Problem Solving: Innovation in 5 Simple Steps

By H. Evan Woodhead

There is a time-honored five-step method for problem-solving. Define the problem. Generate lots of ideas for possible solutions. Choose the best solution from among the alternatives. Implement the chosen solution. Use the implemented solution to produce the intended benefits. And it often fails spectacularly.

Problem Solving: Innovation in 5 Simple Steps describes and explains how the problem-solving process can be successfully applied, with specific emphasis on the challenges of innovation. It clearly shows how and when to leverage the tools and methods described in Anchor Management: Letting Innovation off the Leash and Altered Perspective: Search Strategies for Innovators.

Problem Solving: Innovation in 5 Simple Steps also includes a guide to detecting and correcting the most common patterns of failure in projects launched to solve a problem. It points out the signs that indicate one of these patterns is developing and explains how to prevent it.

Despite the challenges associated with it, this is still the most effective and efficient problem-solving methodology we have found. The overall problem-solving process is simple and easy to remember—which is important when you set out to drain a swamp and find yourself surrounded by alligators. Each of the steps is clearly explained in terms of what needs to be done and how it relates to the steps before and after it. The critical transition points (at which the management style needs to shift gears) are pointed out and explained.

• Language: English
• Publisher: H. Evan Woodhead
• Release date: Apr 23, 2016
• ISBN: 9781311793850

H. Evan Woodhead

H. Evan Woodhead, PMP, BSc, MBA, DSc is an author and management consultant specializing in the theory and practice of innovation in the solution of real-world business problems.The science of decision-making has always acknowledged the importance of art - the creative process of generating a robust set of options before choosing a course of action. But it is packed full of models and methods for comparing proposed solutions, wile the cupboard is nearly empty when we look for help unearthing fresh new possibilities.For decades the "experts" on business success - Visionaries, Motivational Speakers, Consultants - have told us we need to "get out of the box" to break out of the pack and take a business to the next level. They paint a very compelling and exciting picture of the benefits. And they are right. But on the subject of how to go about it, not so much.Evan's books finally answer the critical "How" questions:How do we break free of the established solutions, and find something completely new?How can we separate the policies, rules, habits and traditions that prevent disaster apart from the ones that chain us to mediocrity or even doom us to a slow death?How can we find a different way to look at our business that breathes fresh life into it?And ultimately - how can we differentiate our business from the rest of the industry and leap to a new level of competitive advantage?

Book preview

PROBLEM

SOLVING

Innovation

in 5 Simple Steps

H. EVAN WOODHEAD

Copyright 2016 Harry Evan Woodhead

Smashwords Edition

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Problem:

noun

1. An intractable mess. Don’t step in it;

2. A situation that requires a decision to be taken and acted upon.

Perspective:

noun

1.Artist's method for depicting 3-dimensional subjects using a 2-dimensional medium;

2.Point of view. Determines what can and cannot be seen.

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Table of Contents

Chapter 1. Introduction

Chapter 2. The Hasley Problem-Solving Model

Chapter 3. Stage I: Define the Problem

Chapter 4. Stage II: Identify Options (Ideate)

Chapter 5. Stage III: Select the Best Option

Chapter 6. Stage IV: Implement the Solution

Chapter 7. Stage V: Post Implementation

Chapter 8. Altered Perspective

Chapter 9. Anchor Management

Chapter 10. Conclusion

End Notes

About the Author

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Chapter 1. Introduction

"The significant problems we face

cannot be solved at the same level of thinking

we were at when we created them."

Albert Einstein

A recurring theme I hear in discussion with clients is that they find themselves in a quandary. Their traditional markets are no longer a safe haven. Economic principles they have relied upon throughout their careers seem to have been swept away leaving a chaotic muddle of perplexing demand, supply and price combinations. Whole industries can arise out of nothing, attract capital without having a value proposition, and vanish overnight—remember the dot-com craze?

Peter Drucker has been holding up innovation as one of the core functions of every business for many years. In Managing for the Future [1] he goes further, flagging a drop in a company’s standing as a successful innovator as the single most reliable indicator of imminent decline. On a grass-roots level, it has become cliché to say that businesses have to do more with less. While that may be true, it is clearly not enough. It is no longer sufficient to be disciplined, controlled, reliable, and predictable. It is not adequate to be outrageously creative and innovative. We need to be both at the same time. Problem Solving: Innovation in 5 Simple Steps addresses this paradox, combining the breakout power of innovation and the boundless energy of creative thinking with the discipline and control of a rigorous problem-solving methodology. Our thinking is anchored to the world we are used to. But the world itself has moved on and become something else. Somehow we must navigate in the new world using only what we know from the old one.

Perhaps the first hurdle we have to get past is the idea that a problem is a bad thing. A problem is any situation that calls upon us to make a decision and take action. In that context a problem could be an opportunity to be seized, a risk to be avoided, a sale to be closed, or a cost to be reduced. By this definition, winning a lottery is a problem, because you have to decide what to do with the money. As many motivational speakers have pointed out over the years, even the most daunting business problem may contain the seed of opportunity. It may be the stimulus that prompts us to launch a new product or enter a new market that becomes our most profitable division. It may have started out as a customer complaint. But because it was well handled, it resulted in a great relationship with that customer and led to increased business. The only irredeemably bad kind of problem is an unsolved problem.

There is a time-honored five-stage method for problem-solving. Define the problem. Generate alternatives. Choose the best solution from among the alternatives. Implement the chosen solution. Use the implemented solution to produce the intended benefits. And it often fails spectacularly.

Executives in every industry are painfully familiar with the experience of seeing projects framed to address key business problems and launched with great fanfare, only to deliver mediocre results. If the problem-solving process is so simple, why is it so unreliable?

There is a litany of possible reasons when problem-solving falls short of expectations. Post-mortems on failed projects often focus on factors such as over-sold products and services, insufficient resources, inadequate skills on the part of team members, and poor project management. However these may be secondary issues. There is a frequent root cause that is typically treated like the elephant in the room (everyone knows it is there, but no one dares to name it for fear of attracting its wrath). What if the solution we were trying to implement simply wasn’t a good enough idea in the first place?

The weakest link in the problem-solving process is the central decision-making step, in which we strive to generate a long and robust list of possible solutions.

In my experience this step is frequently executed very poorly. It may be glossed over with mere lip service. Sometimes it is simply ignored entirely.

I have often observed an enormous amount of energy invested in the selection step. It is almost as if exhaustive effort to compare will somehow compensate for having a weak field of contenders. We bring all manner of quantitative