Key Skills Development through part-time voluntary work
PROBLEM SOLVING
"Like death and taxes work problems are a big equalizer. Everybody who
works has them" R Nelson-Jones 1997
Problem solving tools are essentially tools and techniques for:

Gathering information

Sorting information

Analysing causes and problems

Identifying alternative solutions

Prioritising importance

Generating new ideas and solutions
Do you ever come across problems which seem to be a morass of issues,
disagreement and disconnected pieces of information? Do you go around in
circles, for hours or days, arguing and trying to make sense of it all? If so,
you are in good company-many other people face such problems every day.
It is a sad fact of the messy world in which we must live and work that
problems don’t come in tidy packages that are easy to understand and solve.
So what is the answer?
It is that problems are almost invariably made up of discrete pieces of
information which are related to each other in some way. The size of the
problem is often determined by a combination of the number of
information pieces and the number and type of relationships between
these pieces. Whether your problem is to build a house, to analyse
competitive positioning or to plan a meal often all you need to know is
what the pieces are and how they may be organised to help you
understand the problem and produce an effective solution.
Adapted from David Straker 1997 (Rapid Problem-Solving)
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The creative problem solving process - broken down into six stages:
1. Objective finding - define the problem
2. Fact-finding - gather information
3. Problem finding - define the problem correctly
4. Idea finding – generate solutions to the problem
5. Solution finding - evaluating chooses between possible solutions
6. Acceptance finding - implement chosen ideas correctly
An alternative
A full creative problem solving programme will follow a process of broadening
and narrowing - focus across four stages of solving the problem:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Problem definition
Idea generation
Solution selection
Implementation
At each stage of the process you broaden the focus by promoting new ideas,
and then close down to a narrow focus by selecting one or two solutions.
The most difficult and critical parts of the process are problem definition
and implementation.
The IDEAL acronym





I=
D=
E=
A=
L=
identify problems and opportunities
define goals
explore possible strategies
anticipate outcomes and act
look back and learn
(Bransford and Stein 1993 in Creative problem solving for managers by Tony Proctor
1999).
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Problem Solving - Decision making
A decision itself is neither right nor wrong. A decision is just a decision.
But the consequences may be positive or negative.
Edward de Bono’s 5 stage ‘framework’ for the decision making process
TOLOPOSOGO
TO – where am I/we going or want to go?
LO – Look for information that is available/needed
PO – Possibilities generated realistic/free flow
SO – So which one? ie choose from the possibilities
GO – Go ahead and put the decision into action
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R Nelson Jones “Use Your Mind” identifies a 7 stage Decision Making
process
1. Confront the decision ie ‘tackle it head on’
2. Generate options and gather ideas
3. Assess the predicted consequences of different options
For Myself
For Others
For the Organisation
Positive
Negative
Positive
Negative
Positive
Negative
Short Term
Long Term
Short Term
Long Term
Short Term
Long Term
Consequences may include financial, social/moral
4. Commit to a decision
5. Plan to implement it – problems, support needed, resources
6. Implement
7. Assess the actual consequences.
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Soft and hard thinking for problem solving
Soft
Hard
Flexible
Free-Thinking
Grey
Links
Connections
‘Arty’
Right Brain hemisphere
Possibilities
Blue sky
Green Field
Logical
Critical
Black and white
Compartmentalises
Categorises
Science
Left Brain hemisphere
Fixed
Realistic
Achievable
Often better to use ‘soft’ thinking at the germinal phase of an idea/concept
and ‘hard’ thinking at the practical planning and implementation stage.
CRAP Solutions
Solutions should be CRAP




Correct
Relevant/Realistic
Accurate
Practical/Pragmatic
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ISHIKAWA or FISHBONE Diagram or CAUSE & EFFECT Diagram

Developed by Japanese ‘guru’ Kaoru Ishikawa

Very simple (yet powerful) tool for problem solving

Used to pictorially represent the relationships between a given effect
and it’s potential causes

Used to sort out (categorise) interactions among factors affecting a
process and identify possibly as yet unknown problems
ISHIKAWA DIAGRAM - HOW TO
1.
Define the problem (effect) clearly and objectively
2.
Define major categories of possible causes
- consider IT/Data Systems
£
Environment
Hardware
Materials
Measurements
Methods
People
Training
& anything pertinent to your problem
3.
Begin to construct Fishbone with effect (problem) in far right corner
and categorise as major arteries or bones leading to it
4.
Brainstorm and repeat 3, building as necessary
5.
Analyze each cause, focus in detail
6.
Then try and gather data to verify cause.
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BRAINSTORMING

Term coined in 1940’s by Alex Osborn , a USA advertising executive

It works by temporarily removing the internal social blocks we all have
that prevent us from being creative such as:

fearing our ideas will be ridiculed

feeling we don’t know enough to voice our opinion

focussing on easy/simple/obvious solutions rather than taking a risk
and being innovative
Brainstorming is essentially a method for being creative in groups,
particularly creative problem solving.
RULES OF BRAINSTORMING

No judgement or criticising an idea

Quantity of ideas more important than quality

Freewheeling – rapid spontaneous ideas

Mutating and combining – recycling previous ideas as stimulating

No answer/idea belongs to a person, they belong to the group

Answers/ideas must rapid fire
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BRAINSTORMING ‘HOW TO’
1. Question or problem is posed.
2. People in group take turns to answer.
3. Each suggestion is written down by a note-taker.
4. REPEAT until the group runs out of ideas. Take a short break if needed
and then continue.
5. Select, filter and choose the most appropriate ideas.
Brainstorming Variation
Brainstorm the topic by going through all of the letters of the alphabet
from A to Z.
Set a minimum number of suggestions for each letter,
or a minimum length of time you will spend on each letter.
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AFFINITY Diagram, Crawford Slip method, KJ Analysis

Developed by Japanese ‘guru’ Kawakita Jiro.

Simple yet powerful tool of Quality Improvement for breaking
problems down into constituent parts/elements to allow further
analysis.
AFFINITY DIAGRAM OR KJ ANALYSIS - HOW TO
1.
Clearly identify the objective – what do you want to achieve?
2.
May need to brainstorm to identify the objective.
3.
Write one piece or chunk of information on a post it note or card. Aim
for 30 to 100 post its.
4.
Move the notes around into columns where each column contains post
it notes that are in some way related (either creatively related or
logically related).
5.
Repeat above step until clear pattern emerges that everyone agrees
with.
6.
Use a further note as a header at the top of each column to
summarise it.
7.
Then try and group the summary/header notes.
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5 Ws and an H
I keep six honest serving men
They taught me all I know
Their names are What and Why and When
And How and Where and Who
(Rudyard Kipling)
1 What is the problem?
2 Why is it happening?
3 How can you fix it?
4 – Fix it ! –
5 Why did it work, or not work?
6 What next?
Problems and Puzzles – Known and Unknown
Unknown
Known
Unknown
Unknown
Information that you have/know,
but don’t know how to use apply it.
Information that you don’t have
because it doesn’t yet exist.
Deal with unknown unknowns by
developing contingency plans to be
followed if/when you find out the
information.
Known
Known
Known
Unknown
Information that you have and know Information you don’t have but
someone else does. You know that
you don’t have a solution to the
problem, but that somebody
somewhere does, and you can find
out from them.
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Reg Revans classified the bottom 2 boxes as puzzles rather than problems,
because there are solutions in existence already.
The top 2 boxes are classified as being problems because there may not be
an answer or a correct or right answer. To solve problems such as these we
can use action learning. We may need to move out of our normal comfort
zones and learn and apply new skills, knowledge and information.
SWOT Analysis
Useful for identifying the preferred option from a range of possible
solutions or ways forward
Strengths
Opportunities
Weaknesses
Threats
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PIG Problem Immediacy Grid Or Urgency/Importancy Grid
Urgent but Not Important
Neither Urgent nor Important
Urgent and Important
Important but not urgent
Useful to use this to clarify and identify which problem to concentrate on;
which is the most urgent or important. It helps identify which is the most
important either to you or to the organisation
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GROUPING ‘LAWS’ OF ORGANISATION
Stimuli that cause us to group things together
Grouping by: PICSS
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Proximity
Immediacy
Closure (i.e. completing something)
Simplicty
Similarity (Symetry, smoothness, regularily)
SCAMPER
(Used to generate ideas and new questions to solve problems)
Ask the question “How may we..?”
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Substitute
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

Combine
Adapt
Modify/magnify
Put to other uses
Eliminate
Reduce Reverse Rearrange
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Soft and hard thinking for problem solving
Soft
Hard
Flexible
Free-Hunting
Grey
Links
Connections
Arty
Right Brain hemisphere
Possibilites
Blue sky
Green Field
Logical
Critical
Black and white
Left Brain hemisphere
Categorises
Restrictions
Fixed
Often better to use ‘soft’ thinking at the germinal phase of an idea/concept
and ‘hard’ thinking at the practical planning and implementation stage.
Boston Square Cost/Benefit Analysis
A simple way of weighing up which course of action to prioritise.
Equates the potential value of different courses of action.
4 possibilities:




low cost high value
low cost low value
high cost high value
high cost low value
The aim being to go for low cost high value actions and avoid high cost low
value ones.
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Boston Square
low cost high value/benefit
high cost high value/benefit
low cost low value/benefit
high cost low value/benefit
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Problem Solving - Forcefield Analysis and Contingency Diagramming
Forcefield Analysis
Sociologist Kurt Lewin developed a 'force field analysis' model which
describes any current level of performance or being as a state of equilibrium
between the driving forces that encourage upward movement and the
restraining forces that discourage it. Essentially this means that a current
equilibrium exists because the forces acting for change are balanced by the
forces acting against change. The model is often used for change
management become equally used for problem-solving either as an aid to
identifying what the problem is in the first place or as an aid to finding out
what factors exist which acts to prevent the solution from being
implemented.
The driving forces are (usually) positive, reasonable, logical, conscious and economic.
The restraining forces are (usually) negative, emotional, illogical, unconscious
and social/psychological.
Both sets of forces are very real and need to be taken into account when
dealing with change, or managing change, or reacting to change.
Typical forcefield analysis diagram
restraining forces (against change)
current equilibrium
driving forces (for change)
Note that the diagram above is presented vertically, it might equally be presented
horizontally.
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Increasing the driving forces is not enough for change, as the restraining
forces remain in place, and as long as they remain in place it becomes harder
to use the driving forces. An analogy is when you push against a spring; the
more you push, the harder it becomes and as soon as you stop pushing the
spring reverts to its previous position (after having sprung past that point).
Therefore unless both the driving and restraining forces are balanced a kind
of yo-yo effect results; a change and then a reversion back, and then a
change, and then a reversion back, and then a change, et cetera, et cetera.
It’s important to note that the restraining forces may not be conscious – i.e.
they should not be regarded as being deliberate attempts to subvert change
(although they may be).
How to do a forcefield analysis diagram
1 construct a diagram describing in the present state the desired state and
the worst state
Worst state
present state
desired state
2 list the driving i.e. those which push you towards the desired state.
3 list the restraining forces ideals which keep new from the desired state.
4 identify which of the driving forces can be increased and which of the
restraining forces can be decreased. What can be done?
Contingency diagram
The contingency diagram can be used as an adjunct to forcefield analysis, or
it can be used on its own. It’s essentially a process of asking the question
“what could we do to make the situation worse?”. If we identify what we
can do to make situation worse then we can then do the opposite of this to
either make the situation better or prevent it deteriorating. With problem-
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solving we ask the question “what can we do to make this problem worse?”
and then do the opposite.
Contingency diagram
What could go wrong?
How can we make it worse?
The problem or issue
Restraining force
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Further Reading
Drawing on the Right side of the Brain - Betty Edwards 1982
Mindstore – the ultimate mental fitness programme – Jack Black 1994
Manage your Mind – Gillian Smith & Tony Hope
Boost your mindpower – Jonathan Hancock 1995
Problem solving using post it notes - David Straker 1997
Decision making and problem solving – John Adair 2001 reprint
Asking Questions – Ian Mackey 1997 2nd edition
Creative Thinking in business – A practical guide – Carol Gorman 1994
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