Problems creep into our daily activities whether they are at work, at home or in the community. Far too many people display inappropriate reactions whenever confronted with a problem. On the one hand some may fall apart and become frazzled with the smallest perturbation to their routine. On the other hand, some may ignore the danger signals of a major storm that looms on the horizon.

Here are 9 steps to successfully complete the problem solving process.

1) Verify problem is present. First and foremost, you have to be certain that a problem indeed exists. Although circumstances may exist to make you suspicious, to know for sure you have to document that something just is not right. If you neglect to do this, you are merely acting on supposition.

2) Define the problem. Once you feel reasonably sure that the uneasiness of what's going on is out of the ordinary, define exactly what is happening or should be happening to turn things around. How has the flow of operations been affected? Is everything backlogged upstream? Are there one or more diversions of the flow? Are there impediments to the flow? Is the flow permeated with pollutants?

3) Assign significance to problem. Once you know that a problem exists and it has been defined, clarify if it is significant. Are there many pollutants in the flow that can harm the environment and humans? What is the significance quantitatively and qualitatively? Is it important, urgent, both or neither? If it lacks significant, measurable characteristics, expending money, time and effort is ludicrous and irresponsible when more critical problems can be addressed.

4) Discuss plans. Now a time to discuss the planning with others is warranted. Mix and match ideas until a consensus is amicably reached.

5) Write it down. Sure it's easy to gather around a table and gab endlessly about this or that. However, to organize the thoughts whether of an individual or group is an entirely different endeavor. Writing it down will sharpen the focus of the process to remove what is extraneous to achieving your desired results.

6) Implement. Outline first. Then undo what is wrong and is thought to be the inciting cause of the problem. When you encounter one mistake, be on the lookout for more that are clustered nearby. As you start the process of putting your plan into motion, make sure an inordinate number of new mistakes are not committed while you attempt amelioration. You don't want to execute a plan that will create more serious mistakes than existed before you began to replace it.

7) Test the system. After your plan is in place, test if your new flow of operations will do all that you had hoped it would do. If it falls short of this, refine it until it meets with your specifications.

8) Notify. Once you have decided that new procedures are acceptable for conducting business in your tiny corner of the world, notify others in writing with verbal reinforcement. Get the word out before the changes take effect. The last thing you want to do is throwing into chaos those you intended to help, because you forgot to announce it.

9) Monitor changes. After the new system is flowing smoothly, monitor it as a quality control measure. Have the procedures really resulted in a better way of doing things? Are the people following the new rules? Is it easy for them to comply with the procedures?

Completing the above can assist you in solving problems through defining, planning implementing, communicating and monitoring. If you don't let it, the problem solving process does not have to be a difficult, long journey. By breaking it down systematically into these small steps, you can make it more manageable. After successful completion of each step, you will also gain confidence to look forward to the next step.