Dig Deeper

It's the inner workings where the problems are the most persistent.

It takes longer to dig deeper. 

Dig deeper.

-- doug smith

 

The Need to Act

 

Some of us like to analyze. Some of us like to act and let someone else analyze.

Solving problems takes a balance. The most brilliant analysis producing the most wonderful ideas is all useless until someone acts.

Some problems encourage eternal analysis, but that does not mean that eternal analysis is best. Some analysis is best accomplished with action.

Think carefully, of course. Act boldly, also of course.

-- doug smith 

Go Beyond Analysis

Do you enjoy analyzing a problem? I can analyze all day long. It is useful, and it's even satisfying. But it does not solve the problem. Problems are persistent and do not care about your analysis. To fix a problem, we've got to do something.

Your problem will probably survive analysis. Do more.

-- doug smith

Leadership Call to Action:

Think about a problem that you have been analyzing recently. If you have not already done so, write down all the possible causes of that problem.

What is your next step beyond analysis? What part of that step can you do this week?

Folly

It doesn't solve a problem to curse its cause.

-- Doug Smith

Understand Your Problem

Have you ever tried to solve a problem that you didn't fully understand?

How did that turn out? Whenever I try to solve a problem that I don't fully understand I'm not happy with the results. I solve the wrong problem. Or I solve a symptom of the problem but not the root cause.

We need to go deeper. We need to take the time to understand what's going on. We need to understand our problem before we solve it.

It's counter-productive to solve a problem we don't understand.

Let's take the time to figure out what's going on. Let's understand our problem first, and then set about coming up with possible solutions.

Do you understand your biggest problem today?

-- Doug Smith

Front Range Leadership: High Performance Leadership Training

doug smith training: helping people communicate more effectively

What have you learned today?

Face Your Hidden Truths

Do you ever hide from yourself?

That might sound silly, but I think I've done it. We hide from ourselves when there is something about a problem that we need to solve that is really more about the choices we make that what is happening to us. In other words, sometimes we cause our own problems.

We break our own diets. We ignore our own exercise regimen. We avoid the people on our team we most need to talk with. We keep conversations light that need to go much, much deeper.

We don't do these things all the time, but when we do, they contribute to (and even cause) the problems in front of us.

To solve our toughest problems we must be willing to face our own hidden truths.

What kind of hidden truths? That's up to you.

-- Doug Smith

Front Range Leadership: Training Supervisors for Success

doug smith training: how to achieve your project goals

Find Your Problem's Secret Ingredients

Did you know that many problems have two secret ingredients?

No, it's not a special sauce or patented process. The secret ingredients are two things that hide under all the symptoms and cloud a problem solvers focus on the situation.

Centered problem solvers figure out what are the secret ingredients and how they are effecting the ideas being created, the pain being felt, the reactions of the people involved. Very often there are two secret ingredients:

Problems have one or both: a solution and/or a viable use.

Sometimes people don't want to solve what is framed as a problem because it already serves their needs. They like it. A person may not see the injustice in unequal distribution of resources if they have all the resources they need. A person may not see hunger as a problem if they eat in fine restaurants every night. A person may not see unhappy customers as a problem if the work is easier when the customer goes away.

The viable use could even be sensible, useful, and correct. Identifying something as a problem doesn't mean that it IS a problem, and certainly not for everyone.

That's why centered problem solvers stay curious. That's why to solve a problem on a long term basis (I'm hesitant to say forever) it's useful to figure out what the secret ingredients are. Your secret ingredients might vary, but they are probably there. What will you do about them?

-- Doug Smith

Front Range Leadership: Training Supervisors for Success

doug smith training: how to achieve your project goals

Remember We're Part of The Problem

Have you ever gotten so deep into solving a problem that you missed the fact that you were part of the problem?

I don't like it when it happens, but sometimes I realize that the problem only exists because I've created it. I put it there. It's the results of my actions.

Sobering. Disconcerting. Not fun. But, sometimes we're the problem.

Centered problem solvers realize that their part in the problem may be tough to see, yet it's likely there. What we do in looking at the problem has a lot to do with who we are. When we take the time to center ourselves before reaching conclusions, we end up with better conclusions.

Sometimes as we analyze a problem we are also analyzing ourselves.

Are you open to that?

-- Doug Smith

Front Range Leadership: Training Supervisors for Success

doug smith training: how to achieve your project goals

Test The Data

Are you analytic? Do you dig deep into the data of a problem to find the root cause?

Even those of us who embrace analysis can forget that the data may be flawed. It may reflect an undetected perspective. It may even be  compromised with an agenda.

No matter what the data says (and it's easy to miss this when we really like what the data says) it is important to check it for accuracy. Test it.

Successful centered problem solvers embrace the data but test it carefully.

Maybe it's true, maybe it's useful -- but maybe it's not.

Who do you have checking your data?

-- Douglas Brent Smith

Fix the Problem Not the Person

How are you at fixing people?

Me, either. People are tough to fix, mainly because they usually are not broken. Something simply stands in the way of where they are and their most effective actions. Sometimes, we're even the thing standing in the way and don't know it.

Sometimes it looks like another person is the problem, or at least the cause of the problem. The temptation gets stronger then to solve the problem by fixing the person, or insisting that they fix themselves. That seldom works.

We do not solve our problems by attacking other people.

That makes the problem bigger and harms the relationship. Centered problem solvers take time to carefully analyze the source of the problem and they involve related people in that process. Because while it's hard to fix people -- those very same people you might be tempted to fix are often the best source of help in solving the problem. The key is aligning them, not maligning them.

-- Douglas Brent Smith

Interested in solving more problems? Bring our Centered Problem Solving workshop to your location and see what a huge impact it can have in your team.

Rearrange Your Problem's Parts

Does your problem feel all mixed up? Maybe it's got YOU all mixed up, too.

Your problem may be made of parts begging to be rearranged.

Altered, modified, changed, rearranged. When you analyze your problem, see if that's the deal: mixed up perfectly good but confusing pieces.

Find the parts. Rearrange them. That might be all that you need.

-- Douglas Brent Smith

Identify The People Effected

Sometimes grouping problems into who they effect points the way to a faster solution.

Same customers, same problems. Same people, same situation. Isn't it likely that far enough upstream the causes are the same?

Before we start creating solutions, let's be sure to analyze a problem correctly.

-- Douglas Brent Smith

New Problems, New Solutions

It feels easier to solve problems using familiar solutions. We know they worked before. Why wouldn't they work again? That new problem seems familiar, too so why not throw a tested solution at it?

Because it may not work. Have we truly analyzed the problem? Do we understand the causes?

We should be careful about letting the solutions to past problems determine the solutions to our current problems.

Our current problems need current solutions. That's more work, but it's the right thing to do.

-- Douglas Brent Smith

Beyond Pretending

Pretending that there is no problem won't make it go away.

I've tried it. Hiding our heads in the sand only makes it more easy for a problem to sneak up on us and bite us.

Guess we might as well face the problems ahead of us.

-- Douglas Brent Smith

What if the problem is people?

Does it ever seem that your major problem would go away if you could just fix the people around it?

If you think that the problem is people, remember that includes you.

Now what?

Centered, creative problem solving starts with the knowledge that people are not perfect and are usually not to blame.

People are often misunderstood. Why not start with your communication around the problem to see if there are some misunderstandings there?

Talking about it is a great place to begin.

-- Douglas Brent Smith

Missing Shared Values

Have you ever tried to solve problems with a group that is split on its values?

It's not easy.

When we can't agree on what is important it becomes incredibly difficult to stay centered and solve problems. Challenges get bigger when values are in conflict. Ideals turn into contests. Personalities create barriers instead of solutions. Even when ideas do emerge, they are strained and out of alignment.

The first step is to establish alignment. We need a shared mission, goal, and values. Without shared values, how can we ever agree on a solution that meets the needs of all constituents?

Once we agree on our values it becomes easier to solve our problems.

Could that be the place to start?

-- Douglas Brent Smith

You'll Need Your Strengths

When your group is beginning to tackle a big problem, do you know all about your strengths?

It's easy to fix on our weaknesses. Likely, they are part of the problem. When I have seen groups identify their strengths first though it brings an energy to the effort that is remarkable. It helps in solving the problem. It helps in centering the group. It makes it all more fun.

Take inventory of your strengths as a group when you prepare to solve a problem. 

You'll like the impact of the effort.

-- Douglas Brent Smith

Solving Problems  |  Achieving Your Goals

A Change In Perspective

Does how you look at it matter?

Absolutely. Anything we can do to see things anew helps us find the optimal view. Anything we can do to turn around our filtering helps us get closer to the truth.

A change in perspective often brings a better solution to your problem.

Ways To Change Perspective:

- Ask someone else and listen with curiosity
- Reverse its current order
- Look at it upside down
- Combine it with something unrelated
- Take much more time than usual to view it
- If it can be offered in writing, read it slowly, aloud
- Try it as if you were ten years old. Four years old. Two.
- Try it as if you were 100 years old
- Drop your preconceived notions of what it means
- Ask "What if..." over and over...

What other ways can you come up with to alter your perspective?

-- Douglas Brent Smith

How Many Root Causes?

How many root causes does your problem have?

Much of our time as problem solvers is spent on finding the root cause. Where does our problem originate? What is the source of our trouble?

Could that be a bit of a myth? Is it possible that one root cause has created the situation we now see as a problem?

Probably not.

There are probably many sources of the problem. There are probably many contributing factors. Sure, there may be one origination point -- but by the time the problem has come to your attention there are connections in places you haven't even looked yet.

Problems with only one root cause only exist in our imagination.

Solving that one perceived cause is a great start -- but are you looking for other factors, too?

-- Douglas Brent Smith

Holding Judgment at Bay

It's tempting to jump to judgement when wrestling with a troubling problem. When causes seem to emerge, we can want to punish them, hold them down, to take them apart. It could be the wrong course of action.

We need to stay centered. We need to stay curious. We need to probe deeper to the true cause and deal with it unemotionally, as tough as that is.

Centered problem solvers Identify the causes of a problem without judging them.

The goal is to find viable, sustainable solutions to the problem -- not to punish it.

-- Douglas Brent Smith