The Monthly “Problem-Solving Master” Book Tuning: The “Heart” of Problem Jan. 2020

Trying to fix the wrong cause of a problem will waste time and resources, increase anxiety and even cause chaos.

The purpose of “Problem-Solving Master - Frame Problems Systematically and Solve Problems Creatively“ is to throw some light on how to understand, frame, and solve today’s multilayer, interdependent, and over-complex business problems effortlessly. Digital leaders and professionals should self-aware of their role in problems, show professional maturity, and develop a good reputation as the problem-solver.

        

The “Heart” of Problem

Discover What is at the Heart of the Problem We live in the world with all sorts of problems, even though we understand all different forms of thinking, the problems facing the planet don't seem to be reducing. Many problems exist because they are either ill-defined or the concept cannot be adequately captured contextually. Trying to fix the wrong cause of a problem will waste time and resources, increase anxiety and even cause chaos. Therefore, the deeper you understand the problem, the easier you could frame the problem, and the better chance you could solve it effectively. But more specifically, how to discover what is the heart of the problem?

Have You Focused on Fixing the Wrong Cause of a Problem? As a human species, we are still facing many problems and challenges. Either for individuals, organizations, or society as a whole, the problem-solving capability is crucial to surviving and thriving. However, many decision-makers fail to fully grasp and accurately perceive what leads to problems and difficulties. Often, events and patterns are observed on the surface, and then the action is taken, but that is too early. After observing events and patterns, there are the underlying structures, the mechanisms, that cause the problem. And people who lack critical thinking usually never question because "it's the way things should be." Problem-solving in the majority of organizations today is woefully inadequate, so what happens when you focus on fixing the wrong cause of problems?

See Things Underneath and Around Corners? Due to the faster pace of changes, overwhelming growth of information, and “VUCA” digital new normal, today’s business world is sophisticated from many perspectives. Systems Thinking is the ability to navigate levels of abstraction or logic as an essential thinking skill, helps people see the interconnected relationship between the parts and the whole, see things underneath and around the corner, be sensitive to the emergent factors, and take the balanced view of digital flow.

Are you Part of Problems or Part of Solutions Businesses and the world as a whole become over-complex with the increasing speed of changes. Some say the lack of problem-solvers is a problem for this world, more specifically, can you define the right problems, and solving them in the right way? From business management perspectives, some organizations waste much time and tens of thousands of dollars reacting to problems/challenges, but never really solving anything only creating more problems. So as digital leaders or professionals, what’s your reflection-Are you part of problems or part of solutions?

How to OBSERVE Insightfully and Systematically Of the four phases of the OODA loop (Observe, Orient, Decide, Act), the first phase seems to get the least attention. The first thing in problem-solving via Systems Thinking is that one should observe the problem neutrally. On-observation, how critical is it, and what’re the disciplines, stages, tools or frameworks to help you OBSERVE insight-fully? If you have decision platforms; tactics and checklists for acts; model systems for orientation. What if any of them are the support tools you use in observation, and what practices have you found useful in developing that skill?

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Posted in: Problem Solving,Sum UP