Welcome to Problem Solving Skills
Part 4
Appreciative Enquiry - Solving Problems by looking at what's going right
Imagine that your organization's order book is full, and you're desperate to expand your business - but you just can't find the staff you need. What's worse, cash is tight, your recruitment budget is stretched to breaking point, and you strongly suspect that some of the approaches you're using just aren't working.One approach here is to focus on the things that aren't working, and think about how you can fix them. This is the conventional approach to problem-solving. In many cases it's the right one to use. However in others, all it does is bring you up to the same bland level as everyone else.
Another approach is to shift to a positive perspective, look at the things that are working, and build on them. In some situations this can be very powerful because, by focusing on positives, you can build the unique strengths which bring real success.
This is the premise behind "Appreciative Inquiry", a method of problem solving that was pioneered by David Cooperrider of Case Western Reserve University in the mid 1980s.To understand the basis of Appreciative Inquiry it is useful to look at the meaning of the two words in context.
Appreciation means to recognize and value the contributions or attributes of things and people around us.
Inquiry means to explore and discover, in the spirit of seeking to better understand, and being open to new possibilities.
When combined, this means that by appreciating what is good and valuable in the present situation, we can discover and learn about ways to effect positive change for the future.
Using Appreciative Inquiry: The 4D Approach
To apply Appreciative Inquiry to a problem solving situation, it’s important to focus on positives. A positive energy approach helps you build on your strengths, just as conventional problem-solving can help you manage or eliminate your weaknesses.
The first step of the process is to identify and describe the problem you're trying to solve.
From there you go on to look at the issue in four phases: Discovery, Dream, Design and Deliver. This approach is described in the five steps below.
Tip 1:Appreciative Inquiry is often explained using four Ds: "Discovery", "Dream", "Design" and "Deliver"/"Destiny". We like to put a fifth D ("Define") in as the first step.
1. "Define" the Problem
Before you can analyze a situation, you need to define what it is you are looking at. And, just as your decision to look at the positives will move you in a positive direction, defining your topic positively will help you look at its positive aspects. So, rather than seeking “Ways to Fix Recruitment Problems”, for example, you’ll choose “Ways to Accelerate Recruitment.” This subtle change in wording can have huge implications for what you focus on.Also, make sure that your topic does not unduly constrain you: You want to explore many possibilities and avenues for change so keep your topic broad.
2. "Discovery" Phase
Here you need to look for the best of what has happened in the past, and what is currently working well. Involve as many people as sensibly possible, and design your questions to get people talking and telling stories about what they find is most valuable (or appreciated), and what works particularly well. Using the example from the first stage, a good way to do this would be to get new recruits to interview one another, focusing on getting to the core of what they liked about the job before they joined, and what they've enjoyed about the organization since joining. In this situation, the following might be good discovery questions:
When you think back to when you decided to join the company, what was the thing that most attracted you?
Tell me a story about a time when you were very enthusiastic about your work.
What do you think is most important for success at the company?
Tell me about the time you felt proudest about the company.
Another approach to solving this problem could be to look at the different approaches you use to recruit people, and identify the ones that bring the greatest volume of good recruits.When you’ve gathered enough raw information, you need to analyze the data and identify the factors that most contributed to the team or organization’s past successes.
What is most valued?
What did people find most motivating or fun?
What instills the greatest pride?
And so on.
3. "Dream" Phase
In this phase, you and your team dream of “what might be”. Think about how you can take the positives you identified in the Discovery phase, and reinforce them to build real strengths.
The way forward may be obvious from the results of the Discovery Phase. If it's not, a useful approach is to bring a diverse group of stakeholders together and brainstorm creative and innovative ideas of what the organization and team could accomplish.
In our example, you might choose to enhance and build the good points that everyone likes about the organization, and use this as a strong message to attract potential candidates during the recruitment process. You may also stop doing the things that aren't working, and use the money saved to reinforce the things that are.
Once you have agreed upon your dream or vision, you can take it to the Design phase.
4. "Design" Phase
Building on the Dream, this phase looks at the practicalities needed to support the vision. Here you start to drill down the types of systems, processes, and strategies that will enable the dream to be realized.
5. "Deliver" Phase
Sometimes called the Destiny phase, the last of the Ds is the implementation phase and it requires a great deal of planning and preparation. The key to successful delivery is ensuring that the Dream (vision) is the focal point. While the various parts of the team will typically have their own processes to complete, the overall result is a raft of changes that occur simultaneously throughout the organization, that all serve to support and sustain the dream.
Tip 2:The real strength of this technique comes from steps 1 and 2. Steps 3 to 5 are just standard implementation steps. If you have your own preferred approach for implementation, use this.
Tip 3:In this article, we're looking at Appreciative Inquiry as a problem-solving technique. You can also use it powerfully either as an organizational strategy tool or for personal development. In these contexts, you can simply focus on what you do well, and divert your efforts towards this, and away from the things you're not good at.
Key Points
When faced with your next challenge or problem, take a step back and look at if from the standpoint of what is good and is currently working well. This positive perspective brings about a whole new set of positive solutions you and your team may not have previously discovered. Use this process to get your organization looking at itself in unique and positive ways. The Deliver phase of the cycle is not so much an end but a place to start to re-evaluate and continue the process of Appreciative Inquiry to continuously improve. Once you embrace the idea of positive change you can apply the cycle over and over again to various aspects of your team or organization, and enjoy the positive outcomes that positive thinking brings.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Problem Solving for Executives Part 3
Affinity Diagrams - Organizing Ideas Into Common Themes
Is it ever a bad thing to have too many ideas?
Probably not, but if you've ever experienced information overload or struggled to know where to begin with a wealth of data you've been given, you may have wondered how you can use all of these ideas effectively. When there's lots of "stuff" coming at you, it is hard to sort through everything and organize the information in a way that makes sense and helps you make decisions.
Whether you're brainstorming ideas, trying to solve a problem or analyzing a situation, when you are dealing with lots of information from a variety of sources, you can end up spending a huge amount of time trying to assimilate all the little bits and pieces. Rather than letting the disjointed information get the better of you, you can use an affinity diagram to help you organize it.
Also called the KJ method, after its developer Kawakita Jiro (a Japanese anthropologist) an affinity diagram helps to synthesize large amounts of data by finding relationships between ideas. The information is then gradually structured from the bottom up into meaningful groups. From there you can clearly "see" what you have, and then begin your analysis or come to a decision.
Is it ever a bad thing to have too many ideas?
Probably not, but if you've ever experienced information overload or struggled to know where to begin with a wealth of data you've been given, you may have wondered how you can use all of these ideas effectively. When there's lots of "stuff" coming at you, it is hard to sort through everything and organize the information in a way that makes sense and helps you make decisions.
Whether you're brainstorming ideas, trying to solve a problem or analyzing a situation, when you are dealing with lots of information from a variety of sources, you can end up spending a huge amount of time trying to assimilate all the little bits and pieces. Rather than letting the disjointed information get the better of you, you can use an affinity diagram to help you organize it.
Also called the KJ method, after its developer Kawakita Jiro (a Japanese anthropologist) an affinity diagram helps to synthesize large amounts of data by finding relationships between ideas. The information is then gradually structured from the bottom up into meaningful groups. From there you can clearly "see" what you have, and then begin your analysis or come to a decision.
Affinity diagrams can be used to:
Draw out common themes from a large amount of information.
Discover previously unseen connections between various ideas or information.
Brainstorm root causes and solutions to a problem.
Because many decision-making exercises begin with brainstorming, this is one of the most common applications of affinity diagrams.
After a brainstorming session there are usually pages of ideas. These won't have been censored or edited in any way, many of them will be very similar, and many will also be closely related to others in a variety of ways. What an affinity diagram does is start to group the ideas into themes. From the chaos of the randomly generated ideas comes an insight into the common threads that link groups of them together. From there the solution or best idea often emerges quite naturally.
This is why affinity diagrams are so powerful and why the Japanese Union of Scientists and Engineers consider them one of the "seven management tools."
Affinity diagrams are not the domain of brainstorming alone though. They can be used in any situation where:
The solution is not readily apparent.
You want to reach a consensus or decision and have a lot of variables to consider, concepts to discuss, ideas to connect, or opinions to incorporate.
There is a large volume of information to sort through.
Here is a step-by-step guide to using affinity diagrams along with a simple example to show how the process works.
How to Use the Tool
1) Describe the problem or issue
2) Generate ideas by brainstorming.
Write each idea on a separate sticky note and put these on a wall or flip chart.
Remember to:
Emphasize volume.
Suspend judgment.
Piggyback on other ideas
3) Sort ideas into natural themes by asking:
What ideas are similar?
Is this idea connected to any of the others?
If you're working in a team:
Separate into smaller groups of 3 to 4 people.
Sort the ideas IN SILENCE so that no one is influenced by anyone else's comments.
Keep moving the cards around until consensus is reached.
4) Create total group consensus:
Discuss the shared meaning of each of the sorted groups.
Continue until consensus is reached.
If some ideas do not fit into any theme, separate them as "stand-alone" ideas.
If some ideas fit into more than one theme, create a duplicate card and put it in the proper group.
Try to limit the total number of themes to between five and nine.
5) Create theme cards (also called affinity cards or header cards):
Create a short 3-5 word description for the relationship.
If you're working in a group, do this together, out loud.
Write this theme/header on a blank card and place at the top of the group it describes.
Create a "super-headers" where necessary to group themes.
Use a "sub-header" card where necessary as well.
6) Continue to group the themes/headers until you have reached the broadest, but still meaningful, categories possible:
Draw lines connecting the super-headers, themes/headers, and sub-headers.
You'll end up with a hierarchical structure that shows, at a glance, where the relationships are.
Tip:Grouping ideas under headings, and then grouping headings under super-headers in an affinity diagram is a practical way of "chunking" information generated in brainstorming sessions, during process mapping, or even a planning exercise.
Key Points
Affinity diagrams are great tools for assimilating and understanding large amounts of information. When you work through the process of creating relationships and working backward from detailed information to broad themes, you get an insight you would not otherwise find.
The next time you are confronting a large amount of information or number of ideas and you feel overwhelmed at first glance, use the affinity diagram approach to discover all the hidden linkages. And when you cannot see the forest for the trees, an affinity diagram may be exactly what you need to get back in focus.
To download the FREE Affinity Diagram Software, visit:
http://www.smartdraw.com/specials/affinity-diagram-software.htm?id=324616
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Problem Solving for Executives Part 2
Welcome to Problem Solving Skills
Part 2
Cause and Effect Diagrams
Identifying the likely Causes of Problems related variants: Fish or Fishbone Diagrams, and Ishikawa Diagrams
Cause and Effect Diagrams help you to think through causes of a problem thoroughly. Their major benefit is that they push you to consider all possible causes of the problem, rather than just the ones that are most obvious.
The approach combines brainstorming with use of a type of concept map.
Cause and Effect Diagrams are also known as Fishbone Diagrams, because a completed diagram can look like the skeleton of a fish.
How to Use the Tool:
Follow these steps to solve a problem with a Cause and Effect Diagram:
Identify the problem:
Write down the exact problem you face in detail. Where appropriate identify who is involved, what the problem is, and when and where it occurs.
Write the problem in a box on the left hand side of a large sheet of paper.
Draw a line across the paper horizontally from the box.
This arrangement, looking like the head and spine of a fish, gives you space to develop ideas.
Work out the major factors involved:
Next identify the factors that may contribute to the problem.
Draw lines off the spine for each factor, and label it. These may be people involved with the problem, systems, equipment, materials, external forces, etc.
Try to draw out as many possible factors as possible. If you are trying to solve the problem as part of a group, then this may be a good time for some brainstorming.
Using the 'Fish bone' analogy, the factors you find can be thought of as the bones of the fish.
Identify possible causes:
For each of the factors you considered in stage 2, brainstorm possible causes of the problem that may be related to the factor. Show these as smaller lines coming off the 'bones' of the fish. Where a cause is large or complex, then it may be best to break the it down into sub-causes. Show these as lines coming off each cause line.
Analyze your diagram:
By this stage you should have a diagram showing all the possible causes of your problem that you can think of. Depending on the complexity and importance of the problem, you can now investigate the most likely causes further. This may involve setting up investigations, carrying out surveys, etc. These will be designed to test whether your assessments are correct.
Example:
The example below shows a Cause & Effect diagram drawn by a manager who is having trouble getting cooperation from a branch office:
To get a closer look on a Pdf file, e-mail Helena at: nyman@consultant.com. Please write Cause and Effect Diagram Pdf File in the subject line!
If the manager had not thought the problem through, he might have dealt with the problem by assuming that people were being difficult.
Instead he might think that the best approach is to arrange a meeting with the Branch Manager. This would allow him to brief the manager fully, and talk through any problems that he may be facing.
Key points:
Cause & Effect analysis (or Fishbone Analysis) provides a structured way to help you think through all possible causes of a problem. This helps you to carry out a thorough analysis of a situation.
Part 2
Cause and Effect Diagrams
Identifying the likely Causes of Problems related variants: Fish or Fishbone Diagrams, and Ishikawa Diagrams
Cause and Effect Diagrams help you to think through causes of a problem thoroughly. Their major benefit is that they push you to consider all possible causes of the problem, rather than just the ones that are most obvious.
The approach combines brainstorming with use of a type of concept map.
Cause and Effect Diagrams are also known as Fishbone Diagrams, because a completed diagram can look like the skeleton of a fish.
How to Use the Tool:
Follow these steps to solve a problem with a Cause and Effect Diagram:
Identify the problem:
Write down the exact problem you face in detail. Where appropriate identify who is involved, what the problem is, and when and where it occurs.
Write the problem in a box on the left hand side of a large sheet of paper.
Draw a line across the paper horizontally from the box.
This arrangement, looking like the head and spine of a fish, gives you space to develop ideas.
Work out the major factors involved:
Next identify the factors that may contribute to the problem.
Draw lines off the spine for each factor, and label it. These may be people involved with the problem, systems, equipment, materials, external forces, etc.
Try to draw out as many possible factors as possible. If you are trying to solve the problem as part of a group, then this may be a good time for some brainstorming.
Using the 'Fish bone' analogy, the factors you find can be thought of as the bones of the fish.
Identify possible causes:
For each of the factors you considered in stage 2, brainstorm possible causes of the problem that may be related to the factor. Show these as smaller lines coming off the 'bones' of the fish. Where a cause is large or complex, then it may be best to break the it down into sub-causes. Show these as lines coming off each cause line.
Analyze your diagram:
By this stage you should have a diagram showing all the possible causes of your problem that you can think of. Depending on the complexity and importance of the problem, you can now investigate the most likely causes further. This may involve setting up investigations, carrying out surveys, etc. These will be designed to test whether your assessments are correct.
Example:
The example below shows a Cause & Effect diagram drawn by a manager who is having trouble getting cooperation from a branch office:
To get a closer look on a Pdf file, e-mail Helena at: nyman@consultant.com. Please write Cause and Effect Diagram Pdf File in the subject line!
If the manager had not thought the problem through, he might have dealt with the problem by assuming that people were being difficult.
Instead he might think that the best approach is to arrange a meeting with the Branch Manager. This would allow him to brief the manager fully, and talk through any problems that he may be facing.
Key points:
Cause & Effect analysis (or Fishbone Analysis) provides a structured way to help you think through all possible causes of a problem. This helps you to carry out a thorough analysis of a situation.
Problem Solving for Executives Part 1
Welcome to Problem Solving Skills Part 1
The tools in this section help you solve complicated business problems.
By using these techniques, you can start to tackle problems that might otherwise seem huge, overwhelming, and excessively complex.
As such, these tools give you a starting point in solving problems that would leave other people feeling helpless, and intimidated by the situation.
The section starts with some simple complexity skills. It then moves on to look at more powerful, 'industrial strength" techniques like use of Systems Diagrams, SWOT Analysis, Cash Flow Forecasting and Risk Analysis. We conclude with four powerful business strategy tools: Porter's Five Forces, PEST Analysis, Value Chain Analysis and USP Analysis.
Enjoy using these tools!
Before we go the the more complicating techniques, I would like to introduce you to 2 very simple techniques:
1) Appreciation: Extracting Maximum Information from Facts
2) 5 Whys - Getting quickly to the root of a problem
Appreciation
Extracting Maximum Information from Facts
Appreciation is a very simple but powerful technique for extracting the maximum amount of information from a simple fact.
How to Use the Tool:
Starting with a fact, ask the question 'So what?' i.e. what are the implications of that fact? Keep on asking that question until you have drawn all possible inferences.
Example:
Appreciation is a technique used by military planners, so we will take a military example:
Fact: It rained heavily last night
So What?
- The ground will be wet
So What?
- It will turn into mud quickly
So What?
- If many troops and vehicles pass over the same ground, movement will be progressively slower and more difficult as the ground gets muddier and more difficult.
So What?
- Where possible, stick to paved roads. Otherwise expect movement to be much slower than normal.
While it would be possible to reach this conclusion without the use of a formal technique, Appreciation provides a framework within which you can extract information quickly, effectively and reliably.
Key points: Asking 'so what?' repeatedly helps you to extract all important information implied by a fact.
5 Whys
Quickly Getting to the Root of a Problem
Why use the tool?
The 5 Whys is a simple problem-solving technique that helps users to get to the root of the problem quickly. Made popular in the 1970s by the Toyota Production System, the 5 Whys strategy involves looking at any problem and asking: "Why?" and "What caused this problem?"
Very often, the answer to the first "why" will prompt another "why" and the answer to the second "why" will prompt another and so on; hence the name the 5 Whys strategy.
Benefits of the 5 Whys include:
It helps to quickly determine the root cause of a problem It is easy to learn and apply How to use the tool:
When looking to solve a problem, start at the end result and work backward (toward the root cause), continually asking: "Why?" This will need to be repeated over and over until the root cause of the problem becomes apparent.
Tip:
The 5 Whys technique is a simple technique that can help you quickly get to the root of a problem. But that is all it is, and the more complex things get, the more likely it is to lead you down a false trail. if it doesn't quickly give you an answer that's obviously right, then you may need more sophisticated technique problem solving techniques like those found in our problem solving section.
Example:
Following is an example of the 5 Whys analysis as an effective problem-solving technique:
Why is our client, Hinson Corp., unhappy? Because we did not deliver our services when we said we would.
Why were we unable to meet the agreed-upon timeline or schedule for delivery? The job took much longer than we thought it would.
Why did it take so much longer? Because we underestimated the complexity of the job.
Why did we underestimate the complexity of the job? Because we made a quick estimate of the time needed to complete it, and did not list the individual stages needed to complete the project.
Why didn't we do this? Because we were running behind on other projects. We clearly need to review our time estimation and specification procedures. Key Points:
The 5 Whys strategy is an easy and often-effective tool for uncovering the root of a problem. Because it is so elementary in nature, it can be adapted quickly and applied to most any problem. Bear in mind, however, that if it doesn't prompt an intuitive answer, other problem-solving techniques may need to be applied.
The tools in this section help you solve complicated business problems.
By using these techniques, you can start to tackle problems that might otherwise seem huge, overwhelming, and excessively complex.
As such, these tools give you a starting point in solving problems that would leave other people feeling helpless, and intimidated by the situation.
The section starts with some simple complexity skills. It then moves on to look at more powerful, 'industrial strength" techniques like use of Systems Diagrams, SWOT Analysis, Cash Flow Forecasting and Risk Analysis. We conclude with four powerful business strategy tools: Porter's Five Forces, PEST Analysis, Value Chain Analysis and USP Analysis.
Enjoy using these tools!
Before we go the the more complicating techniques, I would like to introduce you to 2 very simple techniques:
1) Appreciation: Extracting Maximum Information from Facts
2) 5 Whys - Getting quickly to the root of a problem
Appreciation
Extracting Maximum Information from Facts
Appreciation is a very simple but powerful technique for extracting the maximum amount of information from a simple fact.
How to Use the Tool:
Starting with a fact, ask the question 'So what?' i.e. what are the implications of that fact? Keep on asking that question until you have drawn all possible inferences.
Example:
Appreciation is a technique used by military planners, so we will take a military example:
Fact: It rained heavily last night
So What?
- The ground will be wet
So What?
- It will turn into mud quickly
So What?
- If many troops and vehicles pass over the same ground, movement will be progressively slower and more difficult as the ground gets muddier and more difficult.
So What?
- Where possible, stick to paved roads. Otherwise expect movement to be much slower than normal.
While it would be possible to reach this conclusion without the use of a formal technique, Appreciation provides a framework within which you can extract information quickly, effectively and reliably.
Key points: Asking 'so what?' repeatedly helps you to extract all important information implied by a fact.
5 Whys
Quickly Getting to the Root of a Problem
Why use the tool?
The 5 Whys is a simple problem-solving technique that helps users to get to the root of the problem quickly. Made popular in the 1970s by the Toyota Production System, the 5 Whys strategy involves looking at any problem and asking: "Why?" and "What caused this problem?"
Very often, the answer to the first "why" will prompt another "why" and the answer to the second "why" will prompt another and so on; hence the name the 5 Whys strategy.
Benefits of the 5 Whys include:
It helps to quickly determine the root cause of a problem It is easy to learn and apply How to use the tool:
When looking to solve a problem, start at the end result and work backward (toward the root cause), continually asking: "Why?" This will need to be repeated over and over until the root cause of the problem becomes apparent.
Tip:
The 5 Whys technique is a simple technique that can help you quickly get to the root of a problem. But that is all it is, and the more complex things get, the more likely it is to lead you down a false trail. if it doesn't quickly give you an answer that's obviously right, then you may need more sophisticated technique problem solving techniques like those found in our problem solving section.
Example:
Following is an example of the 5 Whys analysis as an effective problem-solving technique:
Why is our client, Hinson Corp., unhappy? Because we did not deliver our services when we said we would.
Why were we unable to meet the agreed-upon timeline or schedule for delivery? The job took much longer than we thought it would.
Why did it take so much longer? Because we underestimated the complexity of the job.
Why did we underestimate the complexity of the job? Because we made a quick estimate of the time needed to complete it, and did not list the individual stages needed to complete the project.
Why didn't we do this? Because we were running behind on other projects. We clearly need to review our time estimation and specification procedures. Key Points:
The 5 Whys strategy is an easy and often-effective tool for uncovering the root of a problem. Because it is so elementary in nature, it can be adapted quickly and applied to most any problem. Bear in mind, however, that if it doesn't prompt an intuitive answer, other problem-solving techniques may need to be applied.
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