what is a weak method of problem solving

More From Forbes

The five pitfalls of problem-solving - and how to avoid them.

• Share to Facebook
• Share to Twitter
• Share to Linkedin

Even experienced leaders make surprising and costly mistakes when solving complex problems and ... [+] selling their solutions.

Of the many skills leaders need to be effective, research consistently shows that complex problem solving is paramount. For most of us, however, solving difficult problems and selling the solutions doesn’t come naturally since we haven’t been taught how to do it well. And when we try, obstacles abound.

Through our research, teaching and consulting, we’ve identified five pitfalls that frequently trip up business leaders when they tackle complex problems. If we want to be better leaders, we must understand these pitfalls and how to overcome them.

Pitfall 1: Flawed problem definition

When digitalization swept through the music industry, record companies reacted by fighting a court battle against illegal file sharing. They won, forcing Napster to unplug in 2001. But it was a pyrrhic victory. By 2010, two-thirds of their revenues had evaporated.

At the heart of this disaster was the way music industry executives viewed file sharing. To them, it was simple piracy, and they stated the problem accordingly: “How do we stop this piracy?”

A different and more productive problem statement would have been: “How can we make money in a world of digital music?” One company – Apple – asked this question, laying the groundwork for the phenomenally successful iPod, iPhone and iTunes store.

iTunes music gift cards of different values displayed for sale. (Photo by Roberto Machado ... [+] Noa/LightRocket via Getty Images)

The contrast between the record companies and Apple illustrates the importance of stating the right problem. A flawed problem definition , which often happens when you think you recognize a situation from past experience, puts you on a glide path to irrelevant solutions.

A practical way to state a problem is to use the TOSCA checklist by answering the following questions:

• T rouble: What indicates the current situation is not the desired one?
• O wner: Who is responsible for its resolution?
• S uccess: What will success look like and when?
• C onstraints: What are the binding constraints on developing a solution?
• A ctors: Who are the relevant stakeholders?

This checklist helps you understand the various facets of the problem. You can then use your answers to develop the core question that will guide your solution-development efforts.

Pitfall 2: Solution confirmation

In October 2005, Muhammad Yunus, Nobel laureate and father of microfinance, met with Franck Riboud, CEO of Danone. With a handshake, they agreed to team up to fight childhood malnutrition in Bangladesh, one of the world’s poorest countries.

With virtually no investigation or experimentation, Danone quickly developed a nutrition-packed yogurt called Shokti Doi (energy yogurt) and the business model for it as the solution to the problem. The Grameen Danone Foods Limited (GDFL) joint venture began production in February 2007.

GDFL’s performance, however, didn’t live up to the founders’ expectations .  Despite several re-organization efforts, by 2015 GDFL was producing at only two-thirds capacity. Supermarkets in middle-class urban areas accounted for the vast majority of sales, while the impact on poor communities was marginal.

GDFL had fallen prey to the solution confirmation pitfall . Rather than start by understanding the problem —child malnutrition— to find relevant solutions, the two organizations quickly zeroed in on a candidate solution they assumed would work because it combined Danone’s yogurt production expertise with Grameen’s marketing clout. A desire to move quickly coupled with strong executive support deterred anyone from challenging the hypotheses that underpinned the solution.

To avoid this pitfall, you must structure the problem. Start with the core question you are attempting to answer from problem statement. Break this core question down into as many non-overlapping sub-questions (elementary issues) as possible. You can then investigate them one by one in search for adequate solutions.

Pitfall 3: Wrong framework

Through a consulting project, we came to know Lisa, the HR Director at a call center company. Because of high employee turnover, recruiting and training costs had spiraled out of control. Lisa was considering contracting with an HR analytics firm that promised, thanks to machine-learning algorithms, to identify the personality traits associated with longer employee tenure and to select applicants with those characteristics. The firm had impressive references from clients who it helped achieve significant increases in retention rates.

While Lisa wondered whether she should become a client, something troubled her. After some reflection, she put her finger on it. The analytics firm was forcing her to think of the problem in a specific way, to use a specific lens. While it offered a framework to address the retention issue, this framework used an unstated, disputable assumption – that retention is linked to employee personality.

To test this assumption, Lisa conducted some exit interviews and discovered employees were leaving because of low pay, poor working conditions, and brutal management. Employees who stayed did so largely because they couldn’t find jobs elsewhere.

Shutterstock

Lisa realized that if the analytics firm’s predictive model worked as advertised, it would identify the personality traits of employees that other employers wouldn’t hire and select for those traits in applicants! While this could result in lower turnover, it may also lead to lower job performance—a critical factor that hadn’t been part of the discussion.

This story highlights the third pitfall of problem solving: using the wrong framework . Frameworks tell us what to pay attention to in a particular situation; but by suggesting what we should attend to, they also tell us what to ignore. Our choice of frameworks can blind us to important aspects of a problem, leading us to develop ineffective solutions.

Be careful not to blindly apply frameworks to a problem simply because you’re familiar with them. When using frameworks to structure a problem, make sure their assumptions fit your problem.

Pitfall 4: Narrow framing

In June 2011, American department store chain J.C. Penney announced that Ron Johnson, head of Apple’s wildly successful retail stores, would become Penney’s new CEO. The stock market reacted by bidding up Penney’s share price 17.5%. Johnson’s mission was to turn around the ailing retailer, which had seen its sales, profits and stock price steadily erode.

Ron Johnson announces the new J.C. Penney strategy at the J.C. Penney launch event at Pier 57 on ... [+] January 25, 2012 in New York City. (Photo by Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images for jcpenney)

Johnson quickly pursued changes that were a dramatic departure from what Penney’s customers expected from the century-old retailer. He eliminated sales promotions and replaced them with a simple, everyday low-pricing approach. He transformed Penney’s from a crowded and cluttered department store selling many of its own labels organized by product type to a collection of 100 boutiques spaciously organized by well-known brands. Store employees were encouraged to dress in their own style and outfitted with hand-held checkout devices. The company communicated these changes as part of a major rebranding effort.

The return on this investment of hundreds of millions of dollars became clear when Penney’s announced its 2012 results. They were awful. Same-store sales fell 25% from the previous year and Penney’s recorded a $1 billion loss. By April 2013 Johnson was out as CEO, only 18 months after he started.

Johnson’s misfortune illustrates the narrow framing pitfall . When we tackle a complex problem that we superficially understand, it’s tempting to frame it narrowly to make it look like one we’ve worked on before. We can then reason by analogy to quickly identify a solution instead of investing in thoroughly understanding the problem.

Johnson ignored his superficial understanding of Penney’s customers and quickly jumped to an Apple-inspired solution—undiscounted, branded merchandise sold in a hip setting by quirky salespeople supported by a fresh, minimalist brand. The assumption, which proved to be wrong, was that Penney’s customers were like Apple Store customers. This assumption also explains why Johnson didn’t see a need to pilot-test his solution. If Apple Store and Penney’s customers are similar, what worked at Apple will work at J.C. Penney.

When we face complex problems involving customers or users we understand poorly, we should avoid narrowly framing them by analogy to other situations. Instead, we should use a design thinking approach to solve them, starting with understanding the problem from the perspective of the people who experience it. Doing so can help us identify opportunities for solutions that we would otherwise miss. We can then prototype multiple potential solutions and test them with real users, rather than “bet the farm” on one idea that may not work.

Pitfall 5: Miscommunication

Recent research shows the main cause of obesity, diabetes, and heart disease is the overconsumption of sugar—not fat. British scientist John Yudkin made this discovery in the late 1950s, but policy-makers largely ignored his findings. When Yudkin died in 1995, his research had long been forgotten . Until scientists rediscovered the role of sugar in the 2000s, nutritionists and public health authorities issued dietary guidelines primarily focused on reducing saturated fat consumption.

How did they get it so wrong for so long? One of the main reasons was that Yudkin was wholly unpersuasive. Although Yudkin was an internationally recognized nutritionist, his story was counterintuitive, especially to lay people: how could sugar generate more harmful fat in the body than fat itself?

In contrast, his rival, Ancel Keys, had a flawed story – focused on fat – but did a beautiful job of selling it to both scientists and policy makers. Keys also fought Yudkin ruthlessly, calling his theory “a mountain of nonsense,” and accusing him of issuing propaganda for the meat and dairy industries.

This example illustrates a well-known point: communication is critical to motivate action. Solving the problem is worthless if you can’t sell your solution to decision makers. This happens far too often in organizations, where reports are reviewed, archived and forgotten, with no tangible impact.

But Keys’s story shows the opposite problem can be even more harmful: brilliant communication of the wrong answer can lead to misguided and detrimental action. This is why the approach to selling the solution must be grounded in the problem solving process. The evidence from the problem-solving process must provide the rationale for the recommended solution, which must address the core question from the problem statement and each element of the TOSCA checklist.

How to Solve the Toughest Business Problems

As these five stories illustrate, even experienced leaders make surprising and costly mistakes when solving complex problems and selling their solutions. But these pitfalls are not without preventive measures. Following a disciplined method can help you avoid the pitfalls and develop and sell better solutions. In our new book,  Cracked It! How to Solve Big Problems and Sell Solutions Like Top Strategy Consultants , we provide a step-by-step process and toolkit to help readers tackle challenging business problems. We guide you through each step in our 4S method: from how to state, structure and then solve problems to how to sell the solutions.

While the idea of a structured problem-solving process may not sound exciting, the guidance and discipline it provides can give leaders the confidence and ability to crack the problems that matter most to their organizations.

• Editorial Standards
• Forbes Accolades

• Bipolar Disorder
• Therapy Center
• When To See a Therapist
• Types of Therapy
• Best Online Therapy
• Best Couples Therapy
• Managing Stress
• Sleep and Dreaming
• Understanding Emotions
• Self-Improvement
• Healthy Relationships
• Student Resources
• Personality Types
• Guided Meditations
• Verywell Mind Insights
• 2024 Verywell Mind 25
• Mental Health in the Classroom
• Editorial Process
• Meet Our Review Board
• Crisis Support

Problem-Solving Strategies and Obstacles

Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

Sean is a fact-checker and researcher with experience in sociology, field research, and data analytics.

JGI / Jamie Grill / Getty Images

• Application
• Improvement

From deciding what to eat for dinner to considering whether it's the right time to buy a house, problem-solving is a large part of our daily lives. Learn some of the problem-solving strategies that exist and how to use them in real life, along with ways to overcome obstacles that are making it harder to resolve the issues you face.

What Is Problem-Solving?

In cognitive psychology , the term 'problem-solving' refers to the mental process that people go through to discover, analyze, and solve problems.

A problem exists when there is a goal that we want to achieve but the process by which we will achieve it is not obvious to us. Put another way, there is something that we want to occur in our life, yet we are not immediately certain how to make it happen.

Maybe you want a better relationship with your spouse or another family member but you're not sure how to improve it. Or you want to start a business but are unsure what steps to take. Problem-solving helps you figure out how to achieve these desires.

The problem-solving process involves:

• Discovery of the problem
• Deciding to tackle the issue
• Seeking to understand the problem more fully
• Researching available options or solutions
• Taking action to resolve the issue

Before problem-solving can occur, it is important to first understand the exact nature of the problem itself. If your understanding of the issue is faulty, your attempts to resolve it will also be incorrect or flawed.

Problem-Solving Mental Processes

Several mental processes are at work during problem-solving. Among them are:

• Perceptually recognizing the problem
• Representing the problem in memory
• Considering relevant information that applies to the problem
• Identifying different aspects of the problem
• Labeling and describing the problem

Problem-Solving Strategies

There are many ways to go about solving a problem. Some of these strategies might be used on their own, or you may decide to employ multiple approaches when working to figure out and fix a problem.

An algorithm is a step-by-step procedure that, by following certain "rules" produces a solution. Algorithms are commonly used in mathematics to solve division or multiplication problems. But they can be used in other fields as well.

In psychology, algorithms can be used to help identify individuals with a greater risk of mental health issues. For instance, research suggests that certain algorithms might help us recognize children with an elevated risk of suicide or self-harm.

One benefit of algorithms is that they guarantee an accurate answer. However, they aren't always the best approach to problem-solving, in part because detecting patterns can be incredibly time-consuming.

There are also concerns when machine learning is involved—also known as artificial intelligence (AI)—such as whether they can accurately predict human behaviors.

Heuristics are shortcut strategies that people can use to solve a problem at hand. These "rule of thumb" approaches allow you to simplify complex problems, reducing the total number of possible solutions to a more manageable set.

If you find yourself sitting in a traffic jam, for example, you may quickly consider other routes, taking one to get moving once again. When shopping for a new car, you might think back to a prior experience when negotiating got you a lower price, then employ the same tactics.

While heuristics may be helpful when facing smaller issues, major decisions shouldn't necessarily be made using a shortcut approach. Heuristics also don't guarantee an effective solution, such as when trying to drive around a traffic jam only to find yourself on an equally crowded route.

Trial and Error

A trial-and-error approach to problem-solving involves trying a number of potential solutions to a particular issue, then ruling out those that do not work. If you're not sure whether to buy a shirt in blue or green, for instance, you may try on each before deciding which one to purchase.

This can be a good strategy to use if you have a limited number of solutions available. But if there are many different choices available, narrowing down the possible options using another problem-solving technique can be helpful before attempting trial and error.

In some cases, the solution to a problem can appear as a sudden insight. You are facing an issue in a relationship or your career when, out of nowhere, the solution appears in your mind and you know exactly what to do.

Insight can occur when the problem in front of you is similar to an issue that you've dealt with in the past. Although, you may not recognize what is occurring since the underlying mental processes that lead to insight often happen outside of conscious awareness .

Research indicates that insight is most likely to occur during times when you are alone—such as when going on a walk by yourself, when you're in the shower, or when lying in bed after waking up.

How to Apply Problem-Solving Strategies in Real Life

If you're facing a problem, you can implement one or more of these strategies to find a potential solution. Here's how to use them in real life:

• Create a flow chart . If you have time, you can take advantage of the algorithm approach to problem-solving by sitting down and making a flow chart of each potential solution, its consequences, and what happens next.
• Recall your past experiences . When a problem needs to be solved fairly quickly, heuristics may be a better approach. Think back to when you faced a similar issue, then use your knowledge and experience to choose the best option possible.
• Start trying potential solutions . If your options are limited, start trying them one by one to see which solution is best for achieving your desired goal. If a particular solution doesn't work, move on to the next.
• Take some time alone . Since insight is often achieved when you're alone, carve out time to be by yourself for a while. The answer to your problem may come to you, seemingly out of the blue, if you spend some time away from others.

Obstacles to Problem-Solving

Problem-solving is not a flawless process as there are a number of obstacles that can interfere with our ability to solve a problem quickly and efficiently. These obstacles include:

• Assumptions: When dealing with a problem, people can make assumptions about the constraints and obstacles that prevent certain solutions. Thus, they may not even try some potential options.
• Functional fixedness : This term refers to the tendency to view problems only in their customary manner. Functional fixedness prevents people from fully seeing all of the different options that might be available to find a solution.
• Irrelevant or misleading information: When trying to solve a problem, it's important to distinguish between information that is relevant to the issue and irrelevant data that can lead to faulty solutions. The more complex the problem, the easier it is to focus on misleading or irrelevant information.
• Mental set: A mental set is a tendency to only use solutions that have worked in the past rather than looking for alternative ideas. A mental set can work as a heuristic, making it a useful problem-solving tool. However, mental sets can also lead to inflexibility, making it more difficult to find effective solutions.

How to Improve Your Problem-Solving Skills

In the end, if your goal is to become a better problem-solver, it's helpful to remember that this is a process. Thus, if you want to improve your problem-solving skills, following these steps can help lead you to your solution:

• Recognize that a problem exists . If you are facing a problem, there are generally signs. For instance, if you have a mental illness , you may experience excessive fear or sadness, mood changes, and changes in sleeping or eating habits. Recognizing these signs can help you realize that an issue exists.
• Decide to solve the problem . Make a conscious decision to solve the issue at hand. Commit to yourself that you will go through the steps necessary to find a solution.
• Seek to fully understand the issue . Analyze the problem you face, looking at it from all sides. If your problem is relationship-related, for instance, ask yourself how the other person may be interpreting the issue. You might also consider how your actions might be contributing to the situation.
• Research potential options . Using the problem-solving strategies mentioned, research potential solutions. Make a list of options, then consider each one individually. What are some pros and cons of taking the available routes? What would you need to do to make them happen?
• Take action . Select the best solution possible and take action. Action is one of the steps required for change . So, go through the motions needed to resolve the issue.
• Try another option, if needed . If the solution you chose didn't work, don't give up. Either go through the problem-solving process again or simply try another option.

You can find a way to solve your problems as long as you keep working toward this goal—even if the best solution is simply to let go because no other good solution exists.

Sarathy V. Real world problem-solving .  Front Hum Neurosci . 2018;12:261. doi:10.3389/fnhum.2018.00261

Dunbar K. Problem solving . A Companion to Cognitive Science . 2017. doi:10.1002/9781405164535.ch20

Stewart SL, Celebre A, Hirdes JP, Poss JW. Risk of suicide and self-harm in kids: The development of an algorithm to identify high-risk individuals within the children's mental health system . Child Psychiat Human Develop . 2020;51:913-924. doi:10.1007/s10578-020-00968-9

Rosenbusch H, Soldner F, Evans AM, Zeelenberg M. Supervised machine learning methods in psychology: A practical introduction with annotated R code . Soc Personal Psychol Compass . 2021;15(2):e12579. doi:10.1111/spc3.12579

Mishra S. Decision-making under risk: Integrating perspectives from biology, economics, and psychology . Personal Soc Psychol Rev . 2014;18(3):280-307. doi:10.1177/1088868314530517

Csikszentmihalyi M, Sawyer K. Creative insight: The social dimension of a solitary moment . In: The Systems Model of Creativity . 2015:73-98. doi:10.1007/978-94-017-9085-7_7

Chrysikou EG, Motyka K, Nigro C, Yang SI, Thompson-Schill SL. Functional fixedness in creative thinking tasks depends on stimulus modality .  Psychol Aesthet Creat Arts . 2016;10(4):425‐435. doi:10.1037/aca0000050

Huang F, Tang S, Hu Z. Unconditional perseveration of the short-term mental set in chunk decomposition .  Front Psychol . 2018;9:2568. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02568

National Alliance on Mental Illness. Warning signs and symptoms .

Mayer RE. Thinking, problem solving, cognition, 2nd ed .

Schooler JW, Ohlsson S, Brooks K. Thoughts beyond words: When language overshadows insight. J Experiment Psychol: General . 1993;122:166-183. doi:10.1037/0096-3445.2.166

By Kendra Cherry, MSEd Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."