Centered Problem Solving Similarity #1

This entry is a set of notes for my work in Centered Leadership and Centered Problem Solving. If you're interested in dimensions, personality types, and core concepts behind Centered Problem Solving this may interest you. If not, it won't.

My work in CPS (Centered Problem Solving) is based on four personality types. I've interpreted them as four core leadership skills in my Centered Leadership Model and added a fifth - Centering.

There are many similarities with other personality models so this work is somewhat derivative. It's also I hope an evolution and synthesis of several similar and yet disparate types of sorting mechanisms. The purpose is to help leaders become more effect and efficient problem solvers who are capable of building great relationships while achieving great results.

Our tendency, since we are strongest in one of the four types (however you define them) is to focus on either results or relationships. When we do that we incur a cost to the dimension we are no focusing on. It does not need to be that way. In the parlay of improv, it's not an either/or choice but rather a both/and possibility. We can have both. The key is centering our focus and remaining flexible in our leadership strengths. That does require us to develop those three strengths that we are not as strong in, while also managing and regulating the strength that we are most strong in.

I'm calling this article Similarity #1 not because it is the first that I've encountered but simply as a way to sequence my occasional writings on this topic. It is by no means the first similarity I've found but I did stumble into it today (while looking for images around Don Miguel Ruiz's The Four Agreements, which also fit within the category of similarities -- at least I can see how the four agreements relate and apply to the Centered Problem Solving and Centered Leadership model.)

The similarity I found today is Adizes Methodology. Here's a link to some useful information on that:

http://paei.wikidot.com/adizes-methodology

I encourage you to read it. Part of the reason for writing this is so that I can save that link and refer to it again later.

This chart, taken from that source, is especially interesting in tracking personality types (or strengths) and their dimensions:

Source: http://paei.wdfiles.com/local--files/adizes-methodology/1-PAEI_Big_Table.gif

It's delightful how it does correspond to the four types of personalities identified in many sorter tools such as those mapped in this chart:

I've also hand-drawn an overlay chart for my quick take on The Adzes PAEI Model slightly rearranged to correspond with my Centered Leadership quadrants, with Ruiz's Four Agreements tracked to each quadrant. Some people might see this as a stretch. I see it as a helpful view of how our strengths can be expanded, strengthened, and made more flexible.

The Four Agreements, while not an exact fit with the types, can be thought of as much as challenges for each type as they are strengths. Someone whose main leadership strength is Courage (Effort) must be careful to always do their best. Those of us who have Creativity as a core strength must learn the agreement "don't take anything personally". Those who are strong with Clarity are very interested in making sure that none makes assumptions. And, those whose core strength is Compassion must strengthen their ability to be impeccable with their word.

Of course, absolutely, all four types benefit from embracing and developing all four agreements. The more I think about it, the less I think the four agreements map to type. They are skills. They are agreements. They are major life changes. All four core leadership strengths should develop them.

Still, I found it curious and decided to share it here for future reference and as part of my ongoing work on developing Centered Leadership and Centered Problem Solving (and yes, I am well aware that there is ample and useful -- even brilliant work on Centered Leadership with a slightly different approach. Again, it's not either/or here but rather both/and. I highly recommend that you read up on the approaches to centered leadership (also sometimes called mindful leadership) as detailed in the fine work of Joanna Barsh and Johanne Lavoie in Centered Leadership, and from Janice Marturano in Finding The Space To Lead.)

Big Questions

1. What similarities do you see in any of the popular personality sorters?
2. Do you see preferences as another term for strengths? Why or why not?
3. How can learning about our personality strengths help us develop our leadership and problem solving skills?
4. What implications exist to apply personality sorters to collaborative, creative, and centered problem solving?
5. For that matter, what similarities or differences do you see in what is described as collaborative problem solving, creative problem solving, and (my spin) centered problem solving?
6. What personality types have you been avoiding when you assemble your problem solving efforts? What should you do about that?

-- Doug Smith

Solve Problems Together

Centered problem solvers collaborate. When we involve other people we get better ideas, more cooperation, and more lasting solutions.

Solving problems together can be one of our strongest relationship builders.

We struggle together, we talk together, we build together, we fix together. We help each other see what we can't see alone.

Solve problems together -- you'll like the results.

-- Doug Smith

Define Carefully

Have you ever found yourself defining yourself with your problems?

It's easy to do. When problems surround us we think about our life in the context of those problems. But they don't need to define us. We are not our problems. We are not the net result of too much happening or unsolved mysteries. We are much more than that.

Our problems don't define us -- our solutions do.

And even then, our solutions only send signals for who we are. We are so much deeper - our character, our beliefs, our emotions, our loves...we are so much more than what we do.

And far more than our problems would indicate.

Stay centered, stay focused, create the you that you want to be -- and solve one problem at a time.

-- Doug Smith

Find The Right Help

Do you have all the help you need to solve your biggest problem?

When I have a problem that I'm struggling to solve, many times I discover that the reason is that I have not yet found the right person to help me.  That ace who was so helpful with the last problem, that team that got it all done -- they may still be lacking a missing piece of wisdom, inspiration, or skill to address the current situation.

Sometimes I just need to find that one person who is best equipped to take that problem on.

Not alone, but in harmony with the efforts already being made. When the right person shows up, it can make all the difference in the world.

Maybe that's true for you.

You may only be one person away from solving that problem.

Are you looking?

-- Doug Smith

Solve It Now

What happens to little problems that are left alone?

They get bigger. They turn more complicated. They grow nasty roots. They require even larger interventions.

The time to solve that problem is now.

If you let a problem go long enough you just get a bigger problem.

And that's not what you want.

The time to solve that problem is when?  Now!

-- Doug Smith

Continuing Your Education

What good is a problem if we can't learn from it?

I think we can learn from any problem. In fact, one of the best benefits to centered problem solving is the willingness to learn and grow in the face of difficulty and challenge. We might not pick problems as our favorite way to learn, but they do provide that opportunity.

Think of the time it takes to solve a problem as part of your ongoing education.

There's no diploma, no graduation, and no degree but the lessons just might change your life.

Some of them have certainly changed mine!

-- Doug Smith

Get Ahead of Your Motivation

Do you ever wait for motivation to hit you before you tackle a tough problem?

I've done that. I've waited for the right moment of motivation before starting to analyze what the problem is or before even defining the problem. The trouble with that is that the problem is getting larger the longer we wait.

We're in charge of our motivation. We create our own motivation. There's never any need to wait for motivation: just go.

Problem solving can't always wait for our interest or motivation. 

Problem solving starts when the problem arises. Why wait?

-- Doug Smith

Dealing With Uncertainty

How will we know that the solution will work?

Have you ever asked yourself that question? The ideas are good, the reasoning is sound, the analysis as complete as you can make it, but will it work? Will it work?

There's some uncertainty in solving problems that can throw us off center. Our emotions can trigger reactions that impact our ability to follow-through with our action plan. The speed of the solution can vary enough to get us confused. While we navigate that uncertainty, it's staying centered that keeps on track. Centering our use of clarity, courage, creativity, and compassion in the midst of change creates the focus we need to stay the course.

Are you willing to trade the certainty of a problem for the uncertainty of a solution?

It's worth it.

-- Doug Smith

Life Changing Solutions

Are you solving bigger and bigger problems?

Have you noticed that the more skill you gain as a centered problem solver the more you feel that impulse to solve even bigger problems?

Solving problems is life changing. Solving problems builds skills we need to help ourselves and others to solve increasingly more challenging problems.

Are you willing to solve a problem if the solution changes your life?

We need to do that. We need to solve the problems that change our lives. And there's no better time to start than right now.

-- Doug Smith

What About An Unwilling Person?

Have you ever tried to help someone with a problem and discovered that they were not about to use your help?

People can be funny sometimes but they can usually be relied on to need to come up with their own solutions. We can each be grateful for help, but unless we have some influence on the solution, that solution won't seem valuable.

If solving a problem requires changing an unwilling person, we might need to redefine the problem.

Unwilling people see the situation differently. Unwilling people need willingness before change becomes a possibility.

What if we could achieve that by asking them to define their problem? And, taking it a step farther, what if they rephrased that problem as a goal? Once we've made it that far, all kinds of collaborative possibilities emerge.

But jumping in with a solution, especially one that requires someone else to change, seldom works.

-- Doug Smith

Maybe Try Another Solution

What happens when we use the same solution over and over even when the problems change?

We don't really solve new problems that way do we? And yet so often we pull the same old tools out of our tool box and try the same old solutions.

New problems require new thinking. New problems require new solutions.

It's funny how we sometimes keep trying to same solution on totally new problems.

Funny, but not effective.

Let's do better than that. Let's be more creative. Let's develop new ideas.

How do we do that? Here are a few ways:

• turn your idea upside down - how would it work reversed?
• ask other experts what they think
• ask people who are NOT experts what they think
• look at the problem as if you were ten years old again. What would you do?
• reframe your problem as a goal. How could you achieve that goal.
• rethink your problem as a benefit. What would you do to get more of that problem? Now, how would you reverse that?
• is the root cause what you think it is? what if it were something different? how do you know?

There are many more ways to stay creative.  Go for a walk, look at some art, attend a play (yes, do it!) go to a movie, play an active game -- get things moving within your self and you will likely get things moving within your ideas.

And the ideas are endless. Why settle for less?

-- Doug Smith

Be A Durable Problem Solver

Do your problems threaten to wear you down? Are they pulling the energy out of you?

Sometimes problems do that to me. It's almost as if they're looking for me to surrender. I won't surrender.

A problem might wear me down but it won't wear me out.

How about you?

Will you endure? Will you persist? Will you be a durable problem solver?

-- Doug Smith

Face Those Problems

What happens when you face your problems head-on?

I've noticed that until I face my problems head-on they tend to stick around. They aren't afraid of me. They don't even care whether I care - until I show that I do care with some positive, goal-focused, centered action.

We have to face our problems before we can solve them.

They wouldn't have it any other way.

What problem can you face today?

-- Doug Smith

Problems Hate Flexibiity

Have you ever noticed how much problems like to stay stuck?

Problems enjoy the routines that keep them in place. There's nothing like a nice deep rut to keep a problem around.

What problems hate is flexibility. The flexibility that comes from creativity, new ideas, new intentions, and new insights.

When we let go of our perceptions we can see new possibilities.

And those possibilities, once focused on a goal, have a marvelous way of leaving problems behind.

Isn't that what you want?

-- Doug Smith

When Problems Hide

Do you have problems that hide?

For me, that can be hard to say, because if they're hiding, I might not know they're there.

And when they hide it tends to be because of my own unwillingness or inability to see them. Maybe they are problems because of something I've done. Maybe they're problems because I've something I've left undone.

Problems have a way of hiding behind our weakness.

To find the problem requires us to expose and deal with that weakness. That's not fun. That's not easy. It's just necessary.

Centered problem solvers work through their weaknesses and find their hidden problems.

What's hiding from you?

-- Doug Smith

Keep The Pain Out

Can you solve problems without adding any pain?

Some people take a tough approach to problem solving. They focus on driving solutions whether or not there are side effects. The problem with that is that the side effects often turn out to be worse than the original problem.

Any added pain creates a future problem. The old problem might even resurrect itself, only redoubled in its persistence.

We can solve problems without adding pain.

Why not do that? As centered problem solvers, the only viable solutions are those that do no harm.

-- Doug Smith