Strong

It''s a challenge to your composure, to your centeredness. It's an attack on your boundaries. How do you react?

Nothing gives anyone the right to impose their problem on your property.

While it's not cause for aggression, it's also not cause for surrender. Stand strong. Remain resilient. Be bold yet kind.

A smile works as well during a refusal as it does during a deal. Smile, stand strong, or move along. 

A smile works as well during a refusal as it does during a deal. Smile, stand strong, or move along. 

When the need for creativity arises, creative problem solving is on your side. Bring your adversary into the picture. Ask, instead of demand. Then collaborate on a creative mix of solutions with at least one too good to refuse. 

-- doug smith

Tease Out The Causes

Problems have a way of intermingling and combining. What if you teased the pieces apart until you found the root cause?

Even if there are more causes than one, separating them can provide clarity and insights into faster solutions.

-- doug smith

 

Start To Solve

What if problem solving is mostly opportunity surfing?

Plunge in, it's time to begin, that problem will not solve itself.

-- doug smith

It Takes Discipline

 

Have you ever solved a problem quickly, only to have the solution break on you?

Solving problems requires collaboration. Unless we cooperate with other people, and they with us, our solutions will rapidly unravel. 

We also need discipline. Old problem-sustaining habits must give way to new solution supporting actions. We need to be able to hold our center, breathe thru our perceptions and hold onto helpfulness.

Even if you reach a solution to a problem quickly, it takes discipline to make the solution stay.

-- doug smith

Different

New problems resist old solutions.

-- doug smith

Get That Experience

Problem solving requires confidence. Confidence comes from solving problems.

-- doug smith

Grow

Centered problem solvers learn constantly because that's how they grow.

-- doug smith

Inspiration

Centered problem solvers turn irritation into inspiration.  Stay inspired.

-- doug smith

Problems Leave Clues

Check each problem for clues to its cause and be careful about distracting expectations.

It may not be what you thought it is. Dig deeper.

-- doug smith

Should You Talk About Your Problem?

You might not solve that problem by talking about it, but what if you did?

Centered problem solvers create dialogue. They listen and share in order to reach mutual understanding. The first step to mutual agreement on the solution to a problem is to understand the problem AND each other.

Got a problem? Talk about it.

-- doug smith

Centered Problem Solvers Detach

Do problems spark an emotional reaction in you? Sometimes, they do in me. Then guess what -- I've got the problem AND the emotional reaction. That does not help and it does not solve the problem.

Attaching yourself to a problem just makes it bigger.

Step back, detach, depersonalize, and breathe. That problem is not you after all. That problem is either manageable or solvable. Find out which and get started.

-- doug smith

Find the Flaw In Your Thinking

How does it feel like when your mind is foggy? For me, fogginess happens when there are an overwhelming number of choices, or possibilities, or the problem seems to cut so deep that only a tourniquet will help. Fogginess can also come from incomplete thinking - we stop at a place that makes sense to our unseen bias, and move forward without looking for other facts.

Flaws in our thinking develop when our thinking is misdirected (it was true about something else so it must be true about this), polluted (that advertisement is just SO convincing), corrupted (it might not be exactly right but it's good for me), and any of dozens of factors that fog our thoughts.

The flaw that blocks you knocks you off center. The flaw that deceives you leaves you without a real solution.

Find the flaw in your thinking while you can still find it, or the problem is yours to keep.

-- doug smith

Disentangle

To disentangle and detach from an emotion that's tied to a problem, first understand the problem.

-- doug smith

When It's Not A Problem

We call lots of things problems that really are not problems at all. If we know the solution and can immediately solve the situation, it's not exactly a problem, is it? If money can fix it and we have enough money for the situation, then it's not a problem (I know, the lack of money can certainly be a problem).

If we haven't prioritized the situation and it requires our attention, it's not so much a problem as a choice.

Yes, we have lots of problems. Let's just be careful about avoiding a situation by labeling it a problem.

It's not a problem just because it doesn't fit into your agenda.

-- doug smith

Sometimes It IS The Relationship

Do relationships impact your problems? Maybe not always, but sometimes. Relationships can both help and complicate problem situations. How we attend to the relationship impacts the problem. Whether or not we attend to the problem affects the relationship.

Not every problem can be solved by helping a relationship, but those than CAN be, must be or they remain problems.

-- doug smith

When Cultures Clash

Teams need time to talk. Interruptions into your busy schedule might be annoying. They might even be disruption. What if within those interruptions you could find new keys to better performance? What if in those interruptions were the secrets to solving the problems of your team?

You never know. When a leader gives a team member their complete and full attention, wonderful things happen. Growth, change, bonding, efficiency.

Yes, even efficiency. That interruption that feels like a hassle might end up making your team more efficient and complete, like a fabulous jazz band that improvises without missing, or a sports team that never drops the ball. Cohesive, collaborative teams come from communicating. Why not talk more?

Unless we take time to talk we may not have time for anything else.

Take time to talk.

-- doug smith

Take Care of the People, Too

High performance leaders solve problems. They know that there are no perfect processes and there sure ARE a lot of imperfect problems. Focused on results, we solve problems.

When we do, I've learned to keep this in mind. Whatever your solution, it will affect people. Some will like the change, and many will not. Whether or not the solution works could very well depend on how well people receive it, implement it, and support it.

To win the support of people, keep them in mind. Make sure that your solution is good for the process AND good for the people. Avoid trimming the fun out of a project at the expense of the people, just to save a dime. Avoid cutting organizations so such a lean point that people suffer from the burden. Take care of people. At the end of the day, whether you are fixing a process, developing a product, or even changing the world...isn't it all about the people?

Take care of the people as well as the problem. None of it matters without people.

-- doug smith

What If We're Not the Problem?

Centered problems solvers know that while people are involved in problems, it does no good to ascribe blame. Whose fault is it? It almost doesn't matter, and looking for whose fault it is will distract you from actually solving the problem.

We were all involved.

When we look at it that way, and determine how we can each help contribute to a solution, the problem because more manageable. Solve the problem and let the people be the people.

We need to solve problems without making each other the problem.

No need to add a problem to your problem.

-- doug smith

It's Not About The Blame

Centered problem solvers don't know everything, but they do know this: blaming someone for your problem just gives you another problem.

Skip the blame. Create a solution.

-- doug smith

Ignorance

It's frustrating to misunderstand a problem, or to deal with someone you are certain has misunderstood the problem. In that situation, influencing clarity is more difficult, and finding a solution stays clouded in ignorance.

The most troubling problems are rooted in ignorance.

You know that feeling that you're dealing with someone who just doesn't know what's going on? The frustration it causes, the distortion it encourages, the ignorance it perpetuates while frustration mounts?

What if you're that person, and you don't even know it?

The most troubling problems are rooted in ignorance, and sometimes we're the ones who do not know.

Centered problem solvers make room for that possibility - the chance that they do not know what they do not know.

It's not the solution, but it's a start.

-- doug smith