My Thoughts

Stop Overcomplicating Everything: The Aussie's Guide to Problem Solving That Actually Works

Mate, I've been watching people tie themselves in knots over simple problems for the better part of two decades, and frankly, it's giving me the shits. Yesterday, I watched a perfectly capable team leader spend forty-seven minutes (yes, I timed it) trying to "workshop" a solution to what was essentially a broken photocopier. The answer? Call the bloody service technician.

But here's the thing – and this might ruffle some feathers – most workplace problems aren't actually problems. They're just Tuesday morning inconveniences that we've dressed up in corporate speak and turned into "strategic challenges requiring stakeholder alignment."

I learned this the hard way back in '09 when I was running operations for a mid-sized logistics company in Brisbane. We had this "critical issue" with delivery delays that consumed three weeks of meetings, cost us $12,000 in consultant fees, and resulted in a 47-page action plan. The real solution? Our driver Gary had been taking the scenic route because his wife packed better sandwiches on longer trips. Five-minute conversation, problem solved.

The Aussie Problem-Solving Mindset

Here's what 73% of Australian businesses get wrong about problem-solving: they think complexity equals sophistication. Wrong. Dead wrong.

The best problem solvers I know – and I'm talking about the people who actually get shit done, not the ones who talk about getting shit done – follow what I call the "Bunnings Approach." You know what you need, you go get it, and you fix the bloody thing. No 16-step methodology required.

Take Sarah from Woolworths corporate (brilliant woman, absolutely brilliant). When their new POS system was causing checkout delays across 47 stores, instead of forming a committee to analyse stakeholder impact matrices, she grabbed two checkout operators and spent a morning scanning groceries herself. Found the issue in twenty minutes – the barcode reader needed recalibrating, and the training manual was explaining it backwards.

That's proper problem solving skills in action. Get your hands dirty. Ask the people actually doing the work.

Why Most Problem-Solving Training is Bollocks

Now, before you think I'm anti-training (I'm not – I run training sessions myself), let me be clear: most corporate problem-solving courses are teaching the wrong bloody approach. They're all about frameworks and methodologies and Six Sigma black belts, when what you really need is common sense and the courage to ask obvious questions.

I remember being dragged to this $3,000-per-head problem-solving workshop in Sydney back in 2018. Three days of flip charts and sticky notes and "ideation sessions." The facilitator – lovely bloke, probably very smart – had us spending two hours mapping the "problem ecosystem" for why the office coffee machine wasn't working.

Turned out someone had unplugged it to charge their laptop.

Two. Hours.

The Real Problem-Solving Process

Right, here's how you actually solve problems in the real world, none of this academic nonsense:

Step 1: Define the actual problem, not the symptom

Most people are solving the wrong thing entirely. "Sales are down" isn't a problem – it's a symptom. The problem might be that your sales team is using a CRM system that crashes every time someone tries to update a lead, so they've given up and gone back to Excel spreadsheets. Or maybe your biggest competitor just opened three stores in your territory and nobody told marketing.

Ask "why" at least three times. Then ask it again because you probably stopped too early.

Step 2: Talk to the people who live with this problem daily

Management loves to theorise about problems. Workers live with them. There's a difference, and it's usually worth about six months of your time and half your sanity.

I once worked with a manufacturing company where productivity had dropped 23% over eight months. Management was convinced it was a training issue and wanted to implement a new performance management system. Took me one conversation with Janet from the night shift to learn that the new LED lighting they'd installed was giving everyone headaches, so people were taking longer breaks and calling in sick more often.

Step 3: Try the obvious solution first

This will shock some people, but sometimes the simple answer is the right answer. Not everything needs to be innovative or disruptive or reimagined. Sometimes you just need to turn it off and turn it back on again.

The number of "complex technical issues" I've seen solved with basic maintenance is embarrassing. Clean the bloody thing. Oil it. Replace the batteries. Check if someone changed the password and forgot to tell everyone.

Step 4: Test fast, fail cheap

Here's where I'll probably lose the perfectionists in the audience: don't plan everything to death. Try something small, see if it works, adjust accordingly.

Perfect example – we had this retail client whose customer service ratings were in the toilet. Management wanted to redesign the entire customer journey and implement a new training programme. Cost: $200,000. Timeline: eight months.

Instead, we tried something mental: we put mirrors behind the service counter so staff could see themselves while talking to customers. People naturally smile more when they can see themselves. Customer satisfaction improved 34% in three weeks. Cost: $847.

Not every solution needs to be a major project.

What Australian Businesses Do Right (And Wrong)

Now, I'll give credit where it's due – Australian businesses are generally pretty good at cutting through bureaucratic nonsense when there's real pressure. The pandemic proved that. Companies that normally took six months to approve a new software licence were implementing remote work solutions in 48 hours.

But here's what drives me mental: as soon as the pressure's off, we go right back to overthinking everything. It's like we're embarrassed by practical solutions.

I worked with this fantastic team at Qantas a few years back (before all the recent chaos), and their approach to operational problems was textbook efficient. See problem, fix problem, document solution, move on. No drama, no committees, no stakeholder mapping exercises.

Compare that to some of the government departments I've consulted for, where changing a forms requires three committees, two impact assessments, and a business case that takes longer to write than the problem took to develop in the first place.

The Technology Trap

Speaking of overthinking – can we talk about how technology has made problem-solving simultaneously easier and more complicated?

On one hand, you can research solutions, connect with experts, and implement fixes faster than ever before. On the other hand, every problem now comes with seventeen different software solutions, each requiring integration with systems you didn't know you had.

I was working with a small accounting firm in Melbourne last year. They were spending 6 hours a week manually reconciling data between their accounting software and their project management tool. Simple problem, right? Should be easy to fix.

Three months later, they'd evaluated 14 different integration platforms, had demos with 8 vendors, and spent $23,000 on a "comprehensive solution" that did exactly what a $47-per-month Zapier automation would have done.

Sometimes the fancy solution is worth it. Most times, it's not.

Common Mistakes I See Every Week

Mistake #1: Solving problems that don't exist

Classic example: spending six months building a perfect onboarding process for a department that only hires two people a year. Your time would be better spent literally anywhere else.

Mistake #2: Involving too many people in simple decisions

If it takes more than three people to decide how to fix something, you're probably solving the wrong thing. Or solving the right thing wrong.

Mistake #3: Confusing urgent with important

Just because someone's shouting about it doesn't make it worth fixing. I've seen teams drop everything to solve a problem affecting one difficult customer while ignoring systemic issues affecting hundreds of others.

Mistake #4: Not checking if the problem still exists

Laugh if you want, but I've seen people spend weeks solving problems that fixed themselves. Systems update, circumstances change, difficult people leave. Check your assumptions.

When NOT to Solve Problems

Here's a controversial opinion that'll probably annoy half the productivity gurus on LinkedIn: some problems aren't worth solving.

If it happens once a month, affects two people, and takes five minutes to work around, just work around it. Document the workaround and move on with your life. Not everything needs to be optimised.

I learned this from Frank, who ran operations for a freight company in Perth. Brilliant guy, probably saved that company millions over the years by knowing what to ignore. His rule was simple: if fixing the problem costs more than living with it for two years, live with it.

Obviously, this doesn't apply to safety issues or anything that affects customers directly. But that recurring IT glitch that requires you to restart your computer once a fortnight? Maybe just restart your computer.

The Follow-Up That Nobody Does

Right, here's the bit that separates actual problem solvers from people who just like the idea of being problem solvers: following up to make sure your solution actually worked.

I cannot count how many "solved" problems I've seen that were just pushed down the road six months. The checkout delay gets fixed, but now the inventory system is running slow. The customer service complaints drop, but staff turnover increases. The budget issue gets resolved, but now there's a quality problem.

Good problem solving includes checking that you didn't just create different problems somewhere else. It's not glamorous work, but it's the difference between fixing things and just moving them around.

What Actually Works

After all this ranting, here's what I've seen work consistently across industries, company sizes, and personality types:

Keep it simple. Start with conversations, not spreadsheets. Try small changes before big ones. Measure what matters, not what's easy to measure. And for the love of all that's holy, talk to the people who actually do the work before you start redesigning their processes.

Most importantly – and this might be the most Australian advice I can give – if something's working reasonably well, think very carefully before you try to improve it. Sometimes "good enough" is exactly that: good enough.

The best problem I ever solved took fifteen minutes and cost nothing. A client's team was constantly missing deadlines because they were unclear about priorities. Instead of implementing a new project management system or running prioritisation workshops, we just started ending every team meeting with "What's the one thing that absolutely has to be done this week?"

That's it. One question. Problems solved.

Not everything needs to be complicated. In fact, hardly anything needs to be complicated.

Trust me on this one.

Looking for more practical business insights? Check out our other articles on workplace training and business development strategies.