What are some effective ways to apply collaborative problem solving skills to entrepreneurship?

Often, the most neglected aspect of problem-solving is at the very start - identifying the problem itself! And the second part is to understand and characterise it, and finally to prioritise the right problem. Understanding the problem needs good observation, listening -especially verbatims from the gemba. The problem is to be defined by characterising it. The 5W2H is indeed the best tool here - Ask What, Who, Where, When, Why and How, How much here. This will go a long way to the problem solving - the ideation and solution must address and answer these questions. The severity and impact of the problem, followed by its rate of occurrence, based on which priotizing will help to point to the right problem to attend to.

I must interject here : Root cause analysis is an important step to be performed to identify the cause factors especially the Root cause. The Cause and Effect diagram is a good tool to identify various cause factors that could cause the effect (problem). Thereafter, comes the ideation and solutioning. When it comes to finding solutions, Ideation and brain storming require unbounded and creative thinking, with no conditions applied to ensure free flow of ideas. Besides there must be no judging of the ideas or the ideators at this point. The best solutions come from out of the box approaches. The process is best performed with a structured approach that keeps its bearing to the root cause analysis.

A feedback loop is essential to complete the circle. Knowing the effectiveness and feedback from the affected is a good closure of the CPS. Recording the experience and wisdom gained from the CPS and sharing it amplifies the collaborativeness! Lesson Learnt (LL) and Things Gone Wrong (TGW) or Things Gone Right (TGR) or more practical shopfloor instructions like One point lessons can spread the awareness and help the prevention. The feedback from CPS should be ploughed back into documentation like FMEA and all the way into the planning or design phases for the new projects that may come up.

A key step to add in early in the stage is the Root cause analysis. Using tools like 5W2H for the problems characteristics and the Cause & effect matrix for cause factors, in conjunction is essential to effective problem solving.