This quote is from a presentation by Matt Fourie, a consultant specialized in problem-solving and thinking tools, at the last Project Management Institute regional conference in Singapore.
What he means is that throughout his decades of experience as a consultant helping organizations solve problems, he has found that in more than 95% of the cases, the solution and the understanding of the problem was known by someone in the organization. But that this knowledge was not mobilized effectively. This very much connects with my experience too – often by listening to the front line people, the answer is obvious.
Usual issues that impede proper problem solving are:
- problem-solving meetings involve managers that do not know about the details of the operation
- there is a disconnect between management and operators
- people jump to conclusion (and action) without analyzing the data
It is where all the initiatives such as Total Quality management are really useful, as they seek to mobilize effectively all the organization members’ knowledge. Today with internal social networks we have a further opportunity to leverage that knowledge.
Next time when you face an issue in your organization, rather than looking for external answers, the first question you should ask is: “who would know the answer in the organization, who should I include in the discussion?”. Do that today! You’ll see the difference.
