Solving the Right Problem

Our preparation phase met its objectives: understanding the team’s interests, passion, strengths, and the market landscape of the competitors. The kick-off meeting helped us to know our Client's vision in detail, explicit and implicit. We developed an understanding of the strength of the client team and drafted a few strategies. Further interactions with the client refined our understanding of their problem. Our competitor analysis gave us a bigger picture of where our clients stand in the global market and where we can make a difference by utilizing their strengths and available opportunities (gaps). It helps to get a broader perspective while trying to understand and solve a problem. Our class had an ideation session where open discussion on all projects brought new ideas and suggestions. The experience was enriching and helped us further refine our solution strategy.

From my years of experience in consulting, I lean towards solving the right problem as the most crucial element in an engagement. In my limited decade of experience, defining and choosing the right problem to solve has determined the project's success more than any other single parameter. To quantify the same, I would like to quote a Harvard Business Review paper (Are you solving the right problems?, Thomas Wedell-Wedellsborg). From Thomas's survey of 106 C-Suite executives from 17 different countries (covering both public and private sectors), 85% strongly agreed or agreed that their organizations were bad at problem diagnosis, and 87% strongly agreed or agreed that this flaw cost significantly. This paper also highlights a pattern spurred by a penchant for action managers often tend to switch to solution mode without checking if they are solving the right problem.

Consultants are often sought in an engagement to solve the problem and set the clients in the right direction. In consulting, when clients explicitly specify a strong preference for solving one problem, it need not mean that a consultant chooses the same problem. From all the understanding built from the interactions and knowing our client's vision, mission, goals, and their strengths, potential opportunities, and weaknesses to achieve the same. A consultant should choose a problem with the highest potential to set the client towards their goal. As an analogy, I remember being a patient with severe neck pain approaching a therapist. I wanted the expert to address my neck problem. As a client, I wanted to hear a solution that directly specifies the neck. But my therapist suggested I do a shoulder exercise first. I was confused but understood from their explanation that the root cause lies elsewhere. My therapist did not do what their client wanted them to do but understood the problem and solved it with their expertise. That one incident has stayed with me as a small but constant reminder of the role of a consultant in an engagement. 

As discussed in class, Einstein had once said that If he had one hour to save the world, he would spend fifty-five minutes defining the problem and only five minutes finding the solution. Choosing the right problem to solve often sets the engagement for potential success. Managing the client relationship is crucial, but when a client does not understand the issue, it is the consultant's responsibility to educate them and solve the right problem.