hear always, right?

Unfortunately, it’s not that simple, especially when it comes to business. Many surveys say that 50% of the problems in the business are not solved either on time or the way they are expected to be solved. Just because, the problems were either not understood correctly or analyzed correctly.

That is the reason 7-step thinking for problem-solving came in to picture .7 step thinking essentially, defines how should we communicate, understand, present, analyze and solve any problem.

Maybe not every time we need all 7 steps, but a few of them are required always. Let’s have a look at those 7 steps

1) Define the Present: When you have a problem, the most critical part is o define, what happening NOW, what’s the scenario NOW? If we can do this correctly 50% success is achieved in solving the problem. (How, Why ..through measurables )

2) Define the Expected Future: In engineering problems, it is easy to dine this step, as what is expected is generally crystal clear, but in other fields, this step could be very subjective, as the end result is expected in different forms by different people, even for the same problem.
(What… through measurables )

3) Define the problem: The gap between the expected future and present scenario is generally the problem. Again, this a difficult step, as many times the expected future and current scenario, are not measurable figures (though, we should try to make them measurable, as much as possible)

4) What can affect, the expected future or actions we will take to achieve the expected future: We all generally forget this step, as we consider that, the variables, we have considered now, will always remain the same, during the process of, implementing the actions to solve the problem, but generally, it’s not like that.

5) Alternate solution, with the evaluation of each alternative: For solving the same problem, we may times have alternatives and if we do not, then we should force ourselves to check the alternatives. Then we should evaluate all the alternatives. For strategic problems, we must make a business plan or commercial impact analysis for each alternative.

6) Take a decision and justify it: Based on steps 4 & 5, we should decide on the best alternative to solve the problem and countercheck, if it actually solves the problem.

7) Define action plan matrix: We generally end up writing the action plan, but what we need is a solid action plan matrix, which takes care of which action, who will be responsible, when, what support is required, what resources required, what should be reporting mechanism, how much budget, what should be review frequency, etc.

Imagine, such a systematic & logical way of solving the problem, and do you see a possibility of not being able to solve any problem?

Unfortunately, If it’s still yes, get in touch with our experts at sales@catalydd.com