Identify Problems and Solutions: 10 Evidence-Based Coaching Practices
Describe almost anything you are working through and IX Coach finds the practices whose real-world fit is closest. For Identify Problems and Solutions, these are the strongest matches in the current practice library.
Practices that may help
- Distinguish diagnostic trees (why?) from solution trees (how?)
Use a "why?" tree to find root causes and a "how?" tree to generate solutions — mixing them produces confusing structures.
Issue Tree Analysis - Climb the why–why ladder
Ask "why is this a problem?" repeatedly to reveal the higher-level goal your current framing may be missing.
Problem Reframing: Solving the Right Problem First - Bring a proposed solution when you bring a problem
Describe the problem and your recommended path before asking for a decision.
Managing Up: Practical Skills for Working with Your Boss - Map who actually owns the problem
Identify whose problem it truly is before investing in a solution — the framing often changes when you name the real owner.
Problem Reframing: Solving the Right Problem First - Listen before diagnosing
Resist the urge to solve until you can restate the problem in terms the other person agrees with.
The Trust Equation, Made Practical - Diagnose the challenge before choosing the response
Ask whether the problem requires new expertise (technical) or new values and behavior (adaptive).
Adaptive Leadership, Made Practical - Define — frame the right problem
Synthesize your research into a single, sharp problem statement before solving.
Design Thinking, Step by Step - Move to problem-solving only after understanding is mutual
Problem-solving before mutual understanding produces solutions neither party owns.
Looping for Understanding (Difficult Conversations) - Evaluate solutions against costs, benefits, and fit
Rate each solution on likelihood of success, personal costs, and fit with your values.
Problem-Solving Therapy, Made Practical - Distinguish technical problems from adaptive challenges
Separate problems you can solve with existing expertise from those requiring you to change.
Kegan’s Subject-Object Theory, Made Practical
Does this sound like the set of challenges you might be facing?
- The second something goes wrong I leap straight to fixes
- I keep fixing the thing right in front of me and the same trouble just keeps coming back in a new shape, which makes me think I’ve only been swatting at the surface
- I keep dropping problems on my boss’s desk and waiting for them to tell me what to do, and I can feel it reads as me not owning my work
- I’ve been killing myself trying to fix this, and it’s slowly dawning on me that the lever isn’t even in my hands
- The moment someone brings me a problem I’m already firing off solutions before they’ve finished explaining it
Related concerns
- Examples Of Problem Solving Frameworks
Standard frameworks (profit tree, 4Ps, Porter’s Five Forces) are pre-built MECE structures — use them rather than rebuilding from scratch.
Use proven MECE frameworks as starting structures
- How To Identify Problems
Use a "why?" tree to find root causes and a "how?" tree to generate solutions — mixing them produces confusing structures.
Distinguish diagnostic trees (why?) from solution trees (how?)
- How To Know If Youre The Problem
Identify whose problem it truly is before investing in a solution — the framing often changes when you name the real owner.
Map who actually owns the problem
- My Team Keeps Bringing Me Bare Problems And Looking At Me To Solve Them
Require reports to bring a recommendation alongside any problem — it’s a delegation practice, not just a time-saver.
Push recommendations up, not problems
- Why Your Team Never Grows When You Keep Solving Their Problems
Resist taking ownership of problems that belong to the people facing the adaptive challenge.
Give the work back without abandoning people
- Adaptive Vs Technical Problem
Ask whether the problem requires new expertise (technical) or new values and behavior (adaptive).
Diagnose the challenge before choosing the response
Describe your situation in your own words to search the complete practice library.