The better way to solve problems and innovate

In today’s world, every company is trying its best to innovate. Some are very successful at that, but the majority are not so much. In this article, I wanted to share some of my personal experiences with how many people solve problems and innovate.

A typical example

Here is a common situation in many problem solving workshops I am conducting. Teh audience is split into small groups. Each group is working on a certain problem. As a facilitator, I am moving from one group to another to see how are they doing and to provide guidance.

I am approaching one of the groups with a question: “Have you solved the problem?”
They answer, “No. Not yet. But we are working on it”
“How do you do that?” – I ask.
“We are thinking”
“This is great!” – I reply – “My question id how are you thinking? Have you tried using Cause & Effect Chain to search for the root cause?”
“No”
“Maybe you applied resource analysis or functional analysis to create a failure model?” – I insist.
And again: “No”
“So how are you planning to solve the problem?”
Every time the answer to this question is: “We are thinking!“

Now, let ask ourselves a question. Imagine you need a medical care and you visit a doctor. What would be your reaction if instead of doing tests and analysis the doctor just thinking? I don’t know what about you, but I would run as far from that doctor as the eye can see and find another one.

The better way

The situation with problem-solving and innovation exactly the same. An innovator needs to think, but he needs to manage and direct his thoughts with the relevant instrument. Without any systematic approach and without creative thinking tools, the process often becomes an endless trial & error exercise.