It is essential to be aware that problems do not happen because we are bad people, and problems occur to good and bad people alike. Sometimes, despite our best judgments and careful planning, problems still meet us in the most unexpected moments of life.

Here are some problem-solving ways:

Find the root cause.

Through my years of experience, I’ve found that the most challenging part of overcoming problems is finding out their root cause. In one of my job, if there was a defect, our team would be meeting up and discussing the root cause of the defects. I must admit, it can take time when you are deep-diving into the root cause, and one thing can lead to another. But if it is time-consuming for the team, sometimes we feel, “Hey, just select any root cause will do.”. But that should not be the quick-fix solution because you may not be addressing the actual root cause.

If you can discover the source of your problem, then you can fix it much more manageable. There are many areas to look for when trying to solve an issue. First, start asking questions. Asking questions like these can be a great way to figure out what you should do to solve your issues. Follow the clues and come up with the best solution for your problem.

One of the most popular root cause methods is asking “5 Whys” to understand what needs to be fixed to improve a situation. The 5 Whys method gets you deep into the root cause of a problem and helps you find a solution.

Keep your chin up.

Doing your best to keep your chin up in the face of adversity is essential, but it’s only a little thing. Sometimes the little things are tough to notice, which can lead to more significant problems later on.

Keeping your chin up is an important life skill, and it’s something we should all strive to do. But it can be challenging to maintain a positive attitude in the face of adversity. Sometimes we need a reminder that the little things are tough to notice because sometimes we get caught up in work and lose awareness of what’s happening around us.

Face the problem.

Once the problem is identified, face it head-on. The issue faced by many people is that they are too afraid of what others might think. Those who rise to the occasion and face their problems head-on, however, avoid negativity and overcome challenges. But those who choose to avoid problems may start to feel and think negatively. This is a common issue that many suffer from. Some may turn to harmful habits such as alcohol, drugs, and other self-destructive behaviors to avoid their problems.

Seek assistance.

Another powerful solution to problem-solving is to ask for help. The question of “should I ask for help” still seems to be a dilemma to many of us. However, it is an important question to consider which can lead us down the path of personal growth and professional development.

Some people might think that asking for help is a sign of weakness, but in reality, it’s the best way to get what you want out of life. We need to know when we are in a tough spot and need more support from others to find the answer or solution that will bring us closer to what we want.

Conclusion.

When faced with problems, it is difficult to know how to handle them, and it can be challenging to always see the good side of things. That is why you must try not to give up. If you can look at your problems as an opportunity, then there will be a solution waiting for you at the end of the tunnel.

The Process of Change in Business and Life

It’s what we think about what we want to change (our circumstances, our conditions, our environment, our future, our past, or perhaps nothing at all) that determines whether or not the change we seek will occur. It is the “why” of our desire for change that matters. When we have a strong enough “why”, change becomes inevitable. The “how” is secondary. To illustrate this point, I am going to tell you a true story. Once upon a time, there was a man who was selling encyclopedias by mail. He had a good product, and he had a reasonable price. And so, he had a pleased customer base. But then, he came up with the idea of selling his product by telephone. He thought it would be an excellent way to sell more books. And so, he experimented with this idea. And test he did! The results of his “experiment” were devastating. His sales went from 400 orders per month to 20 orders per month. Why? Because now, his customers had to pay for the cost of the call (at least they thought they did), and they had to pay for the postage cost for the book. In reality, of course, these expenses were being shouldered by him alone. But what was he to do?

He was running out of money and running out of ideas. So, what he did was he quit. But you know what? Quitting isn’t always the answer. Sometimes, when we run out of ideas or run out of money, the answer is “to quit.”. But not always. What else was he to do? Well, as it turns out, he did something else. You see, he’d been mailing his books with a real estate firm, and he realized his book mailings were going to a lot of the identical houses over and over. So, what he did was he formed a partnership with a real estate agent, and together, they started sending “double-book” offers. A double-book offer has an extra page containing a second, identical copy of one of his regular book sales pitches. The idea was, if the homeowner liked his book, he would respond to the double-book offer by ordering both the book and the second duplicate pitch. The results were spectacular! His sales went from 20 orders per month to over 3,000 orders per month! Why? Because now he had a much stronger “why” for his desire for change. You see, instead of thinking only about money, he began to think about all the other ways he could use that money to make his life better.

Change and Management

It is a perfect storm. By now, you can probably see that these two things – change and management – are intrinsically linked. Change is a fundamental part of how an organization works, and if a leader is to understand how their organization works, they must also understand change.

And the way a leader understands change is by leading it. The way a leader leads change is by directing it. If you think about it, this makes sense. After all, how a leader leads a situation is just as important (if not more important) than what the leader does when there is no situation. Think about it this way: Imagine a skydiver without a parachute. That person will soon die. But what if that person had a grand chute but forgot to deploy it? Would it not be equally as important (or even more so) for the skydiver to deploy his chute as it would be to avoid jumping out of the plane in the first place? The same thing is true of an organization. It is not enough for a leader to understand the situation – they must also understand how that situation can and should be changed. 

The book titled “Change is Good…You Go First” by Mac Anderson and Tom Feltenstein shares 21 ways to inspire change. In the context of change and management, one chapter that stood out for me was ‘Remove Barriers’. It mentions obstacles falling into one of four categories: (1) Outdated systems, (2) Outdated procedures, (3) Outdated people, and (4) A combination thereof. Sometimes, management wants to make changes, but you won’t go very far and fast if there are barriers to achieving these changes.

Effectiveness of Change

Change is necessary. It’s part of life. And the quality of our lives depends on our ability to embrace change and successfully ride its waves as they come. But not all changes are equal. Some changes are minor and unimportant. At the same time, some are major and important. Some change is evolutionary; it helps us grow into higher, more effective versions of ourselves. But some change is reactionary; it stops us from becoming the person we are trying to be. Sometimes this is good. Reactionary change can indicate that we are out of alignment or out of touch with our values and our true nature. But other times, this isn’t good. It can indicate that we have lost our way and need to go back to the drawing board. The most effective type of change is the evolutionary one.

The kind that moves us forward in a positive direction. The kind that enhances our lives rather than destroys them. Unfortunately, most change is reactionary, even if we don’t consciously recognize it as such. This is because we often resist change. After all, it forces us to confront our fears and our illusions. And facing our fears and our illusions can be painful. It causes anxiety and discomfort. That’s why most people resist change. They don’t consciously know that they are fighting it. But they are. You see, most people are controlled by their emotions, not by their logic. Change is an emotional process.

Conclusion

Change is a process. Sometimes it’s a gradual one, and sometimes it’s a drastic one. But it’s a process. And the process takes a lot of time, a lot of energy, and a lot of determination. So what are you waiting for?

But that’s not how change works at all. Change is a process. And the process of change is one in which we have some control. In other words, change is not something outside of us but something we do inside ourselves. Change is a result of our thinking and doing. And the first step towards embracing and riding the process of change is to understand what we are trying to change exactly. What is it that we want to change? Is it our circumstances? Our conditions? Our environment? Our future? Our past? Or perhaps it’s none of these things.

Types of changes

I believe there are only two types of changes in all of life; positive and negative. Positive changes make things better, and adverse changes make things worse. For example, getting older is a positive change because we get wiser, and losing a loved one is a negative change because we lose a part of our life. Let’s examine each of these types of changes in more detail and see how they apply to our personal and business lives.

Firstly, positive changes are those which make things better. If you are looking for an example of a positive change, think about the past 30-days. Despite the economy, there has been nothing but positive changes for my family and me. My health is better. My business is more profitable. The quality of our relationships is better. Our home is warmer and more inviting. OK, now let’s examine negative changes. These are changes that make things worse. When you think about the past 30-days, I’m sure you can quickly come up with examples of adverse changes in your life. Some of these changes may be big, and some of them may be small. But no matter how big or how small, every single one of them is a drag on your energy and resources. Negative changes often occur gradually. They creep up on us so subtly that most of the time, we aren’t even aware of them until they are well entrenched and tough to reverse. 

Changes Beyond Our Control

Sometimes in life, no matter how much we try to avoid it, something will still happen beyond our control. Maybe we are stuck with an annoying co-worker. Perhaps we are stuck with an irretrievably broken relationship. Maybe we will always be the odd man out in a group of friends. Maybe we will never marry the person we love. Perhaps we will never become wealthy. Maybe we will always be struggling to survive. The point is this: Life sometimes deals us unfair hands, and we end up with stuff we can’t do anything. The only thing we can do about these “unfair” events is to learn to cope with them as best we can. And the way we manage these kinds of situations is by making positive changes in our lives. Here are three ways we can do this:

First, we can change the way we think about the problem. In other words, we can begin to look at the situation as an “opportunity” instead of as a “burden.”

Next, we can change the way we feel about the problem. We can begin to see the problem as something we have some control over rather than something we have no control over.

And finally, we can change the way we act towards the problem. In other words, we can begin to deal with the situation so that it becomes a more negligible (and eventually non-existent) part of our lives.

Remember these three steps when you find yourself struggling to cope with some difficult situation in your life. Use them as a guide for initiating the process of change.

Causes of changes can be internal or external:

Internal causes: These are changes that occur within us due to our thinking and doing. They include our emotions, beliefs, desires, fears, values, vision, goals, dreams, plans, resolve, and so on. All of these are the stuff of which our lives are made. They are who we are, and they determine our success or failure. No matter what business problems we have or what challenges we face in life, these are the same problems we have to solve. If we don’t like or embrace these aspects of our being, we will fail no matter what external issues we try to solve.

External causes: These are changes that occur outside of us due to something happening to us (usually bad) or because of something happening in our environment. Events such as natural disasters, acts of God, man-made disasters, accidents, wars, economic recessions, droughts, floods, pestilence, fires, storms, or even, in today’s time, a pandemic. These events are not necessarily outside of our control but can negatively impact us if we let them. If we don’t take the proper actions to protect ourselves from these events, we can suffer losses that will be financially devastating, especially in business. External events can cause a loss of customers, income loss, physical location, or even bankruptcy.

What is needed in both cases (internal and external causes) is an alteration of our thinking and a change in our behavior. An alteration of our thinking occurs when we recognize that something is wrong and see things differently. We begin to see the problem as something we can solve instead of something that is necessarily beyond our control. This is crucial as to the mentioned steps in the previous point.

Conclusion

By understanding the types and causes of change, I hope this will better equip you in dealing with change. We will cover in the next post about the process of change.

Lean principles are timeless principles that can be used in any organization and any industry. They focus on the employee’s work experience, and they provide a framework to achieve continuous improvement. With this problem solving and continuous improvement skills, it is a sought out skill in the workplace.

Japanese engineer Taiichi Ohno introduced lean principles in the early 1900s. Since then, the principles have been applied to many industries and organizations with success stories reported worldwide.

After World War II, Toyota Motor Company became one of the first companies to adopt the Lean philosophy for their manufacturing processes. By doing so, they could reduce inventory by more than 85% and lower their costs by 60% while achieving increased quality levels of their products.

Lean Principle Mindset Theory Explained

The lean principle of problem solving is an easy-to-follow model that helps to improve the efficiency of any company or business. Specifically, it’s about continuous improvement, and it starts with identifying the problems and then solutions to them by implementing lean principles like value stream mapping, value analysis, error proofing, etc.

The lean principle of problem solving has its roots in Toyota’s production system, recognized as one of the most successful production systems in history.

Benefits of Lean Principle at the Workplace

The Lean Principle is based on the idea that there is no need for excess or waste, and that any steps that do not add value should be eliminated.

Although it was started in the manufacturing industry, the Lean Principle have been implemented into many different types of organizations. They have been used in healthcare, government agencies, and business to reduce costs and increase customer satisfaction.

Lean Principle have helped to create a more efficient workforce by eliminating wasted time while also improving products or services while still maintaining high standards of quality.

5 Ways to Develop a Lean Principle Mindset

Lean principle is a methodology used in the manufacturing industry to reduce waste and create value. The lean principle is essentially an idea that emphasizes both problem solving and continuous improvement.

There are five ways to develop a lean principle mindset in business:

1. Let go of perfection, or when that doesn’t happen, at least understand the reality. In any given process, there will be imperfections. In fact, some processes are not perfect; they are simply good enough. Lean principles are all about recognizing this reality. If you try to get everything right, you will fail. That’s just how it is. Instead, focus on being as close to perfect as possible, while at the same time creating value. Get out of the way: The most valuable people in your organization are those who are helping you create value.

2. Understand that there are no perfect solutions to problems, only temporary fixes. The first step towards developing a lean principle mindset is to understand that there are no perfect solutions to problems and that the best solution is often the simplest one. This is why lean principles are so powerful in business; they encourage continuous improvement, which is at the heart of lean principles.

3. Focus on the process rather than the outcome; avoid creating “what if” scenarios. “If only we had more time or money, we could solve this problem.” This is a classic case of “analysis paralysis.” Instead, focus on how you can make your current process more efficient or effective. You can also think about what you can do to improve the process. By focusing on the process, you eliminate “what if” scenarios. 

4. Create small experiments; keep them small, manageable, and cheap enough to run again if they fail. The most important thing is to try and keep your experiments small and manageable. Make sure you do not waste too much time on any one project, and do not try to do too many things at once. Run small experiments to see how your current production system works. By running small experiments, you are able to quickly repeat them if the first round doesn’t work. 

5. Do not wait for problems before solving them; instead, proactively identify potential issues before they arise. Be proactive and not reactive. Be prepared to do more than just react to problems. Rather, be proactive about how you plan to handle future issues or problems. Think about what could happen if you don’t address a problem. You may not be able to eliminate the problem, but you will be able to manage the negative effects of the problem. The only way to avoid problems is to make sure that you don’t have any.

3 Tools for Developing a Lean Principle Mindset

Lean principles are the pillars of lean thinking. They act as guiding principles that allow us to make decisions systematically and avoid waste.

In this article, we will explore three tools that can help you develop a lean principle mindset:

1. The 5 Whys – 5 Whys is a tool used by Toyota to develop the problem-solving process. The objective is to find the root cause of a problem and fix it.
2. Lean Culture Survey – This tool will help you identify some of your current strengths and weaknesses in your company’s lean culture. By doing this survey, you can also get a snapshot of where you stand to create a sustainable, low-waste culture.
3. Continuous Improvement Survey – This survey will help identify areas for improvement within your organization. This is effective when the survey is shared to the employees to be filled because they would be able to share insights on the areas for improvement.

Conclusion

Lean culture is difficult to explain without providing examples or case studies, but it can be illustrated with the following statement: “Quality means getting rid of waste.”

Problem Solving in the Business World

The business world is a place with constant problems, and to be successful, it is important for a business to be able to solve those problems. Some of the most common problems businesses deal with include schedule conflicts, product issues, management, peers, infrastructure, communication, and customers.

One of the major reasons that businesses often fail is because they are unable to solve these major problems. In order to avert this fate, there are a few things that need to be done in order to stay afloat. Perhaps the most important step is identifying the problems.

Various Problem Solving Processes

There are various problem solving processes that are available, and following the table below, it shows the approaches from a three step to eight step. The table represents excellent references in problem solving. Generally, there are three main steps to solving any problem: identifying the problem, brainstorming possible solutions, and implementing a solution. This is one of the easiest and simplest approaches to solving any problem or it can be most basic framework to the other approaches.

In my opinion, no matter what approach you take, the most important thing to solve a problem is having the right attitude through the entire problem solving process. Attitude is known to control our mindset in how we take on problems, which can be seen as either difficult or easy depending on the person’s level of optimism.

Problem solving is a difficult process, especially when dealing with more complex problems. It is important to approach problems with a positive attitude in order to resolve the problem in a timely and efficient manner. If you have a negative attitude, it will likely inhibit problem solving by creating unhappy coworkers and making the situation worse.

Negative Thinking and Problem Solving

Negative thinking has been shown to have impacts on physical, mental, and emotional health. A study found that people who were exposed to a negative event had a higher chance of developing stress-related symptoms such as fatigue, headaches, and difficulty sleeping. Negative thoughts can also lead to people feeling anxious about the future, which may cause them to put less effort into whatever they are doing, or may even distract them entirely from their goals.

Positive attitude is important for success. Career success, marriage success, and more are all reliant on positive attitude. In this case, it helps with the success for problem solving. Positive attitude can be attained by practicing positive thinking.

A positive attitude allows you to overcome roadblocks easily. You are better at focusing on finding solutions, don’t procrastinate, and avoiding unnecessary distractions to resolve the problem. A thought process that is encouraging and accepting of mistakes or setbacks is essential.

Problem Solving Approaches

Somehow, problem solving approaches reminds me of the ‘scientific method’ I taught my students in high school. This is a method of acquiring knowledge, in this case solving problems. There are many interpretations of the scientific method. Generally, it consists of:

1. Observation / Question. This is when you observe and question on something you are curious about.
2. Research the topic area. Understand the topic further.
3. Hypothesis. Make an educated guess of possible questions or scenarios.
4. Test with experiments. Test out the hypothesis to see the different outcomes.
5. Analyze data. Analyze the data collected from the experiments.
6. Report conclusions. From the data analyzed, report out which is the favourable results or action to be taken.

The following table represents different approaches to solving some common problems. I would suggest that you understand the different approaches, try them out and see which approach best fits you.

Finally, one of the most important aspects of problem solving is to remain positive. It can be difficult to stay positive in the midst of a storm, but it’s necessary. Historically, many highly successful people have been successful because they stayed positive even when things were going poorly.