Entrepreneural Attributes - Problem Solving - from Raj Jain

"The better part of an entrepreneur’s day is about solving problems – especially in the early stages of a venture. Many things will go wrong; there are various challenges which need to be tackled. At these times, it is important to get to the root of the problem – focus on what are the key causes, rather than just looking at some aspects of the issue and trying to fix the ones that are easy. When it comes to problem solving, one must not make the mistake of trying to go for the low-hanging fruit.

Identifying the causes of what is going wrong is very important. What one sees are the effects. What is needed to trace back the lineage to the roots, and identify those key issues which cause the problem at hand.

Let me give a current problem that I face and go through the problem solving process. In my company, we face an issue of support for our customers. Some customers are unhappy because they have to hold for a long time when they call, others are not too thrilled about having to explain the problem every time they call in the event that there is a new person who they are communicating with. If one just looks at these issues, then the obvious solutions would be to add more support staff and get the staff to document the problem faced by the customer when they call. But the issues are a lot more complex.
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