A year ago, Congress asked for a plan that would provide affordable broadband service to all America’s citizens. On March 16th, the Federal Communications Commission responded with a non-sequitur: a national wireless plan which is good in its way, but which largely fails to tackle the problem it was asked to solve.
from Plans for Broadband, Pipe Dream, The Economist, March 20th-26th 2010
The first step in every problem solving situation is the perverbial, “The problem identified is the problem solved” challenge. In essence, if we fail at identifying the real problem, we’re certain to fail at the problem solving side of the equation. But what happens when we identify the problem correctly, but for some reason, the solution veers off-course? The solution delivered solves a different problem - this appears to be what happen to the FCC above. And despite how brilliant the solution is, the problem to the identified problem goes unresolved.
Has this happened to you? Unfortunately, I’m concerned that “the problem identified, isn’t the problem solved” scenario occurs more often than we might think. And this is a problem!
How can we avoid embarrassing outcomes like this?
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Identify the deliverables: What is the deliverable, then hold individuals and the group accountable to the desired outcome.
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Frequent check-ins: Surprising moments occur when leaders don’t stop by and inquire. We need to ask questions like, “Tell me, how are things going?” and “If you could give me a snapshot of your progress to date, what would it be.”
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Project updates: Receiving tangible updates that align with progress to date information is essential.
By the time the solution is prepared and delivered, there should never be a surprise! And if there is a surprise, the problem needs to be identified and resolved, so it doesn’t happen in the future.
Have you ever had a similar situation?
Tags: identifying the problem, problem identified is the problem solved, Problem Solving
