How to Solve A Problem

By: Trina Johnson

Success takes action. Sometimes it is simply that easy. To beat the paralysis of analysis, you just need to do something. I met with two women business owners and their staff recently who were not seeing the revenue they needed and were struggling with deciding what to do next. They needed help coming up with ways to increase sales without increasing expenses.

So, we did some good ol’ fashioned brainstorming. Here are some tips we used to generate ideas that may help you solve a problem too.

1. Pretend you know exactly what you should do next, and do that. Don’t scoff. It really works. The point is: Don’t stand in your own way. You probably know exactly what you should do. You just have to face it. Even if you take the “wrong” action, just by doing something, a dynamic or two will change and the solution will become clearer. No problem in business is ever unsolvable.
2. Attack with Hummus. One of my favorite moments in the series Buffy the Vampire Slayer was a scene where the gang was sitting in the library talking about how to kill the monster du jour and someone suggested something and Buffy said, “That’s the dumbest idea ever.” One of the characters replied, “Well, we could throw hummus at him.” The room goes dead silent for a moment then Buffy says, “I stand corrected.” If you are at a loss about how to solve a problem, start with impractical or foolish solutions and figure out why those wouldn’t work. Start with “attack with hummus” and move on from there. The practical, sensible solutions will become more obvious the sillier you get. For instance, it would be foolish to send your past-due clients an envelope filled with hummus instead of their monthly invoice that apparently just gets ignored, but is there something else you could put in the envelope that would make it memorable and not just “another” bill? How do you get their attention? Put some thought into it and you’ll probably come up with a good idea.
3. Pretend that a fairy godmother magically appeared, waved a wand, and poof problem solved. What would change? Make a list of what would have to be different. Then work backward to see how you can go from success to the struggles you are having now. Often, when you look at a problem backward, you’ll see the path it takes to get it done.
4. Imagine how someone in a totally different profession would handle the same kind of problem. If a professional football team faced the same kind of problem as your small business, what would they do? They would shake up the roster, get a new coach, practice new plays, study more film. Have you taken those kinds of steps? And finally, when you come up with a possible solution, don’t stop there. Come up with another idea then another. Often, it’s the third or fourth idea you have that is the best solution. And just knowing that you have more than one option to try to solve a business problem will give you the confidence to try your first-choice solution.