Most people don’t identify a problem correctly. They expend resources to treat a symptom of a problem hence the problem reoccurs causing frustration, the “blame game”, extra business costs and, most importantly, sub-optimal customer/patient service…impacting almost all aspects of your business. This occurs when people are habitually stuck in the “problem solving to survive” mode (i.e. “firefighting”). We rarely get twenty years of experience. Instead we get one year of experience twenty times…solving the same types of problems over and over!

When the time is taken to identify the true problem that needs to be solved, then it can be broken down between two streams: people and process. Examining both streams will lead to true root cause of the problem and irreversible corrective action to prevent the problem from reoccurring. Problem solving is at the core of successful LEAN transformations.