As I stated in a previous post, we all meet problems in our lives. It is inevitable.
What differentiates us from one another is how we react to those problems. And how to solve them.
Our reaction will depend very much on our personality, our experience, our education, our mood, etc.
I believe problems are there to make you grow. The way you solve them is what will bring you experience and expertise.
Here is how to solve your problems:
Take a step back
Take a step back when a problem arises. This is so you can see the problem in its fullness.
Not taking a step back will likely expose you to other issues you may not foresee.
Quiet your emotions
The one advise I want you to remember from this post is: keep your emotions in perfect control.
Emotions usually cloud your judgement, and therefore put you at risk of worsening something you are trying to improve.
Emotions can be bad advisors.
Containment actions
Containment actions aim to limit the damage of a problem.
For example, if you have a customer claim about a defective product, a containment action will be to check if you have any of the claim defects in other products in your store (or in work in progress).
If yes, then you will stop those processes, segregate the good products from the bad ones, and correct the bad ones.
Root cause analyses
Investigate the root cause of your problem.
Your problem will be successfully solved only when you solve it at its root. Not finding the root cause exposes you to a reoccurrence.
Your problem is exactly as a tree you are trying to remove: it will keep growing unless you uproot it.
There are several techniques to find the root cause of your problem: 5 “why”, drill down, Ishikawa, etc. Use one that suits you.
Immediate corrective actions
The immediate corrective action aims to fix the problem immediately.
It is a short-term corrective action. This is to make your customer “calm down” whilst you are working on a more permanent action.
Do not forget to assess the effectiveness of the immediate corrective action.
Preventive action
Your root cause will help you determine what actions are to be done so the problem does not occur again.
This is the long-term solution. This usually involves a change in method, procedure or process, design etc.
Do not forget to test your prevention action and to assess it.
Delegate
You can choose to delegate the solving of your problem.
Delegating can save you some time, and therefore some money. Especially if you have no skill in solving the problem you are facing.
The decision to delegate or not will very much depend on your company policy and objectives.
Problems are meant to refine us. Not to destroy us.
Once you find out how to solve your problem, you are adding a valued skill into your skillset.
Do not underestimate the value you can find in problems.
What about you? Do you have any other tip you use to solve your problems? If yes, I’d love to read your thoughts and the results you achieved in the comment section.
This post aimed to provide you with with tips on how to solve your problems. Feel free to comment and share.