#头条创作挑战赛#
"Problem-solving skills determine almost everything about us. ”
1
Annoyance is due to a lack of problem-solving skills
From a certain point of view, the reason why we have all kinds of troubles may be attributed to our lack of ability to solve certain problems.
The reason why we have interpersonal troubles may be because we are not able to deal with interpersonal relationships, the reason why we have pressure at work, it may be because our ability in a certain aspect of work is not enough to meet the requirements of our superiors, and the reason why we have financial pressure may be because our current ability to earn money is not enough to meet our material needs.
How big a problem can be solved, how much value will be created for the organization, how big the problem can be solved by an enterprise, how much value can be created for the society, the greater the value created, the greater the return!
The McKinsey Method: All Problems, Seven Steps to Solution
I have consulted a large number of books on problem analysis and resolution, such as "McKinsey Problem Analysis and Solving Skills" by Naotaka Takasugi, and "Thinking Techniques" and "100 Hours of Logical Thinking Lessons" by Kenichi Ohmae, trying to stand on the shoulders of giants and clarify the basic logic of problem solving and analysis for your reference.
2
What is the essence of the problem
Before solving a problem, we need to know what the essence of the problem is.
When your boss ruthlessly points out problems at your job, when your lover tells you that there is a problem in your relationship, when you find that you can't afford a down payment on a house, when you have a cold and fever, these are all problems!
When our superiors think that there is a problem with our work, it is because there is a gap between our work results and our expectations, when we cannot afford the down payment on the house, because there is a gap between our savings and the house price, when we have a cold and fever, it is because there is a gap between our "sick physiological state" and our expected "health state".
Therefore, the so-called "problem" is, in essence, the gap between the desired situation and the actual situation! Moreover, the greater the gap, the greater the severity of the problem!
3
All questions, but 3 categories
Since the essence of the problem is the gap between expectation and reality, all problems can be divided into three categories according to the relationship between expectation and reality:
The first type of problem: the reality is not as good as the desired situation, which we call the "restitution" problem.
Examples: Sales are down 10% from last year, employee turnover is up 5% from last year, and car engine failures.
The second type of problem is the problem that the desired situation is in line with the actual situation, but if the status quo is left alone, then the problem of undesirable state will occur in the future, which we call the "prevention of potential" problem.
Example: The device is still functional, but the parts are aging.
The third type of problem: the desired situation is beyond the actual situation, which we call the "idealistic type" problem.
For example, next year's sales will increase by 10%, employee work efficiency will increase by 10%, and the acceleration of 100 meters of vehicles will increase from 8 seconds to 6 seconds.
4
Six steps to problem solving
After understanding the essence of the problem and the three types of problems, let's sort out the steps to solve the problem.
- Step1: Find the problem
The origin of solving the problem is to be able to find the problem, and the earlier the problem is found, the more conducive it is to solve it.
- Step 2: Categorize the problem and clarify the solution strategy
Identify problem categories and adopt different resolution strategies.
- Step 3: Exhaust the reason
The causes of exhaustive problems using MECE thinking.
- Step 4: Determine the true cause
Using logical thinking to determine the true cause, only by understanding the essence can we have a purpose.
- Step 5: Improvement of analysis
Use the 5WHY analysis method to seek the most terminal improvement point.
- Step 6: Take action
Without implementation, everything is equal to empty talk.
Below, I will divide it into 6 chapters to explain the details of each step!
4.1
Use the "6 Questions" to identify problems early
The origin of solving problems is to find problems, and a person who does not have the ability to find problems is also likely to not be able to solve problems well.
As mentioned earlier, the essence of the problem is the gap between expectations and the status quo, and if we can detect this gap early, we can seize the best time to solve the problem when the severity of the problem is relatively less severe. Even we can use a series of clues and tools to predict the gap in advance, so that the gap will not be formed.
Therefore, the key to finding problems is to be sensitive enough to change, to be aware of the development of things at all times, and to grasp the whole picture of things with a longer-term vision.
Another point to note is that from the perspective of "problem solving", only problems that are within our power and responsibility can be solved.
So, how to find problems early, the book "McKinsey Problem Analysis and Solving Skills" lists 6 problems, you can try them:
- Is there a gap between the status quo and the desired situation?
- Has the status quo changed?
- Was there a part that wasn't going well?
- Is there something that falls short of the mark?
- Is there anything that wasn't what you were expecting?
- If left unattended, will there be significant undesirable conditions in the future?
4.2
Categorize the problem and determine the solution strategy
In Section 3, we mentioned that all problems fall into three categories, and that the strategies for solving each type of problem are different.
McKinsey Method: All questions, only 3 categories
Mini programs
The first type of problem: "restitution" problem, this type of problem solving strategy is to "grasp the actual situation", analyze the causes of the actual situation, and restore the situation.
For example, sales are down 10% compared to last year. The strategy is to fully understand the reasons for the decline (grasp the current situation), find out the reasons behind the discrepancies, and return the data to the expected level.
The second type of problem: "prevention of potential" problems. This kind of problem-solving strategy is to eliminate hidden dangers when the situation is not serious, and the core of problem solving lies in "trigger analysis" and "prevention".
Example: The device is still functional, but the parts are aging. The solution is to identify the possible causes of equipment aging and to carry out targeted prevention efforts.
The third type of problem: the "pursuit of ideal" problem. The strategy to solve this type of problem is to "set the desired goal" and "put it into action".
Example: Boost your company's sales next year. The solution strategy is to fully investigate the actual situation, determine a reasonable ideal goal, and formulate a specific action plan around the ideal goal.
4.3
Exhaustive causes of the problem using the "MECE Approach".
The essence of the problem is the gap between expectations and the status quo, so analyzing the root cause of the problem means figuring out the cause of the gap, that is, we need to find the problem behind the problem. Once we fail to identify the root cause of the problem, the solutions and action plans we adopt may be scratching the itch or even going the other way.
McKinsey's commonly used "MECE thinking method" is very practical when analyzing problems. MECE is an abbreviation for "Mutually Exclusive, Collectively Exhaustive", which means both Mutually Exclusive and Collectively Exhaustive, that is, the state of "no duplication and no omission" of each component after dismantling. For example, dividing human beings into men and women is MECE-compliant, but dividing human beings into men and adults is not MECE-compliant.
The MECE thinking method requires us to analyze the reasons behind the problem without repetition or omission, so that it is possible to find out the real cause.
For example, the sales performance of a region this month fell by 10% compared with the same period last year, and the analysis process is as follows:
The first step is to clarify the essence of the problem. The essence of the problem is that there is a gap between the status quo and expectations, so if the sales performance falls by 10%, the essence of the problem is to find the cause of the 10% decline and solve it.
The second step is to clarify the classification of the problem and the solution strategy. The decline in sales performance is a "return to the original type" problem, and the solution strategy is "grasp the status quo + find out the cause + solve the cause".
Step 3: Use MECE to exhaust possible causes. List all the reasons that can affect the sales performance, and try to ensure that there are no omissions and no duplication as much as possible, the possible reasons are:
- The price of the product is too high
- Poor product quality
- There are few sales outlets
- Salespeople are not skilled
- Insufficient salespeople
- There is little investment in the market terminal
- Lack of brand power
4.4
Use logical thinking to determine the true cause
To find the problem behind the problem, we need to have a strong logical thinking ability. The reason why most people do not have logical thinking ability is because we are always Xi to our inherent thinking patterns and use past experience to solve current or even future problems.
The most basic requirement of logic is to "state the claim and present the argument". When it comes to analyzing the root cause of a problem, when we ask that something might be the cause of the problem, we must examine our logic one by one and ask ourselves: Why does this fact lead to this conclusion?
If we believe that the price of the product is too high, then the following questions need to be answered:
- Is the price really high? What price does it compare to? Is it our price in the same period last year or is it the price of our competitors?
- If the price of a product is high, how does it affect performance? Is there data to show the correlation between price and sales performance? Can you find a linear relationship between the two?
- How much can the price be adjusted so that the sales performance can return to the level of the same period last year?
- Will the price reduction bring other adverse results?
- Price
Through this series of questions, it is deduced whether the price factor affects the sales performance. It is important to note that a very important aspect of logical thinking is to "respect the facts", for example, when we say that price affects sales, there must be enough representative data (such as the trend curve of price adjustment and sales performance in recent years) to prove this correlation, not just our intuition or experience. In addition, when using logical thinking, it is necessary to "do the right thing and not the right person", and not waste people because of words, nor can they waste words because of people. The "person" here refers not only to your subordinates and peers, but also to your superiors.
4.5
Use the 5WHY analysis method to find the improvement points
After identifying the true cause, we need to continue to explore the cause behind the cause, and only after finding the cause behind the cause can we find the point of improvement.
In order to find the reason behind the real cause, I recommend a well-known tool: the "5WHY Analysis". The "5WHY Analysis" comes from Toyota, which has a slogan: when you find a product defect, ask yourself at least five times "why".
Let's take a look at the "5WHY" analysis with examples.
Suppose we think that the product price is too high compared to the same period last year to cause the decline in sales performance, then ask a few WHYS:
1WHY: Why are our prices getting higher – because our costs have increased.
2WHY: Why are our costs increasing – because our raw material costs have increased.
3WHY: Why has the cost of our raw materials increased - because of the reduction in raw material production this year, the suppliers we cooperate with have collectively increased the price.
4WHY: Why suppliers can collectively increase the price of our suppliers - because our contract terms are not strict and we have no other alternative suppliers.
5WHY: Why we don't limit the price in the terms of our contract, why we don't have other alternative suppliers
……
With this series of WHYs, the problem of rising product prices boils down to the terms of the contract and the limited resources of the supplier, and the problem to be solved becomes very clear: improve the terms of the contract and develop alternative suppliers.
4.6
Take action
Without action, everything is tantamount to empty talk! All improvements can only be completed when they fall to the specific responsible person and the time node. In the action phase, the following five steps can be referred to:
- Morale mobilization: Once the improvement plan is determined, all relevant personnel need to be convened to boost morale, form a team, and create consistency.
- Inspection and tracking: Regularly check and track the achievement of goals to understand the progress of goal achievement, coordinate resource handling in a timely manner for exceptions, and make the progress controllable.
- Budget control: For projects that require resource input, it is also necessary to pay attention to the use of the budget in the process to ensure that the resources are invested within the budget.
- Horse racing incentive: that is, to carry out PK on the achievement of the goal. If the goal is exceeded, it is necessary to give incentives (incentives include material incentives and spiritual incentives), and if the goals are not completed, they need to be punished, and constantly create a team atmosphere that is better than learning to help others, activate the team, and empower the team.
- Summary and analysis: summarize and review the process and results of goal achievement, summarize successful experiences or shortcomings, and provide reference for the goal achievement of the next cycle.
Final Words:
Let's make a summary:
The essence of the problem must be that there is a gap between the status quo and expectations, so solving the problem is to solve the gap. All problems are divided into 3 categories, and we need to determine different solutions according to different types of problems.
SPECIFICALLY HOW TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM, WE RECOMMEND THE COMBINATION OF "MECE THINKING METHOD + LOGICAL THINKING + 5WHY".
MECE thinking is to determine the breadth of the possibility of causing a problem to ensure that there is no repetition or omission, and logical thinking is to determine which causes are the real causes and eliminate interference. The 5WHY analysis method is an in-depth reflection on each true cause to determine the reason behind the true cause.
The combination of "MECE thinking + logical thinking + 5WHY" can basically find the root cause and improvement point of all problems.
Of course, no matter how good the improvement measures are, if they are not implemented, everything is empty talk. Therefore, how to improve our execution and how to improve the execution of the team is also a problem that needs to be paid attention to.