we're going to talk about the group
problem-solving steps that you as a
leader should be
guiding your groups and teams through
anytime you are making an important
decision or solving an important problem
we are working out of bibi and
masterson's book on communicating in
small groups i'll put a link to that in
the description below
but you're going to see these group
problem solving steps in just about any
book on the topic so let's get into the
details
randy hirokawa from the university of
hawaii hilo has been doing research
on groups and group decision makings for
decades
and he's got lots of great findings on
what makes groups effective and
ineffective
when they are solving problems and
making decisions together
effective groups he has found follow a
clear process
to make those decisions and solve those
problems where ineffective groups do not
follow a clear process so hirokawa and
other researchers found that
these five steps we're going to talk
about all five of them are really
important but there
are some key steps three key steps that
are the best predictors
of quality group performance those are
steps one two and five
i will highlight them as we go and i
want to make a note that
this problem solving schema is really
based upon and resembles john dewey's
problem solving steps that classic list
of seven steps so we'll be referencing
that toward the end of the video
so step number one is to develop an
accurate understanding
of the problem this is a key step one of
the three key steps that predicts
effective outcomes quality outcomes you
have to get
really clear on what the problem is
you're trying to solve
if you want to develop a high quality
solution in the end
so one of the ways to do this is to
identify the root causes
the symptoms and discuss the history of
the problem to get a good picture of it
you can also do what's called an is or
is not analysis where you make a t-chart
and you list all the issues that that
are the problem
this is the problem and all the things
that are not the problem
is not so when you eliminate some of the
things on the is not side
of the ledger you get much more clear on
what actually is the problem
and so your eventual solution will
target that specific
problem and it won't be a confused or
blurry solution
you can use the journalists six
questions this classic
set of questions that journalists are
supposed to ask when they're
investigating an issue the who what when
where how and why
so that you get a well-rounded picture
you look at the problem from various
angles and have a comprehensive
understanding of what it is
you can also look at data and other
available information
rather than just speculating and trying
to use the power of your own logic to
figure it out
you want to look at actual data actual
information to get a firm
grasp on the issues you shouldn't be
guessing that's step number one
step number two is to develop
requirements for an acceptable
choice in the end this is another key
step
that will predict whether or not your
group is going to come up with a quality
outcome some people call this the ideal
choice the ideal solution criteria
that's where you establish
explicit standards for an acceptable
solution you have to ask questions like
what would a good solution
look like what would it include what
would it
not include for example you might say a
good colu a good solution would not
increase
costs above a certain level so that way
you know when you get to that solution
stage of this process
if it increases costs too much then it's
not yet a good solution
so does the solution accurately correct
the problem
as defined as it is so when you're
working on defining the problem and then
get really clear on what'll solve it
that'll help you later in the process
when you weigh the strengths and
weaknesses of your potential solution so
that's step number two
developing that acceptable criteria for
a solution
number three develop many alternatives
to the problem
more potential solutions increases the
chances of finding a high quality
solution so you get more ideas on the
table
you have more ideas to choose from that
may solve that
one of the classic ways to do this is
through group brainstorming
so you can brainstorm and come up with
lots of different ideas and
have some fun generating ideas in the
first place without judgment and then
you're probably going to get some better
solutions through that process then had
you just jumped to the conclusion
without fully looking at all the
alternatives there are some limitations
however
lots of things like group pressure and
and the extroverted people talk more and
things like that so along the way people
developed another
version of this called the nominal group
technique where essentially to boil it
down
people prepare individually ahead of
time
so individually they come up with many
possible solutions as they can come up
with
and draft them out and then when they
come together as a group
they're not going to be unduly
influenced by the first person who talks
because they have already prepared their
thoughts and and there'll be time for
everybody to share their thoughts and if
they have them in front of them even the
introverted
people or the people who aren't as
confident will eventually get a chance
to throw the ideas on the table
and again more ideas increases the
chances of a good idea
you can also have a structured debate
now this isn't easy
but it is possible to have a good
healthy respectful debate about the
different
options you're considering and what you
think are the best options and one of
the
reasons why debate is good is it can
often push the thinking
of the people with the ideas they'll
take a solution and it'll they'll it'll
help them make it better
when someone points out some issues with
it they'll refine it and improve it and
improve it so debate can be very helpful
in letting good ideas rise to the top
that's the classic reason for debate
but also it'll help refine those ideas
along the way
you don't however just want to have an
outright argument or fight about it
you want to have a civil professional
and
and structured debate that makes sense
and that follows a logical structure and
pattern
there are some notes beware of criticism
you don't want to just criticize an idea
as soon as it comes out
you have to let it sit on the table for
a while there's plenty of time to
critique these later
if you criticize each idea as it comes
out
then it's going to kill the vibe it's
going to
destroy the brainstorming session right
there you also don't want to use group
pressure
or leader pressure to push or ideas too
early on the group you have to let this
discussion unfold
and be sure to take full advantage of
individuals input that's why we do that
nominal group technique you have to get
every individual in the discussion to
really use the full power
of the group you may want to use for
this reason a
skilled facilitator if you have a group
leader who's
too dominant and they're pushy with
their ideas it's not going to work
you're just going to end up with what
the leader would have picked anyway
and it's very unlikely that the leader
of any given group is
going to have the best idea all the time
that's just not realistic you have to
get all the ideas on the table first so
you
want to if you can use a skilled
facilitator
that's the way to really get the most
out of our brainstorming session
and step number four assess the positive
features
of the solution alternatives so look at
each
solution and talk about all the
potential benefits and merits of the
idea make a list
of all the ideas and thoroughly discuss
all of those positive aspects of them
number five is another key step assess
the negative features
of the solution alternatives so this is
that third
key step that predicts quality outcomes
carefully consider the potential
downside of each solution so
list all of the potential problems you
have to reach a point you say okay now
let's talk about the potential
problems of this option
discuss them thoroughly and even you may
want to assign
a devil's advocate or two to
play the role of pointing out the flaws
and criticizing the ideas and looking at
the potential downsides you have to have
this in there
and i think the key point for this is
that looking at a solution with
open eyes will help prevent poor
solutions from
moving forward so this step is so
critical i believe because
if you really look at the problems then
you might have a oh this sounds so cool
but once you look at the real problems
that it might come with
it'll prevent you from advancing bad
solutions
into that decision making phase where
they actually get implemented so this
will stop poor decisions from moving
forward if you do this step
thoroughly that's why i believe it's so
important and then john dewey has steps
six and seven where you select the best
solutions
through some various method like
consensus majority vote
ranking and rating etc and then step
seven is where you
implement and test the solution so this
is where you roll it out
and see how it goes and then of course
potentially refine it
and improve it so here are some key
takeaways effective groups
follow a decision-making process and a
problem-solving process they don't just
wing it they don't just see where the
conversation goes
they don't just go with the flow they
have a process they spell out
that process in advance so everybody
understands what the roadmap is
and it's especially important to
thoroughly understand the problem you're
trying to solve that's one of the key
steps
establish criteria for an acceptable
solution that's the second key step and
the third key step is to evaluate the
potential
downside of proposed solutions this will
prevent
bad solutions from advancing in the
process
question of the day which of these steps
do you feel like you could benefit from
getting better at the most where do your
skills as a leader
as a participant need the most work i
would love to hear
your answer to that question in that
comment section below the video i look
forward to
reading them so thanks until next time i
will see you soon