A recent article published in Quality Digest Daily pointed out that to foster a problem-solving culture, managers must serve as mentors and cultural leaders—building the systems and atmosphere that support and encourage team members at all levels to problem solve effectively.

That is absolutely true. However, once these problem-solving roles are understood, truly developing an effective problem-solving culture will require the following three elements:

• Adopting a formal, standardized problem-solving methodology for the organization

• Integrating the formal system into the organization in a way that capitalizes on existing roles, responsibilities, and systems

• Embracing a change management process to ensure people have the training and coaching to accept and perform new problem-solving functions

Adopt a formal, standardized problem-solving methodology

Establishing a standard methodology for the organization as a whole brings synergistic benefits beyond the skills of the individuals. If the methodology is developed and deployed well, problem-solving benefits will include:

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