Every Day is Problem-Solving Day

Problem Solving Block

At the center stage of our day-to-day activities we have various issues to take care of. Most of these issues, involve activities that lead us into problem solving. This can be seen from the many engagements we have with friends, families and employers. Even in employment, the most sought after skill is Problem Solving. As an employee, the interview process is a procedure to ensure that an employer gets the right person who will be able to solve various problems as per the job description demands. In order to stand out in such a process, a candidate for a job opening is better off using the STAR Method in answering and responding to behavioral and competence based question. It is a precise answering process that depicts your ability and attitude towards work.

Problem Solving is not just a skill but a competence that everyone should be able to exhibit. It makes an individual more accepted and sought after in times of challenges. As a Competence, Problem Solving depends on an individual’s attitude. How you react to various situations and events will reveal your attitude to your co-workers, family or even friends. As a Skill, Problem Solving is depicted by the urge to confirm the evidence and challenging any other presented would-be solution.

People with this competence:

• Always pursue different view points by sampling and checking other alternatives.
• They speculate intelligently by asking “what if” questions to probe different scenarios.
• They are open to collaboration as they are aware of the complexities involved in problem solving tasks.
• They are always keen and concern themselves in a cause-effect pattern to be able to determine the Root Cause of the problem to prevent it from re-occurring again.

In Problem Solving, a Root-Cause Analysis (RCA) as well as MECE tool has been used by various global companies in aligning their flow of work as well as the sequence and order in manufacturing. In RCA method, an individual can turn a problem, defects or complaints into opportunities for continuous and permanent improvement until the root cause of the problem is identified. This method relies on the 5 WHYs and 1 HOW, founded by Sakichi Toyoda founder of Toyota Company. The 5 Whys aid in finding answers to the root cause of the problem while the 1 How helps to eliminate the root cause and prevent the problem from re-occurring.

This method is currently being used in the installation of KAIZEN (getting more for less) as well as in LEAN manufacturing due to resource constraints and in the field of CONSULTING. In consulting, with big players like McKinsey, BCG and Bain, most of their employees must be able to exude the following four competencies:

• Fact reading which is the ability to accurately comprehend data and work with it efficiently.
• Root Cause Analysis, the ability to get to the underlying causes by avoiding irrelevant facts.
• Fact-based conclusion by drawing logical conclusions from relevant facts.
• Client interpretation by focusing on the actual project requirement to solve the client’s problem.
• Estimation skill which is a qualitative skill of quickly performing a mental math to identify trends and compare aspects logically.

MECE tool lays down a strong structure for case interviews. It is a tool used to segment group information into logical manner. This is done by segmenting information into either mutually exclusive or collectively exhaustive. In using MECE tool, an Issue Tree for case structure is developed to help avoid dependencies between different branches of the tree so that sub-problems can be properly identified and isolated.

In conclusion, these tools can as well mislead if you pursue a wrong branch in identifying the root causes of a problem. So, it is better to really understand and probe using intelligent questions so that little time is used in problem-solving events.

As an acknowledgement, I would like to thank the Bridge Africa team for this online module course and would want to recommend any youth to seek their guidance in making them develop various skills among which Problem-Solving skill is great.

The Bridge Africa http://www.thebridgeafrica.com/about.html