As a business owner, problem solving is one of the most valuable skills to master. Throughout the course of a year, you will experience and come across many different problems, each with its own challenges and complexity. Therefore it is important to have an efficient process for overcoming those problems within your business. In this playbook we will be discussing the seven step process for effective problem solving. Along with that, we will be looking at a real example of a problem you may experience and how to overcome that problem using this seven step method. The example problem we will use in this scenario is a customer is not happy with the work that has been done, and they have a checklist of items that they want to be fixed.

Step 1: Identify the problem

First step of handling this issue is identifying the problem. The best way to approach this step is to understand where your expectation is and understand what the reality is. Once you have those parameters set, you can look to see where the difference lies. That difference is your problem. The problem could be something small or something very complex, but you need to identify the issue before moving forward. In this example problem, the customer is not satisfied with the work that has been completed. My expectation is that the customers are fully satisfied with the work that we are providing them and they are not expected to pay until the work is completed to their satisfaction.

Step 2: Analyze the problem

The next step is to identify the urgency of the problem. Typically you will experience a problem in one of three stages:

1. The Emergent Stage
2. The Mature Stage
3. The Crisis Stage

The emergent stage is where the problem is just beginning to happen. It does not cause an immediate threat to the way business operates every day. It is just beginning to happen and you have time on your side to be able to correct it without it causing much damage to the processes it is affecting.

The mature stage is where this problem is causing more than just minor damage. Some amount of damage has been done, and you need to jump on it immediately to fix it before it becomes a problem where the consequences may be greater, deeper, and more expensive if we don’t solve this problem fast.

The crisis stage is when the problem is so serious it must be corrected immediately. At this stage, real damage has been done to company processes, reputation, finances, etc. that will have potentially long-term effects on your ability to do business. In our example, the problem would be considered in the mature stage. If the customer's issues are not dealt with quickly, it could lead to not getting paid for the job, or even potentially leading to legal issues.

Step 3: Describe the problem

In this step of the process you want to define and describe the problem. This will help you have clarity to what the problem really is and will make it easier for others on your team to understand the problem when you go to work with them to find a solution. This will also help you focus on the true issue. For more complex problems, it is easy to get caught up solving the wrong issue when you do not have the problem fully defined. When describing the problem, you should be able to keep it short and simple - no more than 2-3 sentences when written out. For our example, this is how I would describe the problem: “Our current customer is concerned about the quality of work. If not resolved, this will lead to a negative impact on our reputation and potentially loss revenue and profit.” I state what the problem is and the consequences of not solving the problem.

Step 4: Find the root causes

The fourth step takes a deeper dive into the problem to figure out its cause. This is the most important step as the learnings will help you avoid the same problem moving forward. This step involves asking and answering a lot of questions. Ask the following questions to determine the root issue:

• What actions/circumstances led up to the problem?
• When did this problem first emerge?
• Who might be responsible for this problem?
• How did the difference in our expectation and reality come to be?
• What are the biggest impacts of this problem?
• How do we go about resolving this problem?
• How can we solve this problem for good so it will never occur again?

By going through these questions, we can get a better understanding of what is the true root issue. What caused the problem? Lack of accountability for our contractors to complete the work. Who is responsible for the problem? It may be easy to blame the sub, but also important to take ownership of how you, as a business owner, could have better managed the sub to ensure these problems don’t come up. In this case, the root issue was a misalignment of expectations between what the customer expected versus what the sub contractor performed. That misalignment comes from the lack of communication and accountability on the part of the business owner.

Step 5: Develop solutions

Now that we have a strong understanding of what the problem is and what caused it, you can then start to develop potential solutions to overcome the problem. Just about any problem you have to deal with has more solutions to it than the one that you think of first. So it is best to develop a list of alternate solutions that you and your team can assess and decide which one will be best for the particular problem. Once you have a list of possible solutions, rank them based on efficiency, cost, long-term value, what resources you have, and the level of commitment needed. Then, look at every one of those solutions carefully and decide what you believe to be the best solution to this problem at this time. In our example, this would be the list of options I would put together.

1. Fire the sub, hire someone else to finish the work.
2. Settle with the customer by taking a lower payment and move onto the next job.
3. Go and resolve the problem yourself by doing the work.
4. Work with the current sub to resolve the problem.

Step 6: Implement solutions

The next step is implementing whichever solution you have chosen. Implementing the solution you decide on can include creating an implementation plan. It could also include planning on what happens next if something goes wrong with the solution if it doesn’t work out the way you thought it would. Implementation means that everyone on your team knows and understands their part in making the solution work, that there are timelines for execution, and that you have a system in place to track whether or not the solution has corrected the problem.

In this example, the best solution for immediate results and a long term outlook is to work alongside the current sub. This allows both you and your crew to understand where the misalignment was and can be a good learning experience for everyone involved to ensure it does not happen again. However, if this is a recurring problem, I would consider moving the project to another crew.

Step 7: Measure the results

The final step of the problem solving process is measuring the results. You want to ask yourself the following questions.

1. Is the problem solved?
2. Was the selected solution the best solution?
3. Will this problem occur again with the current solution?
4. Will this solution work again in the future?
5. What learning did I find from the problem solving process?

Problem solving is a skill that you will use nearly everyday while running your business. Having a true system to help you overcome those problems is crucial to ensure your problems are getting solved efficiently. It is encouraged to take this level of detail when solving problems so you can limit the challenges in the future.

‍