Problem-Solving Primer

Josh Howell, LEI President, Mark Reich, LEI Chief Engineer Strategy, and Art Smalley discuss the four basic types of problem-solving. Art is a well-known expert in leadership, management, and the Toyota Way. He worked at Toyota Motor Corp. in Japan; helped to transform Donnelly Corp. in Michigan; was a consultant with McKinsey & Co.; and has authored several award-winning books, including Four Types of Problems.  

The trio set out to discuss how the framework of the four types of problems maps onto the lean management system explained in Mark’s recent book about hoshin kanri, Managing on Purpose, as well as daily management in Toyota, leadership, culture, and other related topics. The systematic intersection of these topics is a complex subject beyond just the simpler notion of “tools.” Art and Mark share respective viewpoints from their time at Toyota in Japan and what made the system so unique while trying to connect the dots of four types of problems, hoshin kanri, and other areas. 

Josh kicks off the podcast by asking Art and Mark to examine in detail troubleshooting — the most frequent and possibly most misunderstood type of problem-solving. A good troubleshooting environment involves quickly attacking known problems with known solutions to get operations back to normal (i.e., how to mitigate issues that prevent achievement of near-term goals). They also review troubleshooting’s relationship with the other types of problem-solving and the “flavors” of the types — gap from standard (how to prevent a problem from recurring by eliminating its underlying root causes), target condition (kaizen to elevate the standard), and open-ended (innovations and breakthrough thinking) — as well as the complex interaction of the four types with daily management and hoshin kanri. 

Learn more about a lean management system and the connection between problem-solving, daily management, and hoshin kanri: lean.org/LMP