The Role of Problem-Solving in Business

Problems aren't roadblocks. They're invitations. An invitation to innovate. To rethink. To leap. The difference between stuck and unstoppable? It's not the challenge. It's you. Your lens. Your toolkit. Your willingness to dance with the difficulty. As a tech leader, your ability to solve complex issues can make or break your career. I've led teams across continents, industries, and crises. Here's what I've learned: 𝟭. 𝗥𝗼𝗼𝘁 𝗖𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗔𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘆𝘀𝗶𝘀 Peel back the layers. Ask "Why?" repeatedly. You're not fixing a leak; you're redesigning the plumbing. 𝟮. 𝗦𝗪𝗢𝗧 𝗔𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘆𝘀𝗶𝘀 Map your battlefield. Know your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Sun Tzu would approve. 𝟯. 𝗠𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗠𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴 Visualize the chaos. Connect the dots. Your brain on paper, minus the mess. 𝟰. 𝗦𝗰𝗲𝗻𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗼 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 Prepare for multiple futures. Be the chess player who sees ten moves ahead. 𝟱. 𝗦𝗶𝘅 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗛𝗮𝘁𝘀 Wear different perspectives. Be the critic, the optimist, the data analyst, the artist, the operator. Your mind is pliable; use it. 𝙒𝙝𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙢𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙨: - 76% of IT leaders rank problem-solving as the top soft skill (Global Knowledge) - Strong problem-solvers are 3.5x more likely to hit strategic goals (Harvard Business Review) - 70% of problem-solving pros drive more innovation (PwC) These aren't just methods. They're mindsets. Tools to reshape your thinking. I've used these to navigate multi-million-dollar projects and multinational teams. They work. Period. But the real differentiator: consistency. Use these daily. Make them habits. Your problem-solving muscle grows with every rep. Start now. Pick one method. Apply it to a current challenge. Share your results. The best tech leaders aren't born. They're forged in the fires of solving complex problems. What will you solve today?

#1 skill companies hire McKinsey alumni for? Structured problem solving. Why? Because people who turn ambiguity into action and chaos into clarity are the most scarce, valuable assets. Here's the 3-step system McKinsey consultants use to tackle any business challenge: 1️⃣ Define the Problem - Clarify exactly what needs solving - Create a SMART problem statement - Identify key stakeholders and success criteria - Set clear constraints and deliverables 2️⃣ Decompose the Problem - Break down complex issues into manageable parts - Use issue trees to map relationships - Ask "how might we" questions to spark solutions - Find the root causes, not just symptoms 3️⃣ Prioritize Issues - Rank challenges based on key criteria (e.g., impact, feasibility) - Focus energy where it matters most - Make data-driven decisions about where to start - Avoid the trap of trying to solve everything at once This methodical approach is what separates strategic problem-solvers that senior leaders trust. Not magic. Not genius. Just process. And the best part? You can master this methodology too. Start with clear problem definition. Move to logical decomposition. Finish with structured prioritization. Most business problems don't need genius solutions. They need good-enough answers that create progress. Some action is almost always better than paralysis. What complex challenge can you apply this to today? ♻️ Find this valuable? Repost to help others. Follow me for posts on leadership, learning, and excellence. 📌 Want free PDFs of this and my top cheat sheets? You can find them here: https://lnkd.in/g2t-cU8P Hi 👋 I'm Vince, CEO of Sparkwise. I help orgs scale excellence at a fraction of the cost by automating live group learning, practice, and application. Check out our topic library: https://lnkd.in/gKbXp_Av

The reaction to my post "Some of My Learnings" https://lnkd.in/g7pS3JX6 was far more positive than I had expected. Many of you commented that you would like to see a more detailed explanation of each of the learnings. So I will try to have a post for each of the learnings for those who are interested. Glad so many of you found the post useful. Thanks again. Ok, here goes the first one. *** Learning #1: Pick the right problem to solve. Make sure they are hard problems worth solving. It turns out that picking the right problem to solve is one of the most important inputs for a business. The quality of the problems we pick to solve is directly proportionate to the probability of success of the outcome. This is super counter-intuitive. Because we might think that easy problems are easier to get successful with. But the reality is that solutions to easy problems can be replicated by others quickly. And hard and important problems typically attract the best people towards the mission. Now we all know that Business is a team sport. The caliber of people we attract on a team is a great predictor of success. The reality is that if we want durable differentiation in a business, we must focus on solving hard problems that are deemed important to the buyer. So the million-dollar question is "HOW" do we pick the hard, important problems to solve? Consider these three things: 1) Pick Problems Where You Have Instinct: Go after problem spaces that the team has primary instinct and a deep understanding of. If not a deep understanding, make sure at the very least that the team has an unnatural curiosity in the problem space. This instinct is important because it will help you answer some fundamental questions with a relatively high degree of certainty, such as: - Q1: Is this an acute enough problem? Basically is it a "nice to have (Vitamin)" or is it a "must have (Painkiller)"? It is much better to be in the business of selling painkillers versus vitamins. - Q2: Would people pay money to solve this problem? Would it be on the top of their priority list to solve for? - Q3: If this problem was solved elegantly, would it bring delight to the buyer? In other words, is there an emotional appeal to the possibility of solving this problem? 2) Pick Problems Where You Bring a Unique Perspective on the Solution: We should only build products for important problem spaces where if we didn't build them, no one else would build it quite as effectively. 3) Pick Problems Where Your Solutions Help Your Customers Either Neutralize, Differentiate or Optimize: Geoffrey Moore has a great framework. Pick problems where the solutions either help customers neutralize a deficit fast, differentiate meaningfully or optimize deeply. Regardless of these tips, know that picking hard problems is more art than science. It requires judgement. It requires instinct. It requires a point of view that is informed. But picking the right problem to solve is a pre-requisite for success.

Why do so many business leaders spend so much time treating symptoms rather than addressing their real problems? ·       Symptoms are often the most visible and pressing issues, e.g., sales are down, or customer complaints are rising. ·       Treating symptoms can feel easier and faster. ·       Sometimes, leaders misinterpret the symptoms, leading them to address the wrong issue altogether. ·       Addressing real problems often require significant changes to processes, systems, or even organizational culture. ·       Many leaders prioritize short-term gains over long-term solutions. Here’s why it’s so important to go beyond the symptoms and fix the real problem. ·       Without addressing the root cause, the same problems are likely to reappear. ·       Unaddressed real problems worsen over time, leading to more significant issues and higher costs in the long run. ·       Employees will become frustrated if they constantly must deal with the same recurring problems, leading to decreased morale and productivity. What’s the best way to avoid this trap? Develop a culture of inquiry. Leaders must encourage employees to ask "why" and to look beyond the surface of problems. Leaders must be willing to make changes to processes, systems, and culture to address root problems. Leaders must prioritize solutions that prevent problems from recurring, even if they require more time and investment upfront. It’s worth it! https://lnkd.in/gYyxBZDW #businesschallenges #rootcauseanalysis #problemsolving

I was asked by a product manager this morning, "What's the most effective way to get teams to slow down and really articulate the problems they are solving?" We were talking about trends in product management and the potential affect of more widespread use of more capable AI in creating products. The trend I am optimistic about is an increasing emphasis in the upfront work at choosing the problems to solve. Here's how I answered her question (rewritten and expanded for this post). The important skill teams need to develop - and most product people and leaders struggle with this today - is to identify and properly frame the problem to be solved. From the very top of the organization this may be the most important thing to do. Richard Rumelt wrote two great books to help people get better at this at a strategic level, Good Strategy / Bad Strategy and The Crux. Within the context of the company's strategy you develop product strategies - identifying the customers for whom you will solve problems and the problems you will solve for those customers. At the portfolio level, we are always considering more potential investments than we have capacity to execute. Recently I worked with a client who engaged with me with the challenge "We need to know where to invest next." This client had a ton of potential investments - and with some targeted work to restructure their market and customer insights we were able to reframe and articulate the problems clearly; enabling the leadership team to more confidently set a clear direction for their organization. Operationally, larger organizations get hamstrung at the intake stage of the process. An overwhelming flood of ill-structured and unstructured requests to "solve problems" where the nature of the problems is vague or only implied by a request to build a feature or capability or offering. The root cause of a host of problems within a large organization - from failing to meet commitments to underwhelming results post-launch is a failure to effectively frame the decisions about what work to do and what it means to do the work. Alford & Head wrote about effective ways to address wicked problems - including a reference to K.E. Weick, "recognising positive gains from various attempts to improve the situation, including incremental changes and ‘small wins’" - and that's where I would start. Injecting well structured problem statements (https://lnkd.in/g8nhGzrg) into the intake and prioritization processes creates a nudge of shifting the conversation away from influence-by-individual and towards benefit-to-the-company.  This 'small win' has broader operational ramifications https://lnkd.in/g-upBwhV. At the team level, we add additional supporting elements to shift the orientation from outputs to outcomes - but I've reached the LI character limit for this post so I'll stop here for now. #productmanagement #productops

𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗔𝗥𝗘 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗖𝗛𝗜𝗘𝗙 𝗣𝗥𝗢𝗕𝗟𝗘𝗠 𝗦𝗢𝗟𝗩𝗘𝗥 Cross off whatever title you have on your business card, and write Chief Problem Solver. A study was done several years ago on who gets paid more and rises quickly up the organization chart. Several critical elements got people to the top. The one element that only a few people had stood out was the ability to solve problems logically. So, when researchers asked the small number of people who were good at solving problems their secret, they all said: "I have a process I follow each time." Harvard did a similar study and found that executives with a process or approach to solving problems are given the best opportunities because they are logical, and the problems would get solved. Here are seven (7) steps to effective problem-solving you can use and apply: 𝟭. 𝗜𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗳𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺 ↳ Clearly define the problem you are trying to solve. ↳ Ask questions like: What exactly is the issue? What are the symptoms? ↳ Why is it a problem? 𝟮. 𝗕𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗸 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺 𝗗𝗼𝘄𝗻 ↳ Analyze the problem to uncover its root cause rather than addressing surface symptoms ↳ Collect data, facts, and input from those involved or affected. ↳ Understand the context, constraints, and underlying causes. 𝟯. 𝗕𝗲 𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 - 𝗚𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗣𝗼𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗦𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 ↳ Brainstorm possible solutions without evaluating them immediately. ↳ Involve team members or stakeholders with diverse perspectives. ↳ Aim for creativity and quantity. 𝟰. 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗮𝘀𝘁 ↳ How did we tackle this before? ↳ What did we wish we had done on other problems that we should do here? 𝟱. 𝗟𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗻/𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗲 ↳ What do others know that can help us? ↳ Who are we not talking to but should? ↳ Are we keeping people updated? 𝟲. 𝗘𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗦𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗕𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗦𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 ↳ Assess each solution based on feasibility, cost, risks, and alignment with goals. ↳ Use criteria like pros/cons, impact, and implementation ease. 𝟳. 𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 ↳ Create an action plan, including clear steps, responsibilities, and timelines. ↳ Communicate the plan to everyone involved and gather necessary resources. ↳ Start small, pilot the solution, and monitor. ↳ Review and Reflect - Assess the outcomes of the implemented solution. ↳ Use feedback and lessons learned to improve future problem-solving processes. Your partner in success, Joe Murphy ♻️ Cool to repost ________________ CREATING LEADERS AT ALL LEVELS Over 600 leadership classes | Over 30,000 leadership attendees | 99.99% Good to Great Rating | Increased Engagement 27% Plus _________________ 📽 New leadership training videos released Mon-Fri at 5 PM ET 🔔 For new leadership articles, tap the bell on my profile #LeadersatAllLevels #highachievers #TheLeadershipAcademy infographic: agrassoblog.org