8 steps to identify and fix problems in your company

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Before making a change, first find out what is holding you back from success. 

By Scott Bellows

In Summary

• The Action Research Model contains eight useful steps to identify and fix potential problems.

Ever since childhood, Ondiko pondered the unfortunate reality of youth underemployment in Kenya. He examined the root causes as well as probable solutions.

While still a student in university in 2011, Ondiko founded a youth-based organisation. By 2014, the entity grew to 50 full-time staff and nearly 1,000 volunteers at universities across Kenya.

 

Ondiko began to realise that the organisation could achieve loftier goals with some possible modifications. He knew some problems existed in various departments due to varying levels of skill sets. Inasmuch, Ondiko decided to hire an external organisational development consultant to look into the prospective issues.

So, as a leader of an organisation with potential issues, Ondiko clearly does not want to continue with the status quo. He, like most leaders, desires to change his entity for the better.

Such leaders must understand the steps of the Action Research Model for organisational change. The Action Research Model contains eight useful steps to identify and fix potential problems.

1.Any change initiative must begin with identifying the problem.
When gathering your team together, take care not to become too specific with the problem. Acceptable problems may entail: “we fail to respond to client inquiries fast enough” or “our products are less creative than competitors”.

Do not proceed to label something internal to your entity as the problem in this stage, such as: “our sales team is lazy” or “our design engineers lack talent”. Focus on the end problem, or outcome, rather than possible inputs or outputs that may cause the end problem at this point.

2.Spend some time and consult with an organisational development behavioural science expert.

Organisations from Kisumu to Mombasa and Paris to Shanghai often skip behavioural science advice. Then, those same entities often wonder why their respective change initiatives do not work.

A behavioural science expert understands the motivations, expectations, and performance possibilities of workers. Include such individuals early in the process, such as here at the second stage.

Then, your approach, investigation, and solutions will run more smoothly. It will save you headache later. Find certified organisational development experts who understand worker behaviour through Kenya’s not-for-profit industry association: Institute of Organisation Development Practitioners.

3.Collect data and conduct preliminary diagnosis of possible problems and root causes.

Data collection could involve surveys, staff and stakeholder interviews, focus groups, as well as simple observations of staff interactions and reviews meeting minutes where possible.

4.Provide feedback back to the key client or organisation work group.

Companies in today’s competitive Kenyan environment desire actionable advice driven by data rather than non-quantified anecdotal observations. So, do not stand in front of the executive team and merely recount a few observations.