 | #74 Leadership Series - Complex Problem Solvingposted by LSF Guest, Premium MembershipMonday, August 30th 2010 @ 4:12 PM |
How you think about a problem is more important than the problem itself - so always think positively. For every failure, there's an alternative course of action. You just have to find it. When you come to a roadblock, take a detour.
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Problem solving and decision-making are critcial for business and personal life and pleased to mention that there are processes and techniques to improve decision-making and the quality of your decisions. Decision-making is more easy and natural to certain people with suitable personalities, so these people should focus more on improving the quality of their decisions. People who are less natural decision-makers are often able to make quality assessments, but then need to be more decisive in acting upon the assessments made.
So here is a simple decision making process to follow:
- Define and clarify the issue - does it warrant action? If so, how? Is the matter urgent, important or both.
- Gather all the facts and understand their causes.
- Think about or brainstorm possible options and solutions.
- Consider and compare the pros and cons of each option - consult if necessary - it probably will be
- Select the best option - avoid vagueness or 'foot in both camps' compromise.
- Explain your decision to those involved and affected, and follow up to ensure proper and effective implementation.
There is of course another method to consider:
PROS and CONS decision-making method
Another simple process for decision-making is the pros and cons list as some decisions are a simply a matter of whether to make a change or not (eg. buying something, selling something, replacing something, etc). Secondly, you will find that writing things down in this way will help you to see things more clearly, become more objective and detached, which will help you to make clearer decisions.
- Get a separate sheet for each identified option you are considering.
- For each option, write out the headings 'pros' and 'cons'
- Write down as many impacts and benefits for each option..
- You may want to weight each factor, by using a range of 1-3 where 1=minor significance, 3-extremely significant
- Put together your scores for each option.
- These stats will provide a reflection and indication as to the overall attractiveness and benefit of the option concerned. - points difference between pros and cons - for each option. The biggest positive difference between pros and cons is the most attractive option.
N.B. If you don't like the answer that the decision-making sheet(s) reflect back to you, it means you haven't included all the cons - especially the emotional ones, or you haven't scored the factors consistently, so re-visit the sheet(s) concerned.
Finally, if you need any encouragement about taking decisions, here are some nice quotes for you:
"We know what happens to people who stay in the middle of the road. They get run down." (Aneurin Bevan)
"In any moment of decision the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing." (attributed to Theodore Roosevelt - more maxims on the quotes page)
JFDI - Just Frigging Do it (polite version). The decision-maker's motto.
