DINÁMICA DEL MAPA DEL PROBLEMA
Clearly defining a problem is the first step towards effectively solving it. This brief exercise is designed to facilitate this initial stage, helping to clarify in detail the challenge that the team wishes to tackle.
LEARNING
This process does not conclude with an unequivocal definition of the problem and its causes, but it allows the entire team to align on a specific issue.
The activityfocuses on three key aspects: unequivocally identifying what the problem ‘is’, identifying what is not part of the problem, and finally establishing what it currently ‘is not’ but should or could be.
STEP-BY-STEP APPLICATION
Problem description is a collective process in which each participant begins by working individually, formulating their own description of the problem to be analysed (opening phase). Subsequently, the group converges towards a consensual and shared problem definition.
- Before the meeting begins, each participant should have a blank sheet.
- Después de introducir el tema de la reunión, preguntar a los participantes sobre el problema que precisan resolver. En la misma hoja, pedirles que escriban un listado de temas que ayuden a explicar el problema. Con esta dinámica se trata de identificar todas las dimensiones de un problema.
- Next, after a few minutes of reflection, ask participants to turn the sheet over and draw the problem they need to solve. The artistic quality of the drawing should not be assessed, simply that it clearly represents the problem itself.
- Hang the drawings on the wall and explain the problem to be solved to the whole team. Representing the problem allows you to identify its full scope.
- In a final phase, the factors identified individually by each participant are compiled and agreed upon in a single shared document.
- Once a good description of the problem is available, the team can begin to work on the probable causes.
- Finally, once these causes have been validated, the root cause must be identified.
With this entire process, you can describe the problem to be addressed in great detail and determine actions that point in the right direction.
CONCLUSIONS
The problem description is a collective exercise that is divided into two phases. In the first phase, the work is done individually. This initial step allows different perceptions and points of view to be gathered without conditioning them prematurely. Then, in the second phase, the team works together to agree on the description and turn it into a collective and shared definition.
This synthesis process does not seek to impose a single perspective, but to construct a common formulation that integrates the relevant contributions of all participants.
The main lesson learned from this activity is that a good definition of the problem does not arise from the first opinion or from a single voice, but from the combination of individual perspectives which, when they converge, enable the construction of a shared understanding and a solid foundation for further work.