What is Bill Gates' Problem Solving Strategy in Business?

Changes in market conditions can cause problems for businesses. Business problems can be diverse, and no company is problem-free. Therefore, it is crucial for company leaders to have a strong problem-solving strategy.

Solving a business problem involves more than just looking at the surface. In fact, surface problems are often the result of root causes that have not been addressed for a long time.

What is a strong problem-solving strategy that can produce progressive solutions for a business? Let's learn from Bill Gates' problem-solving strategy. The company he founded, Microsoft, remains a market leader in the software industry.

One of Microsoft's secrets to remaining a market leader to this day is its strong problem-solving process.

Research from McKinsey shows that organizations with the best problem-solving capabilities in the top quartile generate 3.5 times higher total returns to shareholders (TRS) than those in the bottom quartile.

These findings demonstrate how a leader must possess strong problem-solving skills in an era of disruption and increasingly unpredictable business challenges.

The Questions Bill Gates Uses to Solve Problems

Learning from Bill Gates' way of thinking is very interesting. When a problem arises in his business, he doesn't panic, but instead asks questions.

This habit was formed when he was a teenager and has been implemented at Microsoft ever since.

There are two questions Bill Gates always asks when solving problems in his business or daily life.

The first question is: Who has handled this problem well?

The second question is: What can we learn from them?

Two very simple questions that seem easy to answer, right? However, in reality, they are quite difficult to answer.

These two simple questions become difficult to answer when they involve problems that are not experienced by many people.

This is what Bill Gates experienced when dealing with global health issues. Therefore, he continues to conduct in-depth research on global health.

So, Bill Gates didn't just stop at those two questions; he always asked reflective questions like,

• What makes me passionate about solving this problem?
• What could I have done better?
• Am I learning enough new things?

Learning from Bill Gates, it turns out that the foundation of creating a problem-solving strategy is asking the right questions.

Adopting Bill Gates' Problem-Solving Strategy in Business

There are various ways to create a problem-solving strategy in business. Here are some ways you can follow Bill Gates' method and others recommended by Harvard University.

Asking the Right Questions

When a problem occurs, don't just focus on who did it wrong. Instead, ask questions that can get to the root of the problem. Two questions Bill Gates always asks are: Who has handled this problem well? And what can we learn from them?

Problem Framing

Before deciding on a solution to a business problem, it's important to map the problem and establish boundaries, context, and perspective.

For example, imagine you lead a technology consulting company and notice a decline in revenue over the past year. When this problem arises, try to map it out using appropriate questions such as:

• Is the problem with our consulting services?
• Do we need to improve the quality of our technology consulting services?
• Is this due to a poorly executed marketing process?

And other questions that can be mapped from various contexts. There's no one right or best way to map a problem. Ensure that you, as a leader, can engage your team in mapping the problem in a meaningful way.

Prioritize Empathy

Prioritize empathy over emotion in developing problem-solving strategies. Empathy is the ability to feel what your team is feeling and experiencing.

Empathy is needed to unravel the root of the problem. If a sales decline occurs, you and your team can approach consumers to ask what they feel and experience regarding your company's products.

By listening to consumers and empathizing, you can gain insights that can be used to analyze the problem and even create solutions.

Breaking Out of Old Ways of Thinking (Breaking Fixed Cognitive)

Breaking Fixed Cognitive describes a condition where someone solves a problem based on past experiences. However, the current problem may not be relevant to the present.

Sometimes a problem cannot be solved with old patterns. Therefore, you and your team can collaborate to find new perspectives to solve a business problem.

Build a Psychologically Safe Ecosystem

Your primary task as a leader is to create an environment and ecosystem conducive to problem-solving. Cultivate an atmosphere where the team feels safe to express ideas without fear of criticism and still feels valued.

Four Core Steps to Designing a Problem-Solving Strategy

It's unwise for a leader to immediately blame their team when a problem arises. In fact, when a problem arises, the leader will be at the forefront of encouraging his team to resolve it.

Because the team's problems are the leader's responsibility. Generally, here are four core steps in a problem-solving strategy, according to Ken Watanabe in his book, Problem Solving 101:

Understand the Situation

If a problem arises, take a moment to calm down. Observe what is actually happening, and understand the situation not from just one perspective, but from various perspectives.

By understanding the situation, we can define the problem. For example, if there is a decline in sales, we ask the sales team for their understanding of the situation and data, and we can determine that sales decreased because there was a decrease in distributors in region X.

Identify the Root Cause

You will face recurring problems if you cannot identify the root cause. There are several methods that can be used to identify the root cause, such as logic trees, 5 Whys, and cause-and-effect.

The logic tree method compares a problem to a tree. The main problem is like the top of the tree. The branches represent the main causes or dimensions of the problem.

Sub-branches that further elaborate on the details of each cause, ultimately leading to a hypothesis or potential solution.

The 5 Whys method involves asking the question "why" five times to generate a hypothesis or potential root cause.

Developing and Selecting the Best Solution

Brainstorm various solution ideas with your team, then analyze the pros and cons and their effectiveness. Most importantly, choose the most reasonable and impactful one.

Create a Concrete Action Plan

After finding and selecting the best solution idea, it's time to create a concrete and immediately executable action plan. Create a detailed plan that includes who will do what, how, when, where, and how it will be evaluated.

How to Hone Problem-Solving Skills?

Problem-solving strategies will be honed with experience as a leader in dealing with problems.

Challenges faced by leaders in dealing with problems come from various angles, often overwhelming them.

To overcome this overwhelm, leaders need to hone their problem-solving skills by learning creative, rational, effective, and optimal problem-solving strategies.

You can learn how to solve problems creatively, rationally, effectively, and optimally in prasmul-eli's problem-solving and decision-making training.

Consistently solve problems with a cool head to find the best solutions to your business challenges.