Steps to Growth Capital Investor Readiness Skills

4.5 Generate and Select Alternatives

Once you've defined your problem and identified its root cause(s), it's time to come up with possible solutions and then evaluate your alternatives carefully before you choose a course of action.

Generate Many Ideas

When people are faced with problems, they often grasp at the first reasonable idea that presents itself. But the first idea may not be the best or even one that will work out at all. The key is to generate as many alternatives as you can — go beyond the obvious solutions and come up with many ideas.

Brainstorm With Others

A quick way to gather many alternative solutions is to conduct a brainstorming session with your management team. With more people involved, it's more likely that the best solution will emerge. Because different people have different perspectives, they may come up with alternatives that would never have entered your mind. You can also encourage your group to build on each other's suggestions and work together to come up with very creative solutions to the problem. But remember that you reserve the right to make the final decision.

Avoid These Mistakes

Here are some common mistakes that happen during brainstorming sessions, along with suggestions for avoiding them.

For more information see:

• Brainstorming Tool for a step-by-step process for working with ideas; and
• Analogy Tool to help you look creatively for alternatives.

Evaluate Your Alternatives

Once you've generated a good range of ideas, you can proceed to evaluate the alternatives. Begin by developing some criteria to ensure each possibility receives equal consideration and scrutiny.

In a business environment, the criteria usually involve:

• Time — can we implement this action within the available timeframes?
  
• Cost — can we afford to do this, and is the cost in line with the seriousness of the problem?
  
• People — do we have personnel available, and do they have the knowledge and skills needed?
  
• Risk — what could go wrong if we take this action, and how likely is it to happen?
  
• Other Ramifications — what effect will this action have on all the other parts of our operation?

Before you make a decision, ensure that you understand what all the alternatives mean. And don't let an aggressive team member force you into a compromise or rush you into making a decision you're not sure about.

When you feel you've arrived at the best solution, it's wise to have your advisor review the evaluation. This person's perspective and experience will help you confirm you've chosen the proper solution.

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