Sustainable and Intelligent Solutions to Organisational Problems - by Hamid Soltani
Organisational Challenges
It is certain that in the life span of an organisation, there will be a variety of occasions that it will be seriously confronted with problems relating to their performance, stagnation of essential supplies, stakeholder’s management / engagement / satisfactions or capability management. Such problems can occur anywhere within the overall organisational maze of interrelating networks, conduits and the end-to-end processes. The common practice in such situations can be a direct management intervention and instant rectification of problems. They commonly use the concept of “project” as a viable driving vehicle for delivering the required solutions.
Challenges of Finding Solutions to Organisational problems
In addressing the heightened business problems or blockage, the question on the mind of enlightened management would be – in the process of clearing the immediate blockage, should we (organisation) directly deal with the root causes of the problem or should we ignore the extra steps required for a detailed and thorough investigation? Some may justify a quick win solution as a viable option in order to reduce project costs, time or potentially protect their “can do” reputations in their organisation. Of course management mistakenly believe they have the complete solution.
The reason for such thinking may be attributed to:
Obligation- either management is pressured by their leaders or they are personally driven to take short cuts for short term fixes;
Apathy – Management’s lack of interest in the wider organisational context, needs and aspirations;
Lack of 'Know how' – Management’s lack of necessary comprehension/ business intelligence to explore the real solution.
If an organisation decides to holistically deal with its particular problem:
how does it know how far and wide to go in order to uncover the root causes?
how does it know what they actually are and where to look for them?
what methods could it use?
The fact is that when organisations fail to identify the real reasons for their given problem(s), its potential consequence (the resulting simplistic assessment) will undoubtedly find its way in firstly, the business requirements that effectively will lack necessary substance needed to address the real needs and secondly, the developed solutions will naturally behave with a predestined deviation from the desired outcomes.
Such solutions, at best, will give the organisation a short respite and in most cases, the problem will reappear and potentially with more complications and potency. The clear loser in such scenarios is the organisation.
Our practical experience reveals that even with the right intention, majority of organisations fail to convincingly explore the real causes of their impending problems and for this reason, their solutions often fall short of eradicating the real issues and clearly lack the integrated and comprehensive approach to problem solving. It is no surprise that many organisations often try to fix a problem on more than one occasion and sometimes spanning their costly effort over decades.
What can an Organisation do?
The most appropriate action that organisations can take is to Restore Order & Intelligence in their management practices. The following are intended to provide some guidelines for organisations to focus on while trying to solve their problems:
Get to the Root Cause
Establish and support the practice of “let’s get to the Root of the problem before solving it”. Be aware there is always a number of underlying factors that give rise to a particular outcome. Each factor by itself may also comprise of other causes until we unpeel further and further to reveal the final root causes. If a given organisation experience or outcome is undesirable, the causes supporting the process that produced a given outcome needs to be identified and subsequently changed. Imagine the possible ramifications of not exploring the real causes of problems in your organisation.
Consider all Possibilities
The causes may comprise of a combination of logical, psychological or technical factors. All possibilities are within the realm of genuine investigation. Note the solution may also lie in a holistic view around the sustainability of stakeholders, ecosystem, capability and the supporting culture.
Everyone is Responsible
Be aware that the overall well being of your organisation is in your personal hands. If for whatever reason, your management does not allow you the necessary opportunity to investigate the real causes and requirements for a given problem, ensure your systemic concerns are noted and communicated clearly to the right levels of management.
People are the Main Focus
All organisational designs and solutions should be structured around the people and the environment. People are your shareholders, customers, staff, suppliers, regulatory bodies and community. The environment is the natural environment that sustains the organisation, plus the operating space that satisfies and balances the needs of the stakeholders.
Middle Management Rules
The leadership role of the middle management is highly critical in educating and guiding their executives and subordinate’s awareness for a holistic approach to problem solving. Variety of research studies continually indicate that middle management possess the appropriate key to help shaping the organisation for better outcomes and greater sustainability. Middle Management possess greater understanding of their business practices, potential and issues. Further they are generally in a great influential position to lead their subordinates and advise executives. When they do not step up to take leadership roles, the organisation’s opportunity for effective change becomes severely curtailed.
New Liberating Culture
Restore people’s faith in organisations' direction for creating a better world for everyone- namely the “common good” (Business research shows that organisations have higher and more productive people engagement when they apply and embed the mechanics of liberating culture into their organisation). This may include empowerment of staff and creation of the environment of trust and transparency. In this paradigm, staff at all levels will be listened to and allowed to assist in improving the organisation and shaping the ideal learning and participating culture.
Effective Management Practices
Organisations can only grow, improve and prosper under effective management practices. In order to propagate the “liberating culture” where issues are freely allowed to be investigated all the way to their root causes, where individuals can feel empowered to effectively voice their views and make notable difference in the organisation, there needs to be a major deviation from the traditional style of command and control practices to an open, collaborative and systemically responsible practice.
Power of Collaboration
The systemic philosophy and practice of mutual collaboration at all levels of the organisation can significantly lift the general productivity and promote the sense of unity in teams, departments and the whole organisation. The concept of people collaboration can span effectively over the new strategic initiatives as well as facilitating the day to day problem solving activities. It can also become a strategic tool in supporting and maintaining a positive working relationship amongst the internal and external stakeholders.
Learn from History and Reduce Replications
When we learn from the past mistakes, we fully understand the root cause of what went wrong in the first place. There is no learning without real understanding.
Value Corporate Memory
The organisation strength & capability lies with its people’s knowledge. High costs are associated with staff unduly leaving organisations. The cost may include: past staff training & development, potential disruption to sustainability (e.g. customer negative impact), recruitment costs for new staff, new staff training.
Summary
Blockage in organisational flow can systemically undermine the performance of the organisation and if they are not addressed promptly, over time, they can severely reduce or totally halt the throughput/ performance of the entire organisation.
The solution lies in a basic philosophy of “get to the root of the problem before solving it”. The failure in doing so is the biggest impediment for organisations' current and future success. As the matter of urgency, all levels of management should shift the balance from what is popular to what is “best for a common good” as they weigh up their decisions for appropriate action.
This is a highly exciting time for organisational leaders to courageously explore, embrace and sponsor a new management culture of openness and transparency amongst their staff. This culture combined with the adoption of supporting management practices of 'staff freedom of expression', can directly promote and propagate the application of real intelligence to organisational decision making process and problem solving activities.