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Six Simple Steps to Solve Any Problem Page 2


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Table of Contents

Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 4
STEP 1: Focus .............................................................................................................................. 5
STEP 2: Establish a Timeline ..................................................................................................... 6
STEP 3: Find the Root Cause ..................................................................................................... 7
STEP 4: Do Research................................................................................................................... 9
STEP 5: Find the Quickest Solution......................................................................................... 10
STEP 6: Do Scenarios ................................................................................................................ 11
Optional Steps ............................................................................................................................. 13



Six Simple Steps to Solve Any Problem Page 4
Introduction

As executive coaches who coach IT professionals and other business leaders and performers
who run into all kinds of problems, weve developed a six step approach to problem solving
that can be tailored from situation to situation.

These six steps really make a difference in how effectively people can get through, think
through, and work through a particular problem or challenge.

Kudos go to Gregg Baron of Success-Sciences, the creator of the original six step process. Gregg
is a Master Certified Coach (MCC), great mentor, and good friend. Our thanks to him for
teaching us his process and allowing us to share it in this program. (See www.success-
sciences.com and their compelling video on Moving the Needle.)

To Your Success,

Kantor Consulting Group
www.KantorConsultingGroup.com
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STEP 1: Focus

Step 1 is about preparing to focus your attention on the right things, so that your time is well
utilized and you get the most out of the limited time and resources available to you.

That comes down to getting very conscious about spending 80% of your time on solutions and
20% or less of your time assessing, quantifying, and defining the problem. If you do that up
front, then 20% or less of your total time should be spent on problem solving.

Once youve done the upfront work, you should be able to answer the question, Exactly what
problem am I trying to solve? When you can answer that question, youre really clear about
whats core and whats root.

The second part of Step 1 is to have success criteria, or the upfront work, right of the box that
gets you off to a high-leverage start. The question here is, What am I trying to solve and how
will I know when Ive solved it?

Those are the two primary components of Step 1:

Exactly what problem am I trying to solve?
What am I trying to solve and how will I know when Ive solved it?
Six Simple Steps to Solve Any Problem Page 6
STEP 2: Establish a Timeline

Step 2 is to establish a timeline for your project, once you have a general idea of how big and
how complex it is. If its a very big and highly complex project that includes time sensitivity, you
definitely want to set a deadline.

The deadline should include key mileposts to give you some indication of how much progress
youre making and that you're moving in the direction, where youre building confidence that
youll be able to solve the problem.

Whether the deadline is 24 hours, by the end of the quarter, or by the end of the year, know
that you will solve the problem. And build in mileposts, so that you can keep yourself moving
forward as you work through constraints.

Its useful to have time constraints if there is any hint of procrastination in your history,
because with that deadline you will move more steadily and with less issues and less anxiety if
you steadily chip away at it.

People report that when they set the timeline, the deadline and the intermediate mileposts
that they tend to get into it, in much the same way as dealing with writers block. You develop a
flow and become surprised at how much you can get done.

Step 2 is about time frames, deadlines, and the mileposts.
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STEP 3: Find the Root Cause

Step 3 is to take advantage of some simple tools, like the Fishbone technique or the five
Whys, to get to the root cause(s) of the problem.

Let me make sure I understand the problem more deeply and whats at the root cause.

Practice stepping into different perceptual positions and problem solve as someone else, such
as a customer, a consultant, an arbitrator, or any third party.

Instead of me just looking at it through my eyes, let me look at it through another persons
eyes.

By stepping into a different position to work a portion of the problem solving process as
someone else, youd be amazed what might come to mind that otherwise wouldnt occur to
you, if you approached it the way youve always approached it.

There are actually three approaches recommend in Step 3:

1. Work on the problem yourself.
2. Work on it from a different perceptual position.
3. Enroll someone else to actually play another role, if you dont have someone on your
team.

If its a family challenge, a question might be, Can you ask your spouse (or your kids, or a
brother, or somebody like that) to get involved? so that theres a sounding board in another
perspective.

If youre a member of an organization, Is there someone else on the team who could add
some value, bring a very different perspective and add something to spark creative, out-of-the-
box solutions? which is just coming at it from a different perspective.

And then, you can always invite your imaginary friends, if youre bold enough to utilize that
kind of stretch, and some people are.

Some people put together informal mastermind groups, which can be leveraged very well with
this approach. But the goal is to answer, Who can you enroll that will bring something fresh or
different?
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Asking the question Why? five or more times is a drilldown. It gets you to the place where you
cant get any further down in the discussion until you reach the core, questions like:

Why do we have to do it that way?
Why is it that that has to be that way?

Step 3 is to find the root cause.
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STEP 4: Do Research

Step 4 is doing a little research, and that means:

What models exist, either in your business or in other businesses, and potentially even outside
of your industry, that essentially solve the problem youre trying to solve?

This approach also applies if youre a for-profit business looking at non-profits.

Then exploit the essence of that and do whatever customization you need to have that model
or that solution fit your world and the specifics. When you do that, simply look at:

Whats similar?
Whats not similar?
How did they do it?
What worked?
What didnt work?
What can be adapted?

Thats another way to get into a solution space and not spending so much time on, Aint it
awful? Weve got a problem.

Step 4 is about doing the research.
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STEP 5: Find the Quickest Solution

Step 5 is asking yourself, Whats the quickest way for us to solve this problem and whats
there? particularly after youve done the upfront work of defining and setting a success
criteria.

I recommend sometimes doing this with a tape recorder to capture your spontaneous, top-of-
mind thoughts.

Whats the quickest way to solve the problem?
Whats the lowest risk way to solve the problem?
Whats potentially the highest quality way to solve the problem?

Ask any other appropriate questions that might come to mind that are about top-of-mind
solutions.

Once these things are marinating a little bit inside your head, youd be surprised how much is
there that just isnt being extracted.

You can also do some free association by asking as you're thinking about it, What comes top-
of-mind when I say that?

Step 5 is to find the quickest solution.

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STEP 6: Do Scenarios

Step 6 is to do scenarios. Scenarios come after:

Youve defined exactly what problem youre solving
You've structured a success criteria
Youve done a little bit of root cause thinking
Youve done a little bit of looking at how other people or businesses have solved this
problem

Now you go to, Okay, lets at least create a couple of scenarios that we can look at. You set
those up and compare them against your success criteria.

Now you say, Here are at least three possibilities, or maybe five, but you dont want to just
stick with one. You want to do multiple scenarios, evaluate them against your success criteria,
and then you can get into eliminating the ones that clearly fit the criteria least well or you
discover wont work, as you get into that drilldown.

Its always healthy to ask, What are the potential, unintended consequences of a particular
solution? Its also a healthy step.

After essentially going through that scenario analysis against the criteria, its time to choose
and make a decision. Its also very healthy to remember that deciding not to decide or deciding
not to take action is a decision.
The scenarios are basically possible action plans based upon the prior five steps:

What are the possible action steps that, if executed, would lead to the highest probability of
getting you the best solution, based on the criteria that you set up?

In your success criteria there are some have-tos and some non-negotiables. And then there are
some things that ideally would also do XY&Z. Once you run through multiple scenarios, you can
eliminate some right away.

Then when youve narrowed those down, you can get into some mix and match, and what
about this and what about that, and decide whats most important about the probabilities of
what those solutions are going to yield you.

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Some might have lower risks but higher return. Others may be sure solutions but not as
comprehensive. Some will have higher price tags associated with them.

But now were into refinement and nuance, as opposed to where you started, which is, How
the heck are we going to deal with this?

Step 6 is to play out different scenarios.

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Optional Steps

Theres an optional piece, depending upon what the relationship is and where you are in the
process. Typically, in a discussion about solving a problem, theres a level of stress that gets in
the way of your ability to solve the problem.

Some of the optional steps, or optional coaching, is about how do you, as an individual, manage
your focus and emotion, also known as managing your state, so that you can be in the best
position with the clearest thinking and the most creativity to bring the best potential solution
to the table?

Managing your state is being conscious of where your mind goes; for example, if you start
asking yourself questions like, How are we going to get through this?

Or making statements to yourself like, This is probably going to put us under, or, Theres no
way in hell we can survive this.

Those thoughts manage your focus into a direction that doesnt lead to optimal creativity and
clear thinking, and youre not utilizing the resources available to you because of the stress that
youre not managing.

The suggestion is to edit and filter out the negative questions and statements that you put in
your mind and replace them with better questions like:
Whats one of the possibilities that out of this situation, that might actually turn out to
be a blessing in disguise?
What can I do next to improve the situation? Whats the very next thing that I can do?

This is about managing your focus through the multiple steps to solve a significant problem.

You always want to know what you want to do next. But just the ability to step back and be in
an optimal position for clear thinking, creativity, and maybe even the ability to be persuasive
and invite in secondary resources to support you becomes less probable if youre incredibly
negative, if you are defeatist, if you are going into panic mode. All of that is no good.

Asking, Whats potentially great about this? versus Whats not perfect about this yet? has
the potential for becoming even better on the other side of the challenge.

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Clear thoughts like, Let me be clear about what am I willing to do in order to solve this
problem, is an interesting question to get out of the way.

What am I willing to invest?
How much time am I willing to put into this?
What am I willing to give up or stop doing to make the situation better?
It also helps you manage your state and creates more clarity about where the solution
space is.

Ask yourself:

How can I enjoy this process?
How can I take the energy thats in the challenge and make it excitement and make it a
game, make it something Im going to be incredibly proud of, as opposed to just letting
it suck me down into a black hole of negativity?

See a challenge as the opportunity that it is, rather than as a problem. Its looking for that
opportunity side, for what could be great about it, for how good youre going to feel on the
other side of working through it that will add to your actual ability to have clear thinking, the
innovations, and the creativity to do it.



If you would like more help in solving a problem, please contact me at 845-418-2839 or
http://www.kantorconsultinggroup.com/askbob/