INSTANT MBA: Don't View An Issue As An Isolated Problem

Scott Anthony

Today's advice comes from Scott D. Anthony, managing partner at Innosight, a global strategy and innovation consulting firm via Bloomberg Businessweek.com:

"People try point solutions to a systemic problem. Let’s run an idea challenge! Have an ideation session! Form a growth group! Open a corporate venturing arm! Create incentives for innovation! None of these are bad, but point solutions don’t solve system-level problems."

Anthony highlights a noteworthy difference between using point solutions, which solve one particular problem in isolation, and using a well-rounded approach to solving systematic problems.

It's important to address a problem on a complex level, taking a whole system into account because viewing an issue as an isolated problem will most likely be ineffective in the long-run. By failing to see how all pieces within a company fit together, one solution alone may be unproductive and cause additional problems in the future. Anthony suggests working on four different aspects of a company simultaneously when dealing with problems. He has additional information on the topic in his recent ebook, Building a Growth Factory.

"My colleague Dave Duncan and I suggest working on four systems—a growth blueprint, production systems, governance and controls, and leadership, talent, and culture... It isn’t easy to do all of that, but it is what is required to really make innovation work at scale."

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