After identifying a problem and a solution, a course of action must be planned and organized.

In this session, you will learn how to complete the third phase of the problem-solving model. Topics will include planning and organizing a solution, completing a follow-up analysis, evaluating results, adapting with change, and celebrating success.

Introduction

After the problem has been identified and a solution has been chosen, it is time to plan and organize your course of action and implement it. Depending on the size of the decision you have made, these tasks may take minutes, or they might require a full project team to make sure everything is implemented effectively.

You have talked, planned, looked at all the options from every angle, and now it is time to put your plan to the test. Since you have spent the time needed to define the problem and make your decisions, this phase should be quite straightforward. Once you have developed your plan, and assembled the necessary people and supporting resources to get things started, it should be fairly easy! Of course, we are not quite finished yet.

Follow-Up Analysis

There is nothing like hindsight to let us know how well we have done. After your decisions are implemented, review the outcomes and determine your results.

What questions would you ask in a formal follow-up analysis to this process?

Evaluate

We might give little thought to small decisions that we make all the time as a routine part of our lives and work. For larger decisions, ask yourself what are the measurable impacts of the changes that were made. Gather those results and data first.

Then decide what questions you will ask and what format you will use to evaluate the effect of your decision and report on it. Do you require a simple summary of a few paragraphs, or does this decision need a full report?

What questions would you ask to evaluate a decision?

Adapt, Close, and Celebrate

Part of the reason that such careful follow-up should be done is to check for the need to alter our course. Sometimes, we must adapt or evolve in some way to continue along the desired path. If, during your evaluation, you find anything that need adapting, get back into the problem-solving process and make changes.

You might find the failure of a well-executed plan troubling, so remind yourself that you have now identified a new problem that you are working through. Then, re-implement and prepare for success.

Once the changes are finished and your evaluation is complete, make sure you close this project with all the people involved and celebrate your success. Change may not be easy, and you may have had some struggles, but you are finished for now!

We like the way Jack Welch, former CEO of GE, describes change. In an interview with CNBC on Sept. 7, 2007, he said: “Change is what excites people. You cannot stay the same. If you are growing, you have to keep growing. If you are going down, you got [sic] to turn it around. If you are stagnant, you are dead. And so in the end, you have got to get people to embrace change and not be paralyzed by it.”