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2 Common Mistakes In Problem-Solving
In last week’s blog, we discussed how to identify problems in a process. Today I want to share with you a couple of mistakes I see people do in problem identification and how you can avoid them.
Mistake #1: Identifying problems as the root cause
People tend to mistakenly identify the root cause of the problem as the problem itself. For example, they’ll say the problem is an employee wasn’t trained. That’s not actually the problem but more of its root cause. The employee’s lack of training resulted in problems such as duplication of work or wasted inventory.
Mistake #2: Naming the solution as the problem
Another common error is seeing the solution or the countermeasure as the problem. In working with teams doing process improvement, it’s common for them to say that the problem is they don’t have this particular system, for example, a CRM. In naming problems, it’s important to keep in mind that the lack of something is not a problem. That’s more of a countermeasure.
What happens is our mind tends to lump all of them — the root cause, the result, and the solution — together as problems.
