Solution Identification

· Solutions should focus on the problem, be accepted by the team and be achievable.
· Find opportunities to allow the individuals to meet to work out the differences, respectfully. Focus on strategies that can build trust in the relationship.
· Look at the tasks that the individuals are responsible for and explore whether or not they have had adequate training or resources to be successful in performing their tasks (so the solution is to provide additional training and/or mentoring to help your folks be successful).
· Evaluate the conditions under which these two work (are they sitting right next to the community coffee pot or the photocopy machine or with poor ventilation or no natural light? Is the environment affecting their behavior?) The solution may be to fix the problem by moving them or making some other change.
· Is it financially feasible? Can it be completed in a reasonable time? Can it be done within financial cost structures? What is the return on investment?
Brainstorming strategies are a great way to produce creative solutions. Brainstorming can be conducted as a collaborative team or individually. There are many strategies you can use, but the goal of brainstorming is to create a list of possible solutions. At this point, you are not selecting the best solution. You are focusing on reducing similar solutions and remove any possibilities that don’t address the identified problem. As we progress in the steps, we will select the solution. However, make sure the solutions on the list relate to the problem. There may be similar solutions that can be merged.

Here are some tips to help you create your solutions:

  Solutions should focus on the problem, be accepted by the team and be achievable. 
  Find opportunities to allow the individuals to meet to work out the differences, respectfully.  Focus on strategies that can build trust in the relationship. 
  Look at the tasks that the individuals are responsible for and explore whether or not they have had adequate training or resources to be successful in performing their tasks (so the solution is to provide additional training and/or mentoring to help your folks be successful). 
  Evaluate the conditions under which these two work (are they sitting right next to the community coffee pot or the photocopy machine or with poor ventilation or no natural light?  Is the environment affecting their behavior?) The solution may be to fix the problem by moving them or making some other change. 
  Is it financially feasible? Can it be completed in a reasonable time? Can it be done within financial cost structures? What is the return on investment?

Pink Bat Simple Truths: (Video) http://play.simpletruths.com/movie/pink-bat/
Brainstorming Activities: http://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/strategy-and-corporate-finance/our-insights/seven-steps-to-better-brainstorming
Brainstorming Activities, Mindtools: https://www.mindtools.com/brainstm.html
Continuous Process Improvement:
http://nwlink.com/~donclark/perform/process.html
http://nwlink.com/~donclark/perform/coach.html
Checklist For Achieving Excellence Through Performance: http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/perform/perform.html
Organizational Development: http://alumnus.caltech.edu/~rouda/T3_OD.html
Managing change with large-scale, real-time interventions: http://alumnus.caltech.edu/~rouda/T5_LSRTOD.html

Sample Solution