Preventing Problem is Superior to Fixing It

Three Aspects of Preventing problems Due to fast-paced change, the exponential growth of information and continuous digital disruptions, opportunities and risks co-exist. Forward-looking organizations should manage them well and adapt to digital new normal for creating a winning digital dynamic. Risks are simply potential problems. Preventing the problem is more superior to fixing issues. It is supposed to be one of the main principles for problem management.

Discover What is at the Heart of the Problem We live in the world with all sorts of problems, even though we understand all different forms of thinking, the problems facing the planet don't seem to be reducing. Many problems exist because they are either ill-defined or the concept cannot be adequately captured contextually. Trying to fix the wrong cause of a problem will waste time and resources, increase anxiety and even cause chaos. Therefore, the deeper you understand the problem, the easier you could frame the problem, and the better chance you could solve it effectively. But more specifically, how to discover what is the heart of the problem?

Does Anyone Ever Appreciate the Cost Savings in a Problem that Never Happens? From Wikipedia: "Quality Assurance (QA) is a way of preventing mistakes or defects in manufactured products and avoiding problems when delivering solutions or services to customers." Some say that nobody ever appreciates the cost savings in problems that never happen, is it true? From a strategic perspective, where does the quality fit in, how to maximize its value and sustain business prosperity?

Five Problem-Solving principles Fundamentally, every work is to deal with problems big or small both from long term perspectives or on a daily basis. And the business or societal progress is made via a healthy cycle of problem framing and problem-solving continuum. We all develop reputations for being problem creators, problem definers or problem solvers. To close the problem-solving capability gap, it is important to keep sharpening your problem-solving skills, always dig under the surface, and build a good reputation as a real problem-framer or problem-solver. Here is a set of problem-solving credos.

Governance Rule #1 from an Ancient Parable’s Manifestation: Prevention is more Superior than Fixing According to an ancient parable, there were three brothers who were all physicians, the youngest was the most famous one, but he was very humble, when others asked him which of them was the most skilled in the art of healing, he replied: my elder brother had better skill than me, he cures sickness when it is still extremely minor, so his name does not get out of the neighborhood; my eldest brother has the best skill, because he can perceive the spirit of sickness and remove it before it takes the shape, so his name does not get out of the house. As for me, I puncture veins, prescribe potions, and massage skin, so from time to time my name gets out and is heard all over the kingdom.  It manifests the classic management paradox: Nobody ever gets credit for preventing problems that never happened. From governance perspective, what can we learn from it? Should “prevention is superior to fixing” be the #1 rule of governance principle?

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Explore different ways of understanding and doing things: To discover the heart of issues and solve it effectively, digital leaders and professional should change their “we always do things like that mentality" by exploring different ways of understanding and doing things. Think both in macro and micro way, critically and creatively, assume that every problem has multiple solutions, always explore different choices, ask open questions to themselves and others to explore new possibilities. Until the underlying problem is addressed, the symptom or result will continue to return. Thus, people are encouraged to think differently, challenge old assumptions, update their knowledge, pull the necessary resources to experiment with different ways to handle problems, drive improvement, figure out better solutions and make them stick. 

Running a business is an iterative problem-solving continuum: Framing the right problems, assessing the right people with the right mindset and capability, and solving the problem effectively are all critical steps for developing problem-solving competency and improving business performance. There is no panacea for fixing all sorts of business problems. Discovering the heart of problems starts at the mindset level and takes both strategy and methodologies. Problem-solving masters are those individuals or businesses who are equipped with the digital mindset, accumulate sufficient information and knowledge, leverage the powerful digital technologies, avoid pitfalls and roadblocks along the way, build the differentiated business competency, and develop their own set of problem-solving principles, methodologies and practices.

The board’s insightful view to identifying the problem: Boards oversee business strategy and fundamentally, the strategy is about diagnosing business problems, making choices, and taking actions to achieve well-defined goals. Thus, board directors should have sharp eyes to identify problems and unique insight to pinpoint the root causes. Because problem-solving is about seeing a problem and actually finding a solution to that problem, not just the band-aid approach to fixing the symptom. The Board of Directors as “Problem-Definer” should understand what is exactly wrong, out of balance, stagnation, etc., the exact description of the problem, and how to frame the right problem and solve it smoothly. Otherwise, fixing the wrong cause of a problem is creating more gaps and lead to even more serious problems later on. Asking good and pertinent questions are critical for governing changes so the directors would have to be able to quickly assess top critical business issues and make sound decisions consistently. To be a good problem-definer, BoDs need to gain deep insight into how things work just by analyzing the aggregates, not necessary to dive into the trivial details. Board Directors need to understand the difference between being a director and the operator of the business. To avoid micromanagement, boards are more as problem-definer than the direct problem-solving because they often delegate the well-defined problems to management for solving them on time or implementing solutions to tailor varying circumstances effectively.

Identify qualified problem solvers:Identify the problem - what is exactly wrong, out of balance, unjust, etc., the exact description of the problem. When the problem is well-defined, it is also important to spot the right person (people) with the right mindset and skills to solve it. One of the most important management disciplines today is to put the right people with the right capabilities in the right position to solve the right problem timely. Corporate boards can set the right tones for innovating talent management and improve the overall problem-solving competency of the business. High IQ and EQ are both important for effective problem-solving. Problem-solving is a mindset with curiosity, self-inclusiveness, creativity, and progression, which directly impacts the intellectual sophistication of problem-solving capability. There is as much creative thinking, critical thinking, strategic thinking and system thinking that go into problem identification as well as solution discovery. People who can solve problems in a new way are innovators. Emotional intelligence is also critical for problem-solving because it is the ability to harness positive emotions and apply them to tasks like thinking and problems solving, dispassionately analyze the situation objectively in order to make the sound judgment. From the boardroom to coffee room, be cautious of those "problem-creating" mindsets, such as silo thinking, polar thinking (we are right, they are wrong); non-critical thinking (reflexive, not reflective), stereotypical thinking (based on outdated perception), small thinking (locally right, globally wrong) or static thinking (we always do things this way), have a difficult time to solve tough problems, and continue to argue “it’s impossible.” Therefore, identify qualified problem-solvers are imperative because misfit minds and skills will cause more problems and decelerate the speed of business changes.


Evaluate outcomes: The evaluation of problem-solving is to ensure the real problems have been fixed and cause the least side effects as possible. It is important to keep track of the outcome of strategic problem-solving at the board level by asking the management tough questions: Has the problem been fixed permanently? Does the solution cause any side effects, or cause more serious issues later on? Who are the real problem-solvers? Work with management to find the factors involved in the final "incorrect" outcome. See if they can measure or weigh each factor's contribution to the result, or the description of the unit of measure. Build a hypothetical equation that describes "incorrect" outcomes. Taking a systematic approach to measurement can avoid blind-spots in problem-solving management. The organization that didn't have a systematic approach to measurement and analysis at both the strategic level and operational level has a giant blind spot that is impairing their performance or problem-solving effectiveness. Having the appropriate performance indicators is very important. But acting on what those indicators are telling you is vital to sustaining and improving problem-solving capability at the business level.

A digital-ready board has the advantage of pulling enough resources and pushing the business model of technology, trustworthiness, working closely with the management by integrating multidisciplinary methodology to approach problems via multi-faceted way technically, scientifically and culturally.

 

Long tail customers: Nowadays, business changes so frequently and so quickly, competing through cost-efficiency as a business strategy is much harder to survive. The lightweight innovative technologies or exponential growth of information provide great opportunities for companies to reach the “long-tail” customers that was impossible or uneconomic in the previous age with information scarcity. More fundamentally, long-tail innovation is customer-driven, when businesses can truly understand or attempt to capture the data-based customer insight to figure out what customers actually want, it is the moment that they can reach the “long tail” customers; that is, how to get beyond just the top strategic initiatives and figure out how to provide niche products or services to many customers. It’s about introducing niche products or services, or taking new methods or practices of production, utilizing new resources, or opening new markets. Innovation is in the eye of the beholder - customers. Customer-centric innovation is in strong demand and should be an easier path to grow the innovation fruit because digital is the age of people, choice, and empathy.

Long tail business model: A business model is the set of features of a company that keeps it in business. Today’s digital business environment is unprecedentedly dynamic, complex and uncertain, the emerging technologies or continuous disruptions can push you out of business if you are not agile enough to change your business model or update your strategy timely. There are always players starting with different resources and competitive position. If you have a strong business model, a set of core business competencies and value-generating skills that match “the long tail' customers’ needs, you are often building a competitive business advantage because such a business model is difficult to copy, at least in the short term. For many companies, it is increasingly difficult to differentiate from their competitors, at least partly due to various factors.  If you have the commoditized products/services in a highly competitive marketplace, then a “long tail” business model could be more important to you as you can provide niche products or services with few or no competitors. Having lots of customers in your corner cannot hurt. In fact, the next strategic breakthrough may well come from one of these long tail innovation initiatives.

Long tail problem-solving: Thanks for the great convenience brought by digital technologies for learning, sharing and collaboration.Organizations today can engage the mass of people to brainstorm and solve a small set of the most challenging problems in their industry or cross-domain, and shape the “long tail” style of problem-solving. It’s about leveraging digital variety for brainstorming and gaining new ideas, involving a wider stakeholder group and encouraging participation. There is also sort of the “Long Tail” knowledge perspective - only 20% of the knowledge (a small percentage of knowledge) in some subject helps to solve the 80% (large percentage) of the existing problems. It could mean that a radical innovator does not need to master all or most of a subject. Rather he/she is skilled at gleaning only the essential knowledge which is relevant to the problem that the authorities have either bungled or overlooked. For long-tail problem-solving and innovation, it’s about building up a momentum that draws creative contribution from the participants that they have not previously conceived or understood they were capable of, ensuring the access of the maximum number of potentially good ideas internally and externally and increase the odds of finding the next great new ideas for overcoming the challenges.

The frequent disruptions and fierce competitions push businesses to speed up and grasp growth opportunities by exploring “long tail” innovation or all sorts of breakthrough. Winning the digital dynamic means engaging creative thinking, enforcing cross-functional collaborations and building unique business competencies. Keep in mind, people should be at the center of innovation management and they are the major focus for innovation process and accomplishment.