Four Step Problem Solving

Four-Step Problem Solving, Using critical thinking to get to the root cause of your problem, generate solutions, and implement the best solution.

This course is based on Corporate Training Workshops that I have been teaching for years on Four-Step Problem Solving. Students learn how to accurately name what is going wrong and map out the causes that have led to that issue, by asking the right questions. We use plenty of examples in this course, including a case study with a subject, so you can see how to interview another person about problems in their life.

Thinking critically is at the foundation of knowledge work. Learning the process to conduct a thorough root cause analysis will help you ask the right questions when something goes awry. In this course, we start by clearly defining your problem before we jump into a root cause analysis, then we’ll start creatively generating solutions, and landing on a plan to implement. I also share my best practices on how to lead a problem-solving workshop with teams. I’ve been leading Problem Solving sessions for so long that you’ll see me do this work with several different hair colors.

The primary models we use in this course are an Ishikawa Diagram (sometimes called Fishbone Diagram) and an Ease and Impact Matrix. Make sure to download the attached worksheets and use the templates to follow along with your own problems!