Having specified the problem it is now necessary to identify all of the elements that may contribute to or be affected by the problem and any potential solutions. This is a crucial stage in problem solving and many people generate solutions that fail to take into account any effect that will be caused elsewhere in the business.

Identify the stakeholders who are affected by the problem and ensure that you consider their input. When you select a team to work on a problem you will need to consider various skill sets and styles. The team will need to be flexible as members may need to change at various stages based on abilities and skills. This can also help to nurture the feeling of empowerment amongst staff.

At Key Elements we can provide facilitation services to help define the roles and rules for the team, construct effective meetings, ensure communication is maintained as agreed, and validate the relevance and reliability of the data. If required Key Elements can actually gather and collate the data on your behalf.

The data will need to be analysed using suitable and varied methods to identify trends and key ratios, and where practical turned into graphical reports to enable easy monitoring of trends. It is important that qualitative data and opinions are also considered. Typical examples being - Is the workplace clean and tidy? Do the workforce take pride in their work or company? Are they motivated? Do you measure customer satisfaction? Is the company moving forward? Are results shared with the staff? etc.

With the data now collated it is time to look at the problem in depth ...