Solve Those Big Problems

Are you ever tempted to major in the minors? Do you ever find yourself working diligently on things that barely matter? It's happened to me -- a whole day spent answering and reading email. A whole day perseverating over one slide or one learning activity. A night in a new city spent revising the 50th draft of a program I'm already doing.

Instead, let's focus on making things better. Let's tackle the big problems, before they make all the little cares obsolete. Big problems need not be ignored. We dare only to tackle them before they bury us.

Reform banking.

Stabilize climate change.

Feed the hungry.

House the poor.

Eliminate exploitation and inequality.

Which problem concerns you the most? What ideas do you have about solving that problem?

-- Doug Smith

Those Problems Touch Us All

We all know people we would not want to trade places with. Their problems are too deep, too profound, too persistent. And, we can not wear a red cape all the time rescuing everything and everyone.

Or can we?

One test of whether or not we should wear that red cape is if we are part of the problem. And we might just be part of the problem if we are not willing to trade places with someone who is enduring that problem.

Name the problem. Go ahead. Pick something of a global nature: water or food shortages, conflict over territory or religion, tribal wars, climate change, banking inequities...the list is long.

People endure the effects of all of those problems. I would not want to trade places with those people. Would you?

Centered problem solvers consider how they can help solve problems even when those problems do not involve them. Because, eventually, those problems touch us all.

-- Doug Smith

Centered Problem Solvers Deal With Their Part of the Problem

Centered problem solvers realize that some part of the problems they encounter focus on themselves. There's something generating from within to stop or start that problem.

Find the center that calms. Find the center that holds. Find the center that lets go.

Because that problem won't let you go until you deal with it.

Why not deal with it now?

-- Doug Smith

Let Go When That Important Thing...

Let go when?  Let go when that important thing is no longer important. It had your attention. It had your passion. It had your interest. But it's time is past.

That way you used to handle a process...outdated. That person who once listened to you...gone. That project that promised a miracle finish only to flounder in an obsolete mess. Let it all go.

Just because something was once important doesn't mean that it is any longer.

Let it go.

Centered problems solvers understand when it is time to let go...and then do.

-- Doug Smith

Find the Answers That Work

Have you given up on finding all the answers?

The good news is, you do not need to find all the answers. They will change, anyway. Centered, creative problem solvers forces on answers that work. Answers that bring you closer to your goals. Answers that get out of their own way and lead to progress, not more problems.

Creative problems solvers don't need all the answers -- just the ones that work.

-- Doug Smith

Go For Transformational Solutions

If a problem is threatening to put you, your team, or your organization in danger, it cannot be ignored. Average solutions won't help. Easy answers won't be enough. The toughest problems, the ones that could put you out of business, require transformational solutions.

Combinations of clarity, courage, creativity, and compassion when you are developing ideas and working your problem lead to transformational solutions - the ones that change the nature of the game and put the problem -- not you -- out of business.

-- Doug Smith

Your Problems Aren't Hiding

You know what they are. They've been bothering you. They're getting tough to ignore, so don't. Roll up your figurative and literal sleeves and get busy. Solve the problems in front of you.

-- Doug Smith

Centered Problem Solvers Stay Focused and Balanced

Have you ever been blocked from solving a problem by emotions? Anger, sadness, grief, despair, impatience...emotions can make things tough on a problem solver.

Staying centered helps. Keeping balance. Drawing on our core strengths of clarity, courage, creativity, and compassion to keep perspective clear and kind. Any problem exists in a field filled with possibilities. Emotions can poison those possibilities if we lose our way.

The way is clear. Stay focused. Stay balanced. Stay centered.

Breathe. Stretch. See. Stay curious. Relax.

Easier said than done? That's why it takes training and practice.

-- Doug Smith

Collaborate Don't Dictate

Do you ever find it easy to identify the solution to someone else's problem?

Without the headaches and heartburn of the problem sitting in your own life, it can seem far more simple and easy to solve.

Seem. That does not mean that it is. And when we take on the problems of another without asking them what they've already done or plan to do, any solution that we do develop is likely to fall short. Ownership of the solution is just as important as creativity.

Sometimes solving someone else's problem for them is a big mistake.

Collaborate rather than dictate. Share ideas. Work together. Understand the problem at it's heart and center and not just on the surface. That takes time. That takes patience. And that takes collaboration.

Centered problem solvers collaborate with creativity, courage, clarity, and compassion. Leave any of that out, and the solution may be incomplete and ineffective.

We've all tried that already, haven't we? Why not start to get it right?



-- Doug Smith

Are you looking for a way to develop more collaborative problem solving on your team? Would it be worth two days of your team's time to work with a process that will solve big problems for years to come? Contact me today to see how a facilitated, creative, centered problem solving session with your team can make a huge impact in your results.

doug@dougsmithtraining.com

Relieve Some of That Stress

What's your single biggest stressor?

Would you like to get rid of it?

For me, the biggest stressor in my life is usually also my biggest problem. The longer it stays a problem, the bigger and more gnarly it gets, which puts more pressure on me to solve it, which causes more stress.

I could do without that stress. But, it's there to help. Stress reminds us that somethings needs to be taken care of. Something needs to be fixed, found, or solved. Why not simply get started?

Solving your toughest problem may not relieve all of your stress but it sure helps focus it in the right direction.

Why not relieve some of that stress today? Get started!

Centered problem solvers realize that problems are not completely separate from themselves. We know not to take them personally, and yet they interfere with our personal selves. Instead of reacting in an immobilized way to the stress that produces, why not move forward. Figure out the root cause of the problem and then set about applying the core leadership strengths you've developed toward solving it. Apply clarity, courage, creativity, and compassion and watch the problem dissolve away.

And when the problems go, there goes the stress.



-- Doug Smith

Are you looking for a way to develop more collaborative problem solving on your team? Would it be worth two days of your team's time to work with a process that will solve big problems for years to come? Contact me today to see how a facilitated, creative, centered problem solving session with your team can make a huge impact in your results.

doug@dougsmithtraining.com

Dig Deeper

If that problem has been around awhile, if that problem is cagey to the point of making you scratch your head, you might need many solutions. Many ideas.

Creative, centered problem solvers stay with the process long enough to develop more solutions that any one problem needs.

The gold is deep. Keep digging.

-- Doug Smith

Centered Problem Solvers Ask The Tough Questions

Problems resist easy answers. That's why we need to ask the tough questions.

Why are things the way they are? What is the deeper cause? On the surface, we may think we understand a problem. Digging deeper, asking probing and open ended questions, we can get at the heart of what is really going on.

Are people being rewarded for incorrect behavior? Is someone benefitting from the problem situation? If so, who? Is it too easy to ignore the problem? Is the source of the problem aware that there is even a problem?

For example, those who most resist a fair distribution of work are those who may not be working too hard. Why change?  Executives making juicy bonuses may not even be aware of how hard it is to live paycheck to paycheck.

Creative problem solvers ask the tough questions with curiosity.

Not to judge. Not to punish. But to know. What's really going on?

Centered problem solvers use their creativity to separate people from the problem. They use their compassion to feel the discomfort of those in the throws of the problem. They use their courage to boldly propose better paths. And, they use their clarity to define their goal.

Ask the tough questions. Stay curious about the answers. Solve those pesky problems.

Where could you be more curious today?

-- Doug Smith

Get tough, get tender

Tough problems are solved by tender people.

-- Doug Smith

Keep Your Past Problems In The Past

Do problems from your past trouble you?

I've sometimes found myself in a pattern of drudging up old problems from the past, as if they had anything at all to do with the present situation. They don't. Oh, they can certainly complicate things. And old problems will stick around as long as you invite them to. Don't invite them.

The problems of our past belong in the past.

Let's leave them there. Drop them like the dead weight they are.

When we fully resolve a present day problem it stops popping up in the future. So if past problems are popping up, maybe they aren't resolved. Resolve them. Retire them. Let them go. But, keeping them around sucks all the energy out of the room and has the problem solving effect of tying your shoes together. Why do that?'

Did you solve that problem? If so, let it go. If no, you know where to go: back to the plan to finish the job.

-- Doug Smith

Problems Make Us Stronger

Did you ever stop to think how much you owe to your problems?

No, I haven't gone nuts. Think about it. Every problem we solve, every solution we design, gives us a level of focus and creativity that we didn't have before. Problems help us grow (because if we don't grow, the side effects are bad.)  

Where would you be today if you'd never had a problem to solve?

The next time I have a problem, it will be the opportunity I seek. Maybe the problem is the key to the next big step. Maybe the lesson to learn will propel me forward farther than I could have ever gone before.

Problems make us stronger. Isn't that comforting?

-- Doug Smith

First Decide To Solve The Problem

Your first problem solving decision is to solve the problem.
The rest is details.
-- Doug Smith