As rural advisors we are asked to find solutions for farmers and their businesses – our own clients or referrals from other professionals.
It might seem easy to head straight for the solution – to take the quickest path to the answer – but the risk is that the actual problem hasn’t been clearly identified. And the risk then is that the problem may well reappear down the track.
The problem can either be negative (things aren’t going well) or positive (things are going well but the question is where to from here, or an opportunity has arisen and needs looking at).
Being careful to unpeel the layers to get to the real heart of the problem is an important step in getting to a lasting solution. It’s just a bit harder to go there, spend the time and get to the bottom of it. But it can save time, money or stress in the long run.
The basics of problem solving are not new:
- Kidlin’s Law is a problem-solving principle that states, “If you write the problem down clearly, then the matter is half solved” – emphasising that clearly defining and articulating a problem is a crucial first step in finding a solution.
- Albert Einstein said, “If I had an hour to solve a problem, I’d spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and 5 minutes thinking about solutions.”
- Mathematician George Polya’s first step (of four) to problem solving is: “Understand the problem.”
When working through and getting to the bottom of the problem (whether financial, performance related, next step or deciding on a new strategy) a deeper question is: “What is my personal and/or business purpose?”
A problem can be the result of your direction of travel is not being aligned to your purpose. Purpose is a central concept to many key processes and outcomes in business, for example:
- A good business is the sum of: purpose, people and performance.
- In the Red Meat Profit Partnership’s ‘key attributes of high performing famers’, the first is: “Vision and drive: well-defined personal and business goals” – another way of saying purpose.
- Jack Cocks’ Kellogs report on the Resilience Triangle has three strategies that resilient farmers employ – the top of the triangle being purpose (followed by connection and wellbeing).
Lasting solutions come from identifying the problem and having a good idea of what your purpose is. You may well identify things that need to change or conversations that need to be had.
If you need to find the solution to a problem in your business, and want to work through the options, we have the tools and experience to help.
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