Simple problem-solving models

- I occasionally do an experiment on my graduate student teams. I tell them to make a decision, and then I give some of them a structure for making that decision, often something as simple as I want everyone to offer their opinion about the option before you vote on a final choice. And then I give the others no structure at all. What happens is exactly what research says will happen. The teams that have just that little bit of structure make substantially better decisions and better manage their conflict. Interestingly, research shows that any structure leads to this improvement, but not that necessarily more structure does. I want to show you a couple simple problem-solving methods you can use with your groups to introduce a little bit of structure to help you make better decisions and solve problems more effectively. The first is called the nominal group technique. This can be done with limited time and is an ideal way to make sure that everyone gets to be involved. Scholars have outlined the method using between four and six steps, But the four most common are these. One, the silent listing of ideas. After you've outlined the problem you want them to solve, you give the group 20 minutes to write down every good idea they can come up with. Two, the creation of a master idea list. Here, acting as the facilitator, go in round robin fashion asking each person to offer their best idea. Then you go around the room again and again, asking them to share their next best idea, until everyone has shared all of their ideas. You can just put a tick mark next to repeat ideas. Three, the clarification of ideas. At this stage, the group can ask others for clarification. This also allows everyone to more fully expand and clarify their own ideas. Usually, you only need clarification on a few ideas, but this can take longer for more complex problems. Finally, an anonymous vote on which idea is best. If you're lucky, at this stage, a clear winner will emerge. You may end up with several that come to the top or a true diversity of opinions, but at least from here, you're in a better position to have an informed discussion and move forward. Another helpful structure for decision-making is the single-question technique developed by Carl Larson. Like the nominal group technique, the single-question technique is useful when time is short. These five steps include: identify the single question that the group needs to know to accomplish its purpose. Two, identify the sub-questions that must be answered in order to answer the single question. Three, determine whether you have enough information to answer the sub-questions. If yes, then answer them and move to step five. If not, move to step four. Step four, determine the most reasonable answers to the sub-questions. Step five, assuming that your answers are correct, determine the best solution. As noted, these are pretty simple approaches and are designed for more simple problems. There are also many others out there that might guide you, but these will certainly help. The next time your team or group gathers, I want you to try one of these out. You might get a little pushback, but see if you can make it a challenge for them. Say, let's just try it and see what it's like. As you put more structure into your problem-solving, you're going to be amazed at not just how much better your decisions are, but also how much better the process of decision-making is.