Simple, clear problem-solving steps for groups

Understand – explore – decide

Let’s say you identify an issue that you think needs to be addressed or a problem that needs to be solved. How do you go from noticing the issue to making a decision? The problem-solving process laid out here is intended for issues that are more complex than just a simple tweak. Let’s imagine, for example, that you notice that, lately, more people have been sick, and you have a feeling that it has to do with the workload in the organization. You’re alarmed, and you bring it to the group that deals with these kinds of issues. 

Before we look more at this example, let’s revisit the simple difference between understanding – exploration and deciding. 

• Understanding is the process of, well, understanding what’s needed or happening in a situation.
• Exploration is where we might brainstorm opinions or ideas about the topic at hand.
• In decisions, we approve a plan of action or a policy. 

These building blocks nest – the “highest one” contains all the previous ones. To make a decision, we go through questions, reactions and consent, which corresponds to understand – explore – decide. 

Please read more for more context. 

Nesting the phases

On a broad level, to tackle an issue, we need first to understand what we’re trying to solve, then brainstorm solutions and then decide. 

What’s really useful, and they are also nested: whenever we have a phase, we can break it down into understand-explore-decide again (instead of “decide,” one might also use “choose” or “synthesize”). 

To work through solving a problem to completion, , the most useful “zoom” level is below, where we consider one more nested level. The understand phase falls into the three phases again and so on. 

Problem-solving steps

To explain how to solve a problem, it’s best to go back to our example of an unusually high number of work days lost due to illness in an organization. As explained above, we need to make sure we’re addressing this topic where it belongs, and that depends on the domain of the group. Let’s assume this lives in a circle (committee) called Wellbeing Circle.

Someone notices the unusually high number of sick people and brings the topic to the circle. The process will move through the phases of understand-explore-decide, with nested steps of understand-explore-decide for each phase.

Understand

Explore

Decide

How to use the problem-solving phases

In my experience, it’s a great idea to run those 3 phases in separate meetings. After each phase, there is a “product” that people can sit with – after Phase 1, a statement describing the issue and the need. After Phase 2, it’s the draft proposal. 

Alternatively and to save meeting time, those pieces can also be written between meetings. In Phase 1, one person would take the input and craft a needs statement out of the input in step 2. In Phase 2, someone could synthesize the proposal pieces from step 5 and share a draft proposal asynchronously. That way, everyone can come prepared for the third meeting to make a decision. 

Advanced level: add outside feedback

With complex issues, the group might choose to ask for additional input from people outside of the circle. There are many good moments to ask for feedback or do more research:

Understanding the issue

• Step 1: Getting more input on the data, or hearing more reports from other people
• Step 2: Asking others what they think the underlying causes are
• Step 3: Running the statement by other people ask asking them whether the statement seems to describe a problem accurately

Exploring solutions

• Step 4: Asking for more dimensions for the list. Is there anything the circle hasn’t considered looking at?
• Step 5: Are there other proposal ideas?
• Step 6: Sharing the draft proposal and asking for feedback on it. 

Of course, a circle will not ask 6 times, so they will likely pick and choose when it makes most sense to ask for feedback or research more information. 

This dance between the circle and the wider organization strengthens the trust relationships in the system because everyone’s input can be heard, and people are informed about what’s happening. 

Adapting this problem-solving structure

That’s the roadmap for moving a topic from noticing to a ready-made decision. The problem-solving process might not go as smoothly as described here. Maybe some phases can be reduced to the minimum when things are easy, like an accordion that can expand and contract. Some parts might only take a few minutes; some parts might take longer. 

Here’s an example of what it might look like when a group goes through the early exploration quite quickly with a short round in the middle; in phase 2, the group gets organization feedback on the draft. Phase 3 in this example takes a bit longer than usual because of an objection in the last step. 

Playing together

To me, knowing these underlying patterns of decision-making are like knowing the scales in music. Everyone can hit keys on a piano but if we want to play beautifully or with others, it helps to stick to patterns. This helps provide structure for others to plug in, riff off, and expand on the music. Then we can choose where we as a group want to focus our energy.