Problem Solving and Much More...
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Introduction to
Problem Solving Skills

The skills you'll learn in this section of Mind Tools help you solve complicated business problems.

These techniques help you conduct a rigorous analysis of the problems you face, by helping you look at them in a structured and methodical way.

As such, these skills give you a good starting point in business problem solving (and other problem solving situations), where other people would just feel helpless and intimidated by the situation.

In the next pages, we look at the following tools:

• Extracting maximum information from facts -
  Appreciation.
• Quickly getting to the root of a problem -
  5 Whys.
• Identifying possible causes of problems -
  Cause & Effect Diagrams.
• Organizing ideas into common themes - Affinity Diagrams.
• Solving problems by looking at what's going right - Appreciative Inquiry.
• Understanding how a process works - Flow Charts.
• Understanding the way factors affect one-another - Systems Diagrams.
• Methods of Risk Analysis.
• Analyzing Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats - SWOT Analysis.
• Understanding the big picture - PEST Analysis.
• Understanding how to position your market offering - The Marketing Mix and the 4 Ps.
• Understanding the different risks of different options - The Ansoff Matrix.
• Focusing effort to give the greatest returns - The Boston Matrix.
• Understanding where the power lies - Porter's Five Forces.
• Get ahead. Stay ahead - Core Competence Analysis.
• Crafting your competitive edge - USP Analysis.
• Identifying the things that really matter for success - Critical Success Factors.
• Making sure all parts of your organization work in harmony - The McKinsey 7Ss.
• Surviving the crises that come with growth - The Greiner Curve.

The first half of the section covers general approaches to problem solving.

Appreciation is a useful technique for extracting good information from dry facts. Cause & Effect Diagrams are useful for making sure that you have considered all factors relating to a problem. Affinity Diagrams help you organize disparate items into related groups, while Systems Diagrams are hugely powerful tools for understanding how factors interact in complex situations. Finally in this group, Risk Analysis provides a formal framework for identifying the risks you face, and helps you to work out a strategy for controlling them.

The second half of this section looks at business strategy techniques: techniques that help you understand your business and its environment, so that you can identify the best way forward.

SWOT Analysis helps you to work out a survival and success strategy in a competitive environment. PEST Analysis and Porters Five Forces help you understand the business environment you operate in. The BOston Matrix, Core Competence Analysis and USP Analysis help you build a competitive edge. And the articles on Critical Success Factors, The McKinsey 7 Ss and the Greiner Curve help you focus on the things that matter in complex business situations.

If you've found this article useful, why not subscribe to our free career skills newsletter, and learn new skills like these twice a month? When you do, you get a free copy of our Mind Tools Quick Guide to Problem Solving, worth US$9.99. In it, you'll learn how to pinpoint and access the best problem solving techniques for the problems you're experiencing.

Sign up by entering your first name and email address below. You'll have our Quick Guide to Problem Solving within minutes!

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In our first article, we look at Appreciation, a useful technique for getting as much information out of the facts you have available. To read this, click "Next article" below. Other relevant destinations are shown in the "Where to go from here" list underneath.

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New Articles (Not included in the Mind Tools E-book.)
* Shows articles available in full only to Career Excellence Club members

Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) - Spotting problems early on*
TRIZ - A powerful methodology for creative problem-solving
The Straw Man Concept - Build it up, knock it down, create a solid final solution
Heuristic Methods - Using rules of thumb*
Writing a Procedure - Making sure things are done without mistakes and omissions.
Swim Lane Diagrams - Mapping and improving organizational processes*
5 Whys - Getting quickly to the root of a problem
Root Cause Analysis - Tracing a problem to its origins
Using Aides Memoire - Remember everything that's important*
CATWOE - Understanding the different elements that contribute to a problem*
Inductive Reasoning - Drawing good generalized conclusions*
Avoiding Logical Fallacies - What they are, and how to avoid them*

A full list of Mind Tools articles is available here.

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