Life is far from being a long quiet river. At work, few projects go smoothly. An IT bug, a supplier that fails you, a customer that changes its requirements, you and your team are faced daily with more or less important problems that must be resolved in order to continue to progress.
Sure, problems are inevitable, but stay positive and instead see difficulties as challenges that push you to develop your thinking and creativity.
Some problems are resolved quickly, while others, more complex, need to be viewed as real projects on their own. However, remember that the three essential qualities to effectively solve a problem are flexibility, adaptability and communication because each problem is different and requires specific research work.
To help you deal with the most difficult situations, there are various methods and tools for solving problems. Brief overview and analysis.
1. The classic 6-step method
To solve most problems, follow its 6 steps:
Define the problem: this first step is obvious and essential. You must clearly identify the problem in order to be able to resolve it properly. To do this, use the QQOQCP method (what, who, where, when, how, why).
Identify the Causes: You know the problem, now determine what the causes are. The goal is to act on what is causing the problem, not on its symptoms. If you only treat the symptoms of the problem, it might come back. Use the cause and effect diagram (also called the Ishikawa or fishbone diagram) for help.
Finding alternative solutions: Now is the time to use your creativity and find all possible solutions to this problem. Brainstorm with your team.
Choose a solution: To choose the best solution to solve the problem, you can use tools such as the decision matrix or the tree diagram.
Implement the selected solution: you have determined which methodology adopted? It's time to take action. To ensure the success of this step, prepare an action plan and schedule to make sure everything goes smoothly.
Monitor its implementation and effectiveness: this step is crucial to ensure that the solution implemented is effective and enables the problem to be solved in the long term. If not, you should go back to step 3 and reconsider the other solutions you consider.
. The 8D method
Developed by the car manufacturer Ford, this method, also called 8 Do or 8 Disciplines, is collaborative and is practiced in a multidisciplinary team.
As its name suggests, it consists of 8 steps:
Build the team: Carefully choose competent people with good experience in problem solving, among other things.
Describe the problem: identify precisely and in detail what is the problem you are facing.
Set up a temporary solution: unlike other problem-solving techniques, the 8D method requires you to quickly find a temporary solution to the problem. It must be affordable, easy to set up and uninstall to easily replace it with the final solution.
Identify the causes: Now that the problem is temporarily resolved, you can focus on finding the causes.
Determine corrective actions: Once the causes have been identified, find a permanent solution and make sure it works by testing it.
Implement permanent solution: If the solution is approved, implement it and monitor the data to ensure that the problem has been rooted out.
Avoid recurrence of the problem: to prevent the problem from reappearing, standardize the corrective actions used and implement preventive measures (documentation, training, etc.).
Congratulate the team: Remember to thank and congratulate your team for their work and success.
The different problem-solving tools
As we saw earlier, there are a number of tools you can use during the problem solving process. Here are a few, but there are many more in the management world.
-The QQOQCP
Thanks to this popular tool, you can analyze the situation precisely by asking yourself the right questions:
What: Describe the problem.
Who: who are the people concerned?
Where: where is the problem?
When: when and for how long has the problem been present?
How: how are you going to do it? What means are you going to put in place?
Why: what are the reasons, the causes of the problem?
The cause and effect diagram
Also known as the Ishikawa diagram or fishbone diagram (because of its shape), it is a visual tool that helps structure the search for the causes of a problem. In a similar vein, the Pareto chart makes it possible to identify the causes on which you must act as a priority to solve your problems.
-Brainstorming
Ideal for finding ideas, brainstorming or brainstorming is a creative and spontaneous technique that is practiced in a team and allows to widely sweep all possible solutions to problem solving. It is a simple process to implement that can help you in your process.
The decision matrix
As the name suggests, this tool helps you make a decision when you need to choose the best course of action to solve a problem. To do this, you need to define criteria and score each solution based on those criteria. The winning solution is the one with the highest score.
-The tree diagram
Use this tool when you are faced with a complex situation and need to do an in-depth analysis of the different possible options in order to make the best decision.
Conclusion
There are a large number of ways to solve problems, but they generally all follow the same process (ie define the problem, identify the causes, find and implement solutions, analyze and follow up). The most important thing is to make sure that the solution put in place is effective over time and that the problem is permanently eradicated.
Regardless of the methodology chosen, your organization has the tools to continuously improve its processes without asking any questions. You can understand the cause of a malfunction, take the necessary actions and lead a quality change to achieve a specific result.
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