Managing the problem formulation process: guidelines for team leaders and facilitators

Problem formulation plays a crucial role in planning, problem solving, and decision making, potentially affecting all the succeeding phases, including idea generation, design, and implementation. Yet formulation is a very difficult process that often is rushed or taken for granted, particularly by new and unskilled team leaders/facilitators. With the advent of team-based organizations, more responsibility now falls on newly-appointed team leaders to manage the formulation process. This paper describes the role of a team leader or facilitator in managing the problem formulation process to reduce Type III errors (solving the “wrong” problem or a sub-optimal problem).