A Catalyst for Problem Solving
This sponsored content is from Enterprise Saint John’s Heather Desserud. Submitted content does not necessarily reflect the opinions of Huddle.
How can you get an answer to a question you never ask?
The Province of New Brunswick ranks last in the country for research and development investment. It’s no surprise that during leaner times, companies and governments would look to cut costs by trimming “nice to haves.” But is R&D an extra—or vital to a company’s survival?
Mark Breen of the Catalyst Program sees problem-solving as the key to improving companies’ performance and development.
“When we take a company through Catalyst, we’re working with them to solve a problem that has been holding them back,” he said. “We find that a lot of the time, the real problem is quite different from the symptom. That’s what the Catalyst is all about: defining the problem, and working with the company to develop an immediate action plan to tackle it.”
It all starts with asking a question: “How might we improve our business?”
The Catalyst is a program operated by Enterprise Saint John, working with local businesses to identify problems and find solutions. It uses a step-by-step “creative problem-solving process” that uses participants’ own thought styles to help come up with new ideas.
The idea behind it is that everyone has their own preferred method of solving problems. Some people like to come up with dozens of ideas; some like to place the problem in a broader context; others would rather work on improving a plan already in place; some even rush off to implement a fix without having stopped to think it through. By assessing each participant’s problem-solving style using a matrix developed by Dr. Min Basadur at Simplexity, the Catalyst helps people tap into their natural skills and recognize the need for mental diversity in problem-solving teams.
Don’t call it brainstorming, though—Breen hates the word!
“How many times have you gone to a ‘brainstorming’ session that is duller than drying paint, which ends up arriving at the same fluffy approach you’ve used a hundred times? This program is different; we work to help people break free of the usual mentality. Instead of spending valuable time and resources on spinning your wheels, we help you develop an immediate plan that you can put in action right away.”
Wayne Chamberlain participated in the Catalyst with his company, Intelisys Aviation Systems. The company provides software systems for aviation companies around the globe. At a full-day session in September 2015, the company walked through the problem-solving steps to figure out a better way to think through some of the challenges they were facing.
“Like any company, we always have challenges that we’re looking to improve, problems that we have been working away at for a while. We were making incremental progress, but the promise of Catalyst is that it can help you break out of that comfort zone,” Chamberlain said.
After working with the Catalyst, Chamberlain’s team found that they had not only worked through the problem of the day—they also had a new methodology for tackling other problems in the future.
Chamberlain said: “In IT, we love processes that are repeatable, tested, and that we can implement ourselves. That’s what we loved about the Catalyst. It wasn’t someone coming from outside to tell us the answer—it was a way of finding it ourselves, that we can use in any situation. It may take a while to internalize, but it was certainly worth our time.”
If your company has a complicated problem that’s holding you back, contact Mark Breen (email: [email protected]). After all, you can’t get answers to a question you don’t ask.