Refining the Problem: 3 Underrated Skills That Improve Strategic Thinking and Business Performance
Refining the Problem: The Core Skill Behind Better Strategy
In today’s fast-paced business environment, teams are often under pressure to act quickly, deliver results, and show visible progress. But there's a critical skill that often gets overlooked—and it could be the difference between success and wasted effort:
The ability to refine the problem.
Whether you're a founder, team lead, consultant, or strategist, the ability to define the real challenge—before jumping to solutions—can transform your outcomes.
Too many teams throw resources at the wrong issue. They optimise processes that don’t matter, tweak strategies that aren’t rooted in insight, or build features no one asked for. Why?
Because the problem wasn’t clear in the first place.
Here are three practical skills that help cut through the noise and clarify what truly needs solving.
1. Surface the Hidden Assumptions
Every team operates on assumptions. Some are obvious. Others are so ingrained, they go unnoticed—and unchallenged.
These silent assumptions often shape your entire problem-solving approach. That’s risky.
Example:
A client once assumed their product wasn’t converting because of pricing. After investigating, we found the real issue: poor user experience on the checkout page.
Reflection prompt:
What are we treating as fact that might not be true? What beliefs are silently guiding this decision?
2. Use the 5 Whys to Find the Root Cause
One of the simplest and most effective tools in problem-solving is the 5 Whys method—a technique that originated at Toyota.
It involves asking “why?” multiple times (usually five) to drill down to the root cause of an issue. Most teams stop too early, addressing symptoms instead of solving the core issue.
Example:
Sales dropped → Why?
Customers aren’t renewing → Why?
They don’t see enough value → Why?
Key product features weren’t highlighted → Why?
Onboarding prioritised speed over education.
The result? A clearer focus: improve onboarding, not churn incentives.
Reflection prompt:
Have we gone deep enough? Are we solving symptoms or the real issue?
3. Explore the Alternatives Before Committing
We often operate inside invisible constraints. We optimise existing approaches without questioning whether the approach itself is the problem.
Example:
One team spent months improving their email funnel. When results didn’t improve, they finally considered: Are our customers even reachable via email?
Sometimes the real breakthrough lies outside the current framing.
Reflection prompt:
What else could be true? What haven’t we tried—or even thought to question?
Final Thoughts: Define Before You Fix
Solving the wrong problem with precision is still solving the wrong problem.
Before you optimise, define.
Before you fix, investigate.
If you're a business leader, data consultant, or strategist, investing in better problem definition can improve decision-making, reduce wasted time, and build alignment across your team.
What’s your approach?
How do you approach an unclear challenge or vague brief? I’d love to hear your strategies—drop me a message or share your thoughts.