Three Aspects of Preventing problems

Preventing problems is superior to fixing problems.

Due to fast-paced change, the exponential growth of information and continuous digital disruptions, opportunities and risks co-exist. Forward-looking organizations should manage them well and adapt to digital new normal for creating a winning digital dynamic. Risks are simply potential problems. Preventing the problem is more superior to fixing issues. It is supposed to be one of the main principles for problem management.


Preventing problems requires information technologies, people, processes, and systems to analyze and predict the possibility of a problem: This is particularly important for today’s dynamic digital business. Either preventing or solving problems requires business insight to predict the upcoming risks and help the business prevent potential problems. Technically, it’s about applying quality data to forecast what will happen in the business. You develop a predicting model based on the information you have. Often, the quality of your data defines the quality of your prediction. Know your information, then see what it predicts. It’s all in what you do with the information that ultimately matters. Thus, preventing problems, managing risks and enabling continuous improvement require the power of information, leadership support, integrate the data-based insight into the business processes for identifying, assessing, preventing, and resolving problems as well as reporting the success. Ideally, apply the real time analysis model to predict the potential risks and prevent or manage them smoothly.

Develop an open culture and embrace feedback-feedforward mechanism to prevent risks:  One of the biggest challenges in this complex digital world is the fact that we need different perspectives, different knowledge and different ways to solve a problem. To prevent risks or problem happening, it’s important to cultivate an open culture, ask for feedback from others on what they believer the problem to be, or be prepared to hear something you might not like or agree with. Feedback is the invaluable information which can improve future performance significantly. It’s also important to apply lessons learned from the past. Learn from the past problems or challenges along with encourage others to learn from the problems that have happened before. If we no longer make a reference about the past, then we are likely to repeat mistakes of the past. Sometimes, organizations seem lacking appreciation of cost savings in a problem that never happen due to the stiff organizational culture in conjunction with the lack of process improvement understanding or simply lack of leadership support. Thus, foresightful leadership and open culture plays a significant role in building a proactive problem prevention capability and developing the logical problem-solving scenario.

Setting digital principles, guidelines, and procedures for systematic problem prevention and management: There are unknown interactions and very high inner dynamics in business complexity. The digital principles are not some outdated cliche but provide a foundation for decision-making and problem-solving throughout the entire enterprise and inform how the business prevent or handle problems in the organizational hierarchy. Overcoming complications and managing complexity become one of the biggest challenges in business today. Logically, simplifying complicated things is an optimal choice for preventing problems or errors. Setting digital principle is not to manipulate “how,” but to build the quality standard, and help to shape the mindsets behind decision-making and problem-solving.

Preventing problems is superior to fixing problems. Problem-Solving Masters are those individuals or organizations who are equipped with digital mindsets, accumulate quality and updated information and knowledge, build a unique set of skills and capabilities to overcome changes and keep improving their problem-solving competency.

Posted in: Principle/Practice,Problem Solving