Problem-Solving & Decision-Making workshop

1/25/2010
1
Change The Way You Think And You Improve Your
Problem Solving And Decision Making.
Designed and conducted by:
Joe Price
Intentional Achievements, LLC

2
5 Ways of Thinking
Binary
Critical
Lateral
Parallel
Systems

3
5 Ways of Thinking
Binary
 Dualism
 Right or Wrong
 Black or White
 Yes or No
 Good or Evil
 Opposites

4
5 Ways of Thinking
Critical
 determining the meaning and significance of
what is observed or expressed
 "skilled, active, interpretation and evaluation of
observations, communications, information, and
argumentation.“
 “careful, deliberate determination of whether
one should accept, reject, or suspend judgment
about a claim and the degree of confidence with
which one accepts or rejects it”

5
5 Ways of Thinking
Lateral
 Edward de Bono
 solving problems through an
indirect and creative approach.
 reasoning that is not immediately
obvious and about ideas that may
not be obtainable by using only
traditional step-by-step logic

6
Situation Puzzle
A man walks into a bar, and asks the
bartender for a drink of water. The
bartender pulls out a gun, points it at
the man, and cocks it. The man says
"Thank you" and leaves.
What happened?

7
5 Ways of Thinking
Parallel
thinking process where focus is
split in specific directions.
When done in a group it
effectively avoids the
consequences of the
adversarial approach (as used
in courts).
6 Thinking Hats

8
6 Thinking Hats
Facts/Info Big Picture Negatives
Feelings/
Emotions
New Ideas
Positives

9
5 Ways of Thinking
 Systems
 process of understanding how things
influence one another within a whole
 an approach to problem solving, by
viewing "problems" as parts of an overall
system, rather than reacting to specific
part, outcomes or events and potentially
contributing to further development of
unintended consequences.
 House
 Body

10
Problem Solving
 What is it?
 Why is it important?
 What are the skills needed?
 What keeps us from it?
 What keeps us from being good at it?
 What are the various
methods/techniques?

11
Problem Solving
 Is thinking about and finding answers for a
(relatively) clearly-defined situation for
which there are one or more reasonable
answers
 Is the process in which we perceive and
resolve a gap between a present situation
and a desired goal, with the path to the
goal blocked by known or unknown
obstacles
 The ability to analyze information related to
a given situation and generate appropriate
response options

12
Problem Solving Techniques
 Abstraction: solving the problem in a model of the system before applying it to
the real system
 Analogy: using a solution that solved an analogous problem
 Brainstorming: (especially among groups of people) suggesting a large number
of solutions or ideas and combining and developing them until an optimum is
found
 Divide and conquer: breaking down a large, complex problem into smaller,
solvable problems
 Hypothesis testing: assuming a possible explanation to the problem and trying to
prove (or, in some contexts, disprove) the assumption
 Lateral thinking: approaching solutions indirectly and creatively
 Means-ends analysis: choosing an action at each step to move closer to the goal
 Method of focal objects: synthesizing seemingly non-matching characteristics of
different objects into something new
 Morphological analysis: assessing the output and interactions of an entire system
 Reduction: transforming the problem into another problem for which solutions
exist
 Research: employing existing ideas or adapting existing solutions to similar
problems
 Root cause analysis: eliminating the cause of the problem
 Trial-and-error: testing possible solutions until the right one is found

13
4 Problem Solving
Questions
1. What Is The Problem?
2. What Are The Causes Of The
Problem?
3. What Are The Possible Solutions?
4. What Solution Do You
Recommend, And Why?

14
Problem Solving
A problem well stated is a
problem half solved
The right solution to the wrong
problem is worse than the
wrong solution to the right
problem

15
4 Problem Solving
Questions
1. What Is The Problem?
A. Assume it is a symptom
B. Ask questions like:
a) Where is it happening
b) How is it happening
c) When is it happening
d) Why is it happening
e) The following should be happening but it isn't
because. . .

16
4 Problem Solving
Questions
1. What Are the Causes of The
Problem?
A. Look for what you don’t know you
don’t know
B. Gather info from others
C. Write down your opinion and the
opinion of others
D. There is never one cause

17
4 Problem Solving
Questions
1. What Are the Possible Solutions?
A. There is never one solution
B. Which ones are Short vs. Long term
C. Green-Light Thinking
D. Quantity vs. Quality
E. No Judgment

18
4 Problem Solving
Questions
1. What Solution Do You Recommend and
Why?
A. What will it look like when solution is
implemented
B. What steps should be taken to implement
C. What resources will you need and how
will you get them
D. Who will be responsible for ensuring
implementation
E. How will you measure the success

20
Decision Making
 What is it?
 Why is it important?
 What are the skills needed?
 What keeps us from it?
 What keeps us from being good at it?
 What are the various
methods/techniques?

21
Decision Making
 The act of making up your mind
about something
 A position, opinion or judgment
reached after consideration
 The process of making a choice
between a number of options and
committing to a future course of
action

22
Decision Making
 What factors affect Decision Making
 Information/Data
 Intuition And Judgment
 Objectives
 Risk
 External And Internal Noise
 Perceptions
 Urgency
 Intention Vs. Intentional
 Emotional Intelligence
 Reaction
 Personality

23
Decision Making
 Two Types
Objective
Subjective

24
Clearly
State
Outcome/
Objectives
Gather
Data
Evaluate
Noise
Determine
Criteria
Identify &
Evaluate
Options
Make
Decision
Evaluate
Results
Decision-Making Process

25
Decision Making
Examples
Buying a House
Buying a Car
Buying Furniture for
Apartments

26
Intentional Decision-Making

27
Decision Making
Practice
Soccer Team

28
Communications
Definition
 The transference of thoughts,
feelings and ideas from one to
another through the use of
signs, symbols and signals.

29
Communications
A process whereby information
is enclosed in a package and is
channeled and imparted by a
sender to a receiver via some
medium. The receiver then
decodes the message and
gives the sender feedback.

30
Communications
 Words (7%)
 Tone of voice (38%)
 Nonverbal behaviour (e.g Facial expression)
(55%)
 3 V’s: Verbal, Vocal & Visual
 Distinction: When there is
incongruence/inconsistency
Albert Mehrabian (born 1939, currently Professor Emeritus of Psychology, UCLA)

31
Communications
Purpose?
Create Understanding
Principle:
Seek first to understand,
then to be understood

33
Communication is the heart and soul of motivating
employees. Employees are demotivated when they
are unsure of manager expectations and priorities.
They're motivated when managers provide clear
expectations, instructions, information, and time
frames, creating within the employees a sense of
security, respect, power, and control in their jobs.
Furthermore, managers need to communicate
encouragement during the process as well as
acknowledgement and appreciation upon
achievement of outcomes.
Communications

34
7-Step DM Process or
Double Triangle
1. An employee is always late to work. S/he does good work
when s/he is there, but now the other employees are
complaining because they don’t think it is fair that s/he is
allowed to get away with it. What are you going to do?
2. Should I hire an assistant?
3. An employee always misses important deadlines. This is
causing problems for some of the other employees because
they cannot get their work done until s/he gets his/her work
in. How are you going to handle this?
4. Should I buy furniture for some of our vacant apartments?
5. How should I tell an employee that his/her performance is
slipping and I am concerned?

35
7-Step DM Process or
Double Triangle
6. Should I increase our marketing budget in order to
increase occupancy?
7. An employee comes and asks for some time off. They have
no leave time left and you have no one to cover for them.
What will you do?
8. You are in the hiring process and have two candidates that
have made it to the final round. How do you decide which
one to hire?
9. Should I change landscapers?
10. You think an employee has made a big mistake that could
cost the company a lot of money. What are you going to
do?

36
Change The Way You
Think And You Improve
Your Problem Solving And
Decision Making

Problem-Solving & Decision-Making workshop

In this document