Anisuzzaman Chowdhury is an experienced business leader who serves as chairman of Navana Pharmaceuticals, Anowara Construction Ltd and Gas One. This article will look at problem-solving, a critical capability for any entrepreneur.
Problem-solving enables teams to face challenges head-on, turning setbacks and obstacles into golden opportunities. By honing this skill, companies can enhance their decision-making, strategic thinking and overall edge in the market. Effective problem-solving also lays the foundations for a happier workplace, keeping employees motivated and encouraging teamwork, which in turn boosts staff morale and retention.
According to a report from the University of Cambridge, employers predict that 44% of their employees will have their skills disrupted over the next five years. As digitisation gains momentum, there is ever-increasing demand for cognitive skills related to problem-solving. According to a 2023 report by the World Economic Forum, analytical and creative thinking have risen to become the most important skills for modern workers. While AI continues to reshape the world of business, workers who are capable of thinking creatively and effectively identifying and tackling challenges are more valuable than ever before.
Every business is a work in progress. In terms of identifying and tackling business challenges, it is sensible to go back to basics. Business leaders should review existing processes, assessing what works and what does not. They should ask themselves two critical questions:
- Are there any inefficiencies or bottlenecks that need to be addressed?
- Are there any processes that could be revised or eliminated to reduce unnecessary steps, thereby increasing output while simultaneously driving down costs?
Once operational processes have been overhauled, employers should communicate with their team and the wider organisation, providing employees with opportunities to help resolve existing problems. Encouraging staff to seek out opportunities to improve processes empowers the workforce, motivating personnel to own and implement the improvement process.
Embedding organisational creativity and problem-solving skills starts with training and professional development. Take for example IBM, which has invested considerable resources in training its employees in Design Thinking, a framework utilised to develop innovative solutions in a human-centred way.
To support creativity, companies must develop a corporate culture characterised by psychological safety, collaboration, diversity and risk taking. When employees feel valued and supported as individuals, they are more likely to step up and be more creative with their ideas. Learning from setbacks and celebrating wins helps to not only boost company morale but also instil a proactive attitude towards tackling challenges, simultaneously developing a positive working environment along with strong employee engagement.
For business leaders seeking to enhance their problem-solving capabilities, there are several well-established frameworks. Root-cause analysis is a problem-solving approach that relies on concrete data to assess why a problem is occurring. Take for example several customers complaining that a shoe company’s footwear is not true to size. Where customer support seeks to rectify this simply by offering discount codes, they are merely treating the symptoms rather than addressing the root cause. With root-cause analysis, business leaders examine all factors, determining precisely what is causing the issue and putting it right.
Sometimes, the most effective way of fixing a problem is looking ahead to the desired outcome and working backwards from there. Introduced by Herbert A. Simon and Allen Newell, means-end analysis is a structured problem-solving approach that starts with identifying the end goal, then breaking down the overarching objective into smaller subgoals, determining the actions necessary to accomplish each step.
Effectively solving problems involves three basic steps: identifying the issue, determining its cause and implementing an effective solution to achieve the desired outcome. By honing its problem-solving skills, a business is better equipped to think creatively and spot potential solutions to high-pressure business problems.