Christopher Williams on Solving Complex Business Problems with Root Cause Analysis and Storytelling

Having navigated the finance industry at two prominent companies, JP Morgan Chase and Moody’s Investors Service, it is evident that Christopher Williams knows a thing or two about solving complex business problems. Christopher kicked off his career as an Accounts Services Analyst at JP Morgan Chase to now serving as Assistant Vice President at Moody’s Investors Service. With his 10+ years in the industry, Christopher has proven himself to be a successful business leader who has doubled down on his ability to lean into his skills to provide solid business value. What skills can he attribute his success to? Christopher would say that leaning into root cause analysis and storytelling is an effective framework to not only solve issues but to also explore how urgent these problems need to be addressed. 

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Why is this process important? Christopher mentions, 

Oftentimes, as we try to make enhancements and push a particular project or product forward, you have to do some root cause analysis to understand the core of the issue. Sometimes businesses are simply doing the same thing over and over again, instead of doubling down on the real blocker; not the apparent blocker. It is necessary to take a deep dive into the data we have access to, determine what subject matter experts we need to connect with, and really understand the problem at its core. However, that's only part of it. Then, you need to be able to communicate this in the form of a story. Because at this point, you are expected to show the value in this and why fixing it is necessary.

Let’s dive into this framework…

‍Review The Data and Identify What Appears to Be the Problem 

At this phase, you are reviewing and manipulating raw data, and/or organized data for more established projects, via your company’s choice of a database management system (DMBS) such as Microsoft Excel. This allows you to perform the necessary trend analysis and identify clusters to pinpoint any disruption in company performance. You are seeking instances and/or frequencies in which these disruptions occur. If you recognize that there are gaps in your data findings, you may want to resort to some type of data or technical team to assist you in finding additional resources to fill in these gaps. Now that you have all of the data that you need, it is time to frame the problem. You are now recognizing that a specific issue is taking place at a certain frequency and preventing the company from achieving key goals. Get ready to communicate that. 

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Reach Out to Internal Subject Matter Experts Who Can Assist in Dissecting Your Findings

Now that you have a certain level of understanding of what’s taking place, you may feel that receiving additional insight into this problem would be helpful. At this stage, you want to seek out internal subject matter experts who may be willing to review this information with you to answer the following questions:

• Is this activity normal?
• Is this an issue for our audience/customers/corporate partners?
• Is this causing a barrier to the company achieving certain metrics goals?
• Is this indeed a problem worth solving? If so, what is the level of urgency?
• Will solving this lead to leaner business processes? Will this ultimately gain us additional points on Lean Six Sigma? Lean Six Sigma is a team-focused managerial approach that seeks to improve performance by eliminating resource waste and defects by combining Six Sigma methods and tools with the lean manufacturing/lean enterprise philosophy

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Prepare Your Story and Presentation For Corporate Stakeholders 

At this phase, a couple of things are clear:

• You have gathered the necessary data to identify the problem and the customers affected by this problem.
• You have an understanding of how not solving this problem urgently may negatively impact business success.
• You have an understanding of how this is worth leveraging the company’s limited resources and time. 

Now, it’s time to present this information to key decision makers who can green-light you building out and taking on this new project. It is important to note the following when putting together your story for these stakeholders:

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Overall Presentation

• You want to successfully convey the story within 10 minutes or less.

Visual Presentation (Deck)

• Your deck should be visually appealing. 
• While data is important, it is imperative that you do not create a presentation with just numbers. You want the numbers to serve as a resource to assist you in telling the story of the issue at hand. Your data should be presented in graphs/graphics that showcase impact over a period of time. Remember: Stakeholders do not just want a snapshot of the issue; they need clarity on how this issue may prevail if it goes unsolved. 

Verbal Presentation Style

• Make your presentation charismatic and personable. If you notice their attention drifting, it is important to take a step back and create a more personal anecdote. You want to say something like, “ I spoke to my colleague [Name, Role] who mutually felt this was an issue worth solving due to her own experience with a similar problem”. You might even want to throw in a mini joke or two to reel people back in. 
• When navigating different companies, you need to adapt to that company's nomenclature. You want to use the words and the language that your colleagues use; speak in their corporate verbiage.
• You do not want to come into a presentation nervous and make it seem as if not solving this problem right now will make or break the company. Urgency is important but do not over dramatize the issue. You need to simply ensure that your story and data are valid enough to make decision makers think to themselves, “is the repercussion of not solving this NOW going to harm us later? 

Apply this framework to your business practices and you should witness transformative impact in your line of work. Remember, there are many approaches to solving a problem. This is just one of them that can help you, immensely. 

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Need motivation to navigate this tricky finance industry? Unclear of what you're doing in your career and how to grow? Christopher mentions, 

Although corporate America may seem like worlds apart, particularly for black folks, sometimes you just need to know yourself to better understand what you should be doing in your career. Think about what you're good at. What are your favorable traits? Then, determine what roles allow you to use those talents and excel at it. I think sometimes we forget, or we don't look at what we naturally have inside us, and how that fits into our career. The reality is we're always constantly going to upskill, attain new degrees, get new certifications and ultimately find a way to grow and be better. However, I think one of the aspects of navigating our career is seeking alignment and leveraging what we are already good at to fit into the corporate world. For me, my love of Hip Hop and freestyling has translated into the ability to think quickly during presentations while providing effective and engaging story telling in the corporate landscape.

Interested in learning more about Christopher Williams? You can check him out, here.