Almost everyone was told growing up, once you find the problem, it is then easy to find a solution. True to an extent, however when it comes to dealing with Business Problems, there are no black and white or yes or no problems. There are rather questions/problems that require you to sit and think through them.
No wonder effective decision-making is a function of critical thinking. Business Problems are a series of everyday events in businesses and/or firms that need long-lasting solutions. They range from knowing how & when to expand, what to advertise, the level to which advertisement expenses should be increased, how to increase sales and how to compete for a higher market share amongst others.
In some cases, finding the right answers or solutions to be them might be difference between building sustainable institutions or not. It means they sometimes pose hard like rocket science. To better understand this and to better be in a informed position about Solving Business problems, we would briefly consider the eight (8) steps below:
First is, Understanding the situation and/or context of the problem at hand. To solve any business problem effectively, the situation must be looked at within context. Here is what this means, that company A had a similar problem in 2018 and solved it in a certain way doesn’t mean company B can lift the same solution they used. Context differs and, what drives performance across firms also differs. To better understand context, we might need to ask the what, why, how, when and where questions. Asking all of these questions helps to provide insights to any given problem.
Second is narrowing down the problem into a statement or two at most. Usually when problems arise, we tend to look at the whole situation as the problem. The underlying truth is, in every situation there would be a boarder line cause of a problem i.e. an action that has caused a reaction. Being able to point this down in simple words or sentences is a great way to start an attempt at solving problems.
Third is, Creating Alternatives to the problem. This involves asking what success would look like when the problem is solved. This looks at what we aim to achieve and we are required here to make alternatives of what the possible solutions might be.
Fourth is, Developing criterion based on which to assess each of the alternatives. Assuming there are three alternatives, developing the criterion to assess each alternative requires weighing the alternatives to know which best offers a higher benefit analysis against cost.
Fifth is, Making a decision based on the assessed alternatives. And Lastly, Developing an action plan. After a decision has been made, actions must them follow to effect the proposed alternatives/solutions.
While the list above is inexhaustive, it is useful in serving as a guide to solving business problems. Different schools of thought have overtime stated different approaches to solving business problems, however the steps listed have personally proven to be helpful.
