Five Steps to Solve a Problem, with Monica Chartier - Coaching for Leaders Recap

Podcast: Coaching for Leaders

Published: 2025-10-18

Duration: 32 min

Guests: Monica Chartier

Summary

Monica Chartier outlines a five-step framework based on design thinking to solve organizational problems, emphasizing empathy, defining problems, ideating, prototyping, and testing.

What Happened

Monica Chartier, a group product manager in the technology industry, joins host Dave Stohoviak to discuss a five-step framework for problem-solving derived from design thinking principles. They explore how empathy, the first step, requires engaging with the people affected by the problem, gathering their perspectives to better inform solutions. The second step, defining the problem, involves data collection and understanding the core issues through surveys and member feedback within their community.

In step three, ideation, they focus on forming hypotheses and co-creating ideas that can be tested. Monica and Dave recount their experiences with co-facilitating sessions and how this led to new insights and directions for their community offerings. Step four, prototyping, is about starting small and learning quickly, as they did with their peer momentum groups, which aimed to support leaders post-academy.

Testing and adapting, the fifth step, involves continuously learning from feedback and adapting the approach. The iterative process is highlighted as crucial in refining their leadership offerings. The importance of community in leadership development is underscored, with peer momentum groups being a significant outcome.

Monica emphasizes the value of viewing the framework as a cycle, constantly revisiting empathy to ensure solutions remain relevant. The conversation reveals how the iterative nature of the framework allows for ongoing improvements and better decision-making.

Dave shares insights on how the framework helped overcome challenges, such as clarifying session structures and adjusting meeting frequencies based on community feedback. Monica provides a guide detailing the five steps, aiming to help leaders and teams make more informed decisions and improve their problem-solving capabilities.

Listeners are encouraged to download the guide for practical applications of the discussed framework and to connect with Monica on LinkedIn to share their experiences.

Key Insights

• Empathy is the first step in problem-solving, requiring direct engagement with those affected to gather diverse perspectives and inform solution development.
• Defining the problem involves data collection through surveys and feedback, focusing on identifying core issues within a community.
• Prototyping in problem-solving emphasizes starting small and learning quickly, as demonstrated by peer momentum groups supporting leaders post-academy.
• The iterative process of testing and adapting solutions is crucial for refining leadership offerings, with community feedback guiding adjustments in session structures and meeting frequencies.