Better Dealing with a Problem

“No problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking.” — Voltaire

Let’s face it. In business, we constantly have to solve problems that come our way. And as the complexity of the world rises, so does the number of problems. Here are some tips on dealing with problems:

1. Write down what you think the problem is

Committing your initial perception of the problem to paper helps you to focus on the issue at hand.

For example, imagine you’re the managing director of a company that has seen a rise in its employee turnover rate. Worse, most of those who left were talented, skilled young employees. Your problem statement might be: “We are losing many of our best junior employees.”

2. Turn your problem into a question

Your problem statement is a good starting point, but even better is an action question starting with the words “How to.” In the example, the problem statement might become, “How to resolve the problem of losing our best junior employees?”

Restating your problem as a “How to” action question makes it easier to suggest ideas and possible solutions on resolving the issue.

3. Look for the upside of your problem

Albert Einstein said, “In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.” Every problem provides an opportunity for you or someone else to solve the issue. That’s why at Thinkergy, we prefer the term ‘challenge’ over the word ‘problem,’ as this helps us to remember to look for hidden opportunities. When you find opportunities hidden in your challenge, write a new action question. In our example, you might change your question to, “How to retain the talented young employees in our company?”

4. Restate the challenge

Next, try restating your “How to” action question in at least 10 different ways. Words are powerful. Although different ways of saying something may have similar meanings, they can have different moods, forcefulness, and energy. Altering the words used to express your problem, while keeping the overall meaning, allows you to see new aspects of your situation.

For example, alternative ways to restate our example challenge might include, “How to attract more talented employees to our company?”, “How to become the most attractive employer for talented graduates in our industry?”, “How to increase the loyalty of our firm’s young employees?”, and “How to create the most progressive, state-of-the-art career program for young trainees?”

5. Understand possible causes of the challenge

You might draw a Fishbone Diagram to analyze the situation. Write your challenge into the ‘head of a fish’ (“rising turnover rate of young talent”). Identify categories of related causes for the challenge (e.g., compensation and benefits, career prospects, employee background, recruitment process) and make those the bones of the fish. Then list individual causes for each category (e.g., other companies offer better salaries (compensation); too many young middle managers blocking advancement paths (career prospects); some young employees left to focus on a full-time master study program). Finally, look at the overall picture. Are there any ‘problem hot spots’ or interrelated problems? Is there a root cause for the challenge?

For example, you might discover that a lot of these employees left your firm because they want to learn more and advance their career further than they could in your firm. A new problem definition could be: “How to create a career program for young talent that combines internal and external learning?”

6. Map out the hierarchy of challenges

Looking through a list of challenge restatements, you will notice that some statements are very specific (“How to attract and retain young Thai engineers to our company?”), while others are very broad (“How to win the global competition for talent?”). Map your challenge statements based on their level of abstraction and categories (e.g., work domains, engagement measures, etc.).

7. Switch or reverse your perspective on the challenge

Look at your challenge as if you were a customer or stakeholder (“How to get talented young employees to fall in love with our company?”), or reverse the situation (“How to make young recruits never want to leave our firm?”).

8. Be ready to deal with your real challenge

At the end of this process you’re likely to discover that what you initially perceived to be your problem is not your real challenge.

For example, perhaps the real reason why talented young employees leave the firm is that they realize early on that the firm will be heavily affected by a disruptive innovation or environmental change. So your real challenge may be: “How to reposition our company to provide profitable growth for the next two decades?” Quite a change of focus, isn’t it? But once your real problem is clear, you can finally start developing solutions to resolve it.

Better dealing with a problem