As we grow and go about life, we encounter different issues. These issues present themselves as opportunities or problems, and our responses to them determine the outcome we get: success or failure. Every executive will encounter many regrets and will also have many wins. These are either because we took advantage of our opportunities or missed them. It can also be because we solved problems or allowed them. The more problems we solve and the more opportunities we take advantage of, the more successes we have. On the other hand, Failures occur primarily because we are unable to solve the problems around us or take advantage of our opportunities. Executives, therefore, need to focus on problem-solving and learn the ART. These attributes add value to executives and make them valuable to their organisations.
The Analysis of Business Problems (ABP) course at the LBS is one practical guide for problem-solving I have encountered. It puts a method to problem-solving and provides a structured approach to making decisions. Learning through the different cases treated in class, I realised that executives must focus on the problem statement. There is a high tendency to react to symptoms instead of the cause of a problem. Therefore, we must develop the ability to make good and informed judgments. A typical analogy is trying to make a bleeding patient stop crying instead of stopping the bleeding. Every effort put into making him stop crying creates more problems as the patient will lose more blood over time, become anaemic and may die. This then becomes a bigger problem. An executive is liable to fall into a similar trap and make such an approach to problems if the problem statement is not well defined. Such could become fatal to the organisation.
The problem statement must align with the organisation’s overall objective in all cases. In the case of the bleeding patient, the biggest objective should always be staying alive, and all efforts should be directed at the goal only during such a crisis. I realised that for all cases treated in class, the company’s bottom line drives the narratives while defining the problem statement. The bottom line determines whether an organisation will remain a going concern. An organisation that is not making a profit may eventually die.
Having defined the problem, the most critical aspect is providing the solution, which must always align with the organisation’s corporate objective. You must be focused and continue to ask questions until the answers provide a reasonable action plan or activity that will solve the problem. In several instances, there is more than one way to provide the solution. It would be best if you questioned all the assumptions and reason through all the logic and should be able to think in an orderly manner. The SWOT analysis is an excellent tool to deploy when solving problems. This may include data analysis. Data analysis may be used to predict the bottom line, the impact of a decision on the gains or losses of the organisation, or the contribution a product or a line is making to the whole organisation, among others. Ultimately, the outcome will ensure the business remains a going concern.
The ABP facilitators took their time to take us through the process and this ART of problem-solving.
I am grateful for the opportunity the ABP class gave me. It has sharpened my skill of finding the root cause, what the issues are and what should be the focus. It is not an elaborate process all the time as they apply to simple everyday decision-making.
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