Problem Solving Workshop also known as LDJ (Lightning Decision Jam) is a method for solving problems or conflicts without facing any endless discussion and arguments in the group. It takes almost one hour for a team to come up with productive solutions and define actions in form of tasks and projects.
You are in fact doing Creative Problem Solving when you develop a product or service. It may include tasks such as designing a user interface, discussing the customers’ experience or any other activity to generate value.
Using “Creativity” to solve “Problems” is the factor which distinguishes the best and good designers! However, while working as a team it happens quite often that we get lost in discussions where everyone tries to come up with new ideas. If you realize that there’s an underlying passive-aggressive tension, there’s gossip, people start leaving and there are clear ego imbalances in your team, you are facing Project Fatigue! The team has been fighting in the trenches for too long, and people begin to sabotage each other to promote their own ideas, whether they are “good” or not. Remember that in team working, identifying the best solutions and prioritizing them is as important as creativity itself to achieve productive results.
Problem Solving Workshop or LDJ is a quick but efficient way to resolve this issue. During the sessions, it is as important to think and work alone as doing the same as a team. In this workshop everyone can express their opinion, perspective and understanding about the subject individually and come up with a solution as a team.
The workshop has 8 stages as following:
- Find and mention things that are working
- Capture all the problems
- Prioritize problems
- Reframe the problems as doable challenges
- Ideate without discussion
- Prioritize solutions
- Decide what to execute
- Make solutions actionable
The optimum number of participants is 6 to 8 persons but it is even possible to run LDJ workshops with less members as long as they are directly involved with the subject and highly informed. For workshops with higher number of participants, it is more efficient to form multiple groups with 6 to 8 members in each. The outcome of the workshop is list of prioritized solutions in form of quick actions, tasks and projects. There may be a group of answers or solutions which could be postponed for further sessions or making a decision about them later on.
Who can use a Problem Solving Workshop?
Regardless of size or field of your organization, if you feel stuck in making a proper decision or you simply want to save time and resources by finding the best solution from the beginning, LDJ workshop is your best friend. Big organizations and companies like the UN and Lego are using this method in their decision making processes as well as small companies or project managers. The focus is not on the size of your team or entity. As a matter of fact, you can use LDJ to find out what is the most efficient next move in your project or team which can resolve the most important issues in a creative way.
Check our Workshops page to discover more useful tools for developing your team and projects.
