Ishikawa Diagram: A Human Approach to Problem-Solving in Business | The 4 Fishes
4 Fishes.
Business Failure: The Need to Solve a Problem
“Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors” – African Proverb
The hopes and dreams of every entrepreneur are that everything is working as planned. But everybody who is reading this now knows that that won't be the case. And after all, it is the general ignorance of one fundamental rule in the business world that causes a business to fail:
Neither the best ideas nor the perfect timing or luck will guarantee you a successful business, but your ability to adapt to exogenous and endogenous changes and the finding of new opportunities in those will (1).
A brief introduction to our business failure
Our Digital Marketing Consulting company for small businesses, “Next Steps Marketing” was facing business failure. 3/5 Partners were leaving. Key partners that were substantial for the business due to their skills and language knowledge. The reason was that our main sales partner was changing their strategy from projects to masterclasses (in which we didn't have any previous business skills). Furthermore, we had a competitor who had a similar concept (that I helped them to create) and in general, working from home, COVID-19 and the Russian-Ukrainian war was pushing down the morale and motivation of the whole team. We needed a solution to the problem, which had multiple dimensions.
Ishikawa diagram: One fish is not enough
While being familiar with multiple business problem-solving techniques, the Ishikawa diagram is always a good tool to start with.
The advantages of this model are easy understanding, picturing the root cause, and identifying relations to a multidimensional business problem. It can help you understand the cause and effect of a multidimensional issue that you are trying to resolve if the method is done correctly (2). Simon already introduced you to Ishikawa's Fishbone Diagram here.
On the other side, this model is leaking many factors to an extent that it can even be dangerous to apply the Fishbone Diagram. At first, there is no guidance for building the bones of the Fishbone Diagrams for what is a “root cause” and how to define it. Many think they know the definition of a “root cause”, but don’t have a standard definition or clear explanation for their team. Mostly, the “root cause” is an opinion and not a well-defined phrase so that even external individuals can understand and verify it. Moreover, there is a step missing before the assessment of the different root causes. You need to know “WHAT happened” before finding out “WHY it happened”. Without understanding what happened, using a Fishbone Diagram often results in jumping to conclusions without completing the fact-finding. This can be dangerous in the later stages while trying to solve root causes that might have no or little impact on the solution. Furthermore, Fishbone Diagrams provide no guidance to help develop effective corrective actions. Therefore, the team often ends up picking one or more of the three standard corrective actions:
Training
Procedures
Discipline
Those are certainly not the full list of actions to take when the problem is deeper than the process goes. Especially when the problem can be deeply human. Finally, this model is leaking the very reason why we want to apply it in the first place: The method on how to solve those issues (2). This leads to the conclusion, that one fish is not enough. But what do we need to add?
The Human Approach to Business Problem-Solving
Ultimately, most business-related issues are human-caused. Directly through motivation, leadership, and human failure… Or indirectly, through external factors that are oftentimes human in a broader sense or some technical failures, that are human-made in some broader sense. For that very reason, we need to find an equally human solution. And to do so, we need to do the impossible: Understand deeply how we function, where our motivation is and why we want a solution in the first place.
Firstly, and besides deeply understanding the core problem, we must know the “Why's”. By starting with our “Why” we start to see from the perspective of why solving the problems would even improve. If we just act rationale, that is a weak way of trying to get us to make decisions, probably the weakest of them all (3). Hence, the “Why” must not be answered as “Because we need to solve the issue”. More of the motivation that is underlying in solving the problem. Maybe the problem is meant to be there? Possibly, there are other solutions to the problem if we know why we are doing what we are doing?
Secondly, we have to know what we want from the solution that we are seeking. Since problems are oftentimes human-based, we have to ask ourselves human questions. Tony Robbins, an American author, coach, speaker, and philanthropist known for his infomercials, seminars, and self-help courses and books, pointed out why some people have more quality and ultimately success in life:
“Quality questions create a quality life. Successful people ask better questions, and as a result, they get better answers.” — Tony Robbins (4).
For that very reason, we can't solve a problem with the same mindset that helped us to create it. Albert Einstein would define this as insanity. And right he is! Therefore, by asking better questions about every root cause, we can find and break the patterns of our human mind by seeing that what we are trying to solve is something that can and should empower us in the end. This is why asking empowering questions will help us find a new way of seeing the problem and redefining the outcome. A list of empowering questions can be found here.
Finally, the solution needs to be crafted by combining the mindset of “Why are we solving it and why are we doing what” and empowering questions that helped us to see the positivity and the challenge to grow in the problem itself. In that way, the solution will not only be rational and easily anticipated, but would add meaning to the process of solving it. This, in return, will help you grow as a leader, help you to understand your team, and also help the team to understand the bigger picture of what they are doing and why they and their contributions are important.
Ishikawa Diagram: The 4 Fishes explained
The model, that we are trying to build, is around the human feelings and emotions that lead to a meaningful solution. Starting with the problem and the definition of the root causes, defining the why, asking empowering questions, and writing down the solutions that emerge from this process will help us find the truly right solutions for us and our team and not the obvious rational solutions as described above. For this process, we need 4 fishes as an extension to the Ishikawa diagram. The process is explained with the problem that I was facing with Next Steps, the failing consulting business.
1. Step in Fishbone Diagram: The Problem
The first step in problem-solving for business is the traditional way the Ishikawa Diagram is meant to be. In summary, you brainstorm and write down all the problems and issues that are leading to the core problem you are trying to solve, while endeavoring to find a common nominator. Furthermore, you can find relations and different weights among those. Simon already explained this step here in detail.
In this example of Next Steps Marketing, we started to individually brainstorm what, we think, is going wrong and then brainstormed and clustered the “core problems” together into topics while also trying to find patterns and similarities in other fields. Moreover, we can see that the overall skill problems where we barely have any external or professional experience is leading that we are waiting for the ones who have more experience to start working on something. This turned out to be part of the non-functional work ethic as well as the decreasing motivation. In return, those who are actually capable of doing the work and have the time to do so are afraid to do “more than others” and “not getting paid extra” for their efforts.
2. Step in Fishbone Diagram: Find your Why!
The second step in the process is a) finding your why. This can be done with the framework of Simon Sinek (5):
Step 1: Gather stories and share them
Step 2: Identify themes
Step 3: Draft and refine a Why-statement
The process can be found here.
And b) finding why this problem is to be solved. For instance: Why is this problem important to me/us, or why do we want to continue this? This mindset will help you to prepare to be open to the problem. It will help you to clearly see what are the indispensable “root causes” and where they are interlinked. It will also prevent you from solving a problem that isn't worth solving because you will know that the whole approach to this will be different and the weights to core problems might shift.
In NextSteps Marketing, we focused on what we loved about the company and what we are doing. We started to see the positive sites first and opened up our minds to why we even care. We also clustered them into “root-causes”. Don't forget to try framing the positive root-causes to the problem itself, and otherwise you will end up only writing down general obvious terms like we sometimes did too. Concentrate on what you have and what you are grateful about the problem too, while also adding individual thoughts and ulterior motives. After all, there is a learning process for you and your team, and you want to avoid missing their true feelings and thoughts about it. For example, we are grateful that we are contributing to students as well as businesses, even on the small scale. Personally, we feel good while pitching our business ideas to others.
3. Step in Fishbone Diagram: Ask empowering questions!
As previously stated, our quality of life is defined by the questions we ask ourselves. You can either focus on disempowering questions like “Why me?” or “Why is this failing?” or you can ask yourself “How can I make the best out of this situation?”, “What can we learn from this?” or “In what way we can turn the disadvantages to our advantages?”. There is a huge difference between those two kinds of questions. A business consultant would focus on the disempowering questions and find radical solutions to those business problems, which usually results in cutting costs and layoff staff. While this is also important to do, we also need to look at the business problem-solving from another perspective, where we look at what's good and how we can develop. Remember: Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors.
We, at Next Steps Marketing, started to use the same “core-problem” clusters and started to ask ourselves empowering (and sometimes disempowering) questions. We wanted to know why our business concept isn't working, and we needed to find the answers. But on the other hand, we wanted to get a more profound meaning and to overcome the mental obstacles that we tell ourselves why we can't do something. The aim is to eliminate excuses we tell ourselves and really focus on what has to be done to solve the business problem once and for all. As in our example with “Sales”, we asked ourselves questions like “If we knew there was a simple solution to this problem, what would it be?”, “Who can help us?”, or “What can I do today that moves us forward?”. All those questions will help you find the right solution – a solution that fits your skills, knowledge, and network.
4. Step in Fishbone Diagram: Find the Solution!
By asking the “right” questions in the previous step, you are already almost done with the solution. You made your brain think about the positive aspects, and your brain waves already started to brainstorm solutions while asking those questions. Cluster your solution as you clustered your problem because you want to find “root solutions” to the “root causes”. Now, by asking the empowering questions, start to answer them and collect the answers from your team. Every answer counts and will help you to get there. You can put weights on the answers and relations, just the same way you did it with the problems. The best thing is, that a problem that seemed to be “unsolvable” now looks effortless to tackle. Don't forget to have a series of rounds because the “perfect solution” will not always emerge the first time thinking about it. Be aware that this is not a one-man task, and it should not be a one-man solution.
In the example of Next Steps Marketing, we found many potential solutions to the “core issues” to be tackled. To stick to the sales example, we found that what we are offering is also helpful for other types of businesses, and we also identified the people who are passionate about working on it. Furthermore, the sales solutions like “Networking with experts and offering them deals” would help us to grow our network and learn or outsource the skills that we don't have yet.
It is worth noting that all solutions are equally good or beneficial. You still have to limit those with the most impact and to those that are feasible now. Empowering questions will lead you to think big, which is good and helps to maintain and develop the vision. On the other hand, you need to know what is going wrong and what to do NOW. That's why you have to have a structure and make decisions together with your team.
The Albert's 4-Fishes Model
If you have done all the steps correctly, you should have the updated version of the Ishikawa diagram, looking like 4 fishes facing their heads:
Bonus Steps: It's all about your team.
Write an action plan and let your team choose which tasks they are passionate about. Start with listing down groups of tasks that have to be done to reach the desired solution. Break it down to small daily tasks that can be done quickly, such as contacting someone or making an account somewhere. For this, it is recommended to use a kanban board.
Moreover, do not mind “old roles” here. Someone in your team might have secret strengths or networks that you didn't know about as a manager. If somebody feels very entitled, let him or her champion this project while offering the whole team an open communication and help. Finally, you have to know your team. And your team is not only the people you work directly with or that you are supervising, but the ones that will help you solve the problem or that can help you to reach the desired goal. Write them down, classify them and make a stakeholder analysis, and then start reaching out by helping them first.
Summary
Human-caused problems need a human approach for a solution. Many managerial problems are bottom down based on human activity, motivation, or skill. The Ishikawa Model represented as a Fishbone Diagram is a good approach to displaying the problem, but only focusing on and describing the problem is not enough to find a solution. The second step, after describing the original Ishikawa Model, is to find your “Why”. By asking why you want to solve the problem, you draft a desirable outcome for every individual who is part of the problem (or part of the solution). Furthermore, you can have a more long-term view of the required solution. The second step is asking the right questions that will help you find the motivation and a solution that is based on a desire to reach the goal. By asking empowering questions, you condition your focus on the opportunity within the problem. The last step is the solution. By combining the why and what, it will be a lot easier to find a mutual understanding among the different parties that have been part of the problem. During the implementation, you have to focus on the team and their individual powers. Also, include external stakeholders in your team and start to build a relationship with them and include them in the mutual goals.
Know that to grow as a manager, you need things not working out as you have planned. You need to search for opportunities and pivot your strategy. Otherwise, your competitors will do it. And don't forget:
“Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors” – African Proverb
Limitations:
Not every problem is a human-based problem.
If there is no willingness, then no model will help.
External factors can be overwhelming, so a business can't pivot fast enough.
You won't have a perfect solution because some emotions can't be changed. If somebody from your team already thinking deeply about leaving and making the first steps to take so, then maybe it's better to let them go, even if they would be part of the solution.
Solutions are just attempts, it doesn't mean that they will work. It's just helping to find “a way out” of the problem.
It's a work in progress. This model is just showing you what is failing, why you need to solve it, your motivation to solve it, and a potential solution to it. As things are changing, so the solution will too.
Expect the unexpected.
Don't focus on the model, focus on the outcome you want to achieve, the model is just helping you.
Done is better than perfect.
References:
1) https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/12824302.pdf
2) https://www.taproot.com/fishbone-diagram-root-cause-analysis-pros-cons/
3) https://fourminutebooks.com/start-with-why-summary/
4) https://www.tonyrobbins.com/mind-meaning/ask-better-questions/
