Dealing With Problems

Problems are a part of life and business. If we approach them as challenges and include creativity, we are very close to finding out a solution. There are many techniques business people use to generate creative solutions and ensure greater commitment to their implementation. You probably use some of these in your daily practice and here we will introduce you to an increasingly popular method called “Six Thinking Hats”. The choice of a problem solving tool depends on the kind of problem you encounter.

If you encounter a problem of low customer satisfaction and want to come to the root of the problem, the best tool to use would be fishbone analysis. In this process you create a diagram of the problem in which bones represent areas that might have caused the problem: your product, delivery, customer service you offer, employees… Within these areas, you can look for causes which will lead you to begin the process of finding solutions.

In the times of crisis or when you simply want to see how your business can develop in the future, the best choice would be to apply SWOT analysis or analysis of ‘strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats’. By looking at challenges facing your organization or a product, you can identify problems and prepare for dealing with them efficiently. At the same time, you can build on your strengths and develop the opportunities which are offered.

A technique which could be more widely applied when being faced with any problem is Pareto analysis. In this tool, possible solutions to a problem are prioritized by scoring them using an appropriate method. Focusing on the solution that gets the most points can help you to develop an action plan to solve the problem. Similar to this is a cost-benefit analysis: a way of evaluating proposed solutions by scoring the arguments (forces) for and against them. This may end in rejecting the solution that scored the least points and turn our attention to more viable solutions.

Six thinking hats is a powerful problem-solving tool which enables you to look at important decisions from a number of different perspectives. It was developed by Edward de Bono in his book ‘6 thinking hats’. We tend to think that adopting a positive and rational viewpoint of the problem will automatically lead to a solution. However, if we do not look at a problem from an emotional, intuitive, creative or negative viewpoint, we will encounter resistance to plans, fail to make creative suggestions and not make essential strategic plans.

By using the ‘Six Thinking Hats’ technique, you will solve a problem using all approaches. White hat will take an objective perspective by focusing on facts; red hat will follow the intuition and emotional feeling while the black hat position will bring in a negative perspective and thinking of the things that might go wrong. Unlike that, a yellow hat will maintain a positive view. Wearing a green hat will ensure creative inputs of all kind. Wearing a blue hat will focus on the procedure necessary to reach a decision and allow all perspectives to be heard and taken into account without getting overwhelmed.

It is important to emphasize that each hat represents a different style of thinking, not a person. In order to find the best solution, each person should be able to wear all six hats.