You Need Tools to Solve Complex Problems!

Different managers use different methods for solving business and technical problems. However, ones that succeed at getting things done in a timely and efficient manner with defined goals and objectives have skills in using tools to help them come to decisions and conclusions. This also means that you need to be educated about different tools. The more you know, the more flexible you are in using a variety of tools for various purposes. Just as you need a hammer or a screw driver to pound a nail and push a screw in, you also need management tools like how to conduct meetings, flowcharting, affinity diagramming, cash-flow projection, etc. to solve organizational problems. You can obviously pound a nail with a rock or a piece of wood or try to push a screw in using a coin, but it probably is not going to be effective or efficient.

The reason this article is posted is that I have wasted a lot of time trying to solve problems in environments led by ineffective managers who usually have one major tool that they commonly use, oral communication i.e., talking to solve complex problems. When the problem has a large number of variables and interdependencies, it is very difficult for the audience/group to keep it all together in a consistent manner. You cannot collaborate easily through just oral communication. Don’t get me wrong, oral communication is key to building relationships, persuasion and getting information out; however, it has its limits. Six Sigma, Lean, Total Quality Management (TQM), etc. did not develop because they were fads; there was intelligent design behind using them as methods to solve problems (see my article on “Six Sigma and TQM are NOT Fads!”). In addition, theses methods are rich in tools that can be helpful for dealing with a variety of situations, for instance:

• Pareto Analysis – 80/20 rule – for identifying leverage and focus areas
• Activity-Based Costing – breaking down costs across workflow steps to collect all the costs and determine problems areas
• Graphs – Time Plots/Scatter Plots, etc. – to visually map data to see patterns
• Flowcharting – for mapping out processes and data flows
• Affinity Diagramming – for organizing and grouping data
• Etc.

A good tool book reference manual to consider getting for yourself and your teams is: The Team Handbook by Peter R Scholtes, Brian L. Joiner and Barbara J Streibel.