FAQ's
Our facilitator for Problem Solving has been exposed to Problem Solving with international clients during his rein at IBM since 1996. Having in-excess of 25 years of industry knowledge, the fundamental requirement seen over these years from companies is for its employees to have Problem Solving skills has one of the core competencies. Systems and environments are getting more complex through multiplex and multinode integration. As the complexity increases, Problem Solving skills are more crucial than ever.
In 2009, IBM Global, made a substantial investment to equip its employees across the globe with Problem Solving Methodologies. Our facilitator was instrumental in this Global rollout and served on the IBM Global Leadership Team as the certified Problem Solving Facilitator and licenced Program Leader on this Global project. He saw first hand the benefits it brought to IBM, its fellow employees and its customers.
A quick Google search of the top 5 job skills from 2000 till now will always show, Critical Thinking and/or Problem Solving as the Top 3 skill set required.
1. From a three day Problem Solving workshop you can only really state that you have attended a Problem Solving workshop and was a participant of the workshop.
2. Myself being previously certified licenced Problem Solving facilitator and Coach during my rein for IBM Global, I can safely state by thinking that a learners attendance for a two day or even a one week workshop makes the learner certified in problem solving , will then bring any 'Certified Problem Solving' learner's Certification into question.
3. Problem Solving skills is
largely soft skills since the learner is effectively a Problem Solving
facilitator.
4. This skill set is more
leaning towards leadership.
5. The learner will develop a strong horizontal skill set rather than a deep vertical subject matter knowledge.
To break this down further,
the learner ;
6. must show evidence of
problem solving workshop facilitations and effective usage of associated
processes over a period.
7. would have to show
evidence of the effective and documented usage of a problem solving methodology.
It is a fact that all problem solving methodologies have a visual workstream
that compliments the usage of their respective methodology.
8. Further the respective
companies like De Bone (6 Thinking hats) and Kepner and Tregeo, will accredit the
learner with a 'Program Leader Facilitator' for Process usage of their
Methodology. Based on personal experience and undergoing this process, this
certification can take place over a period of 6 months of active and
intense usage, this could even be a longer period of time. Further when
reference is made to 6 months, we are referring to an organization that
actively implements Problem Solving at a mature stage and the entire
organisation is actively using the stated methodology with a defined project
and implementation/rollout plan which is already in place.
The facilitator previously attained his
accreditation and was licenced through IBM Global as Program Leader , Process
Facilitator and Coach for Problem Solving on an International Level. He went
through a rigorous extensive programme with KT Princeton, USA for his
accreditation.
The facilitator was part of
the project team to rollout and implement the Problem Solving Methodology
across Africa, Europe, Russia and America's.
Further he personally
facilitated onsite Problem Solving workshops across the globe in all these
countries, in excess of 27 countries.
Not at All. Since it is like
driving a car. It comes with experience. How much of driving lessons do you
require to become a confident driver?
Over and above the facilitator being part of the founding IBM Leadership team for the Global Problem Solving Project, the facilitator has since worked for another international company in the Aviation sector where the PDCA Methodology was rolled out. However in the latter project rollout the executive management did not spend the efforts and time to get the buyin from the employees on the ground unlike with the IBM rollout plan which required a problem solving culture. The employees within the Aviation rollout found this to be a painful task for them to document their issues without understanding how it will improve their lives and the organisaton as a whole. Employees saw this as a tick-box approach so that management could have their stats and measurements met.
Further the facilitator
gained additional formal Problem Solving skills via his GIBS MBA programme
where he studied DeBones Six Thinking Hats and also used various other toolsets
for Problem Solving like; Strategic Thinking, Creative Thinking, to name
a few.
Takeaway 1: IBM Global Problem Solving Methodology Rollout
IBM focused on a single
methodology through-out the entire organisation being Kepner and Tregoe in this
case.
IBM highlighted key
resources, who was on the ground, months before the implementation and rollout
plan started.
Their objective was to have
fully trained 'brand ambassadors'. This team had regular sessions where they
were coached over a period of time prior to the organisational wide rollout.
When it was time to rollout there was a clear buy-in from these strategic
resources who were actually leaders in their space within the organisation.
More importantly these employees were on the ground interfacing daily with
their 'regular' colleagues.
When it was then time to
rollout the Problem Solving Methodology organisational wide the remainder
employees saw that their 'very own' was successfully using this 'new way of
working'. Further if any employees had difficulty using the Methodology their
had trained coaches amongst them whom was able to guide and assist immediately
to avoid the employees being frustrated. This prevented employees from finding
the methodology more of a hindrance rather they found this to be a supporting
tool to get their job done more efficiently.
Takeaway2: Aviation Sector Rollout
PDCA (Plan Do Check Act) is
a Problem Solving Toolset and not a Problem Solving Methodology.
PDCA is a Continuous Service Improvement Process, hence it is not a Methodology.
PDCA uses a compliment of various Problem Solving Methodologies to get to a root cause, some of which includes; 5 Whys, Ishikawha Fish Bone, Kepner and Tregoe. From indepth experience with the two rollout projects being Kepner and Tregoe and PDCA, PDCA takes time to rollout and requires much more effort since there is more methodologies one needs to use.
It is recorded that 80% of
companies, use PDCA as a Problem Solving 'Methodology' within their organisation.
Taking the lessons from the successful IBM rollout mentioned above, PDCA requires much more training , knowledge and actual usage for an effective and sustained implementation.
The facilitator was recently
privileged to be exposed to a Problem Solving workshop delivered by a global
training centre with their office based in SA. He was not surprised to see that
the course objectives, material and content was the same that was used 10 years
ago. The difference was the slides look crisper with graphics etc. However the
core content was the same. Its like being served salmon in a restaurant 10
years ago . The change is now the level and quality of the garnish is vastly
improved, however the Salmon which was the core element or the hero of the dish
, was still the same. Cooked the same
and prepared for the same amount of time as it was done 10 years ago.
You cannot change the
fundamental principles to Problem Solving. Companies tend to mould and
massage Problem Solving toolsets to meet their organisational
requirements thus 're-'branding them and repacking them with new innovative
names. However once you look inside, the principles that drive Problem Solving,
which is to ultimately find a root cause to a problem, is not much of a
surprise since its not any different.
Our focus is on application
of Problem Solving and reinforce in the new narrative, Practice with real
life examples. We are yet to find a Problem Solving workshop totally aligned to Brain Thinking!
Pure Brain Thinking! We have personally reviewed most programmes that are listed
on Public Domain and all of them dive straight into Problem Solving toolsets.
We first take learners through the journey of understanding
cognitively how to 'Build the Brain You Want', where the participant first
understands ‘Brain Thinking’ so that there is an awareness and ‘penny drop
moment’ before you undertake Problem Solving as your new journey. After all
Problem Solving Methodologies is providing a systematic, structured and visual
approach to Problem Solving, which is now ‘forcing’ and resulting in ‘habit’
change the learner has to undergo to cognitively be aware on how they approach
a problem to determine the root cause.
How about if I said that
this course was a UCT Leadership accreditation and at the end of the day you
get a certificate from UCT? Well it’s definitely not.
However let me explain why I
brought this up. My partner was on a Leadership course with UCT via her Blue
Chip company. There was some issue were a work stream was not provided to the
students on the programme and it was a team project task. Now the programme
facilitator had to back peddle and rectify the issue.
The UCT facilitator asked
the group, what was the key requirement from this programme from day 1 so that
you can successfully graduate. The key objective for graduation was 80%
attendance. The facilitator went on to further add that the project will still
go on with an adjusted timeline, however ‘Please note the mark will be a
subjective mark’ how much more honest of a facilitator can you get.
Coming back to the question.
What is your intent on attending a programme of this nature? Just getting
printed certificate with a logo on it instead of understanding its application,
similar to the UCT Programme mentioned above.
Our learning pack is
unpacking and demystifying Problem Solving in the real world.
If you want pure theory and concepts on Problem Solving it will be advisable to rather go onto Google, there is ample resources and great videos explaining such. Our focus is on application of Problem Solving . We are yet to find a Problem Solving course totally aligned to unraveling ones Brain Thinking! Pure Brain Thinking! We have personally reviewed most Problem Solving Programmes.