Do you know how you solve problems

It’s a curious question because we can often blaze ahead problem solving ... without being aware of our process for how we’re actually doing it. 

Perhaps we’re on auto pilot, not conscious of what we’re doing or too busy in the details of the problem solving task to think about it. 

We can’t get better at a critically important skill like problem solving if we’re not tuned in to it. 

The World Economic Forum suggests problem solving is right up there in the skills we need for today and even more frequently in the future. 

So how do you solve problems? 

▫️Do you get all the information you can? 
▫️Assess your options? 
▫️Generate some alternatives? 
▫️Try out some solutions? 
▫️Experiment a little?
▫️Consult with respected peers? 
▫️Try a Google search to see what others have done? 
▫️Or phone a friend? 

Each of these is part of a suite of problem solving tools and techniques. 

As you work through solving your next problem, challenge or tricky situation, make a mental (or physical or digital) note of what you do... and how you do it. 

There’s greater 
▫️possibility, 
▫️efficiency and 
▫️creativity 
on the other side of our awareness. 

What’s on your radar

What’s up ahead? Can you see it? 

We check the weather to see what the forecast will be like: what’s predicted and how we might need to be prepared for it, to respond and adapt to what’s coming. 

I love the rain radar. It’s always changing. As showers or storms drift frame by frame, they change in nature and shape. 

The way they look now, where they are now ... it can change. 

You think it’s heading one way and then forces make it move and shift in a slightly different direction or speed. 

What do you see ahead... in this task, project, process, team or product? 

Do you have a hunch of what might or could happen? 

How might what you’re in now, change? 

Be ready for what’s ahead. And be prepared to adapt and change. 

To be able to roll with it, go with it, or be able to handle whatever the forecast - now that’s a great mindset. 

Chilling with a likelihood for change. 

Thinking we’re not creative enough

Many of us think we're not creative. 

At all. 

Perhaps it's more that we don't feel 'creative enough' to respond in the ways we need to today. 

We all have creative potential in us, but the cry of doubt, ‘I’m not creative’ is enough to make an idea run and hide! 

If we could be a little more creative than we are... if we could achieve a lift in our creative capability, we could tap into the clever solutions we’re truly capable of.

There’s little evidence that brainstorming produces more or better ideas. Group brainstorming in particular is a waste of time. 

So what do we do instead?


Focus on shifting your thinking to be:

🔶 CONFIDENT - From ‘I’m not creative’ to ‘I can be creative’

🔶CLEVER - ‘I can generate creative options’

🔶COMMERCIAL - ‘I can put these ideas into practice’

We have ongoing needs to generate ideas. solve problems and make decisions in more creative ways. 

And being confident, clever and commercial is a great path to take. 

Could you morph that idea

When we’re problem solving, trying to find a solution to a situation, we usually brainstorm some ideas. 

Working alone or together with others, we throw ideas about, hoping to land on something that’s worthy of following through and implementing. 

So have you tried morphing those ideas? And could you if you had to?

Morphing happens in animation and films as one thing changes gradually, step by step into something else. 

What if one of the ideas on your list could work to solve the problem at hand, but it needed to change? And then change again?

Could you do it? Would you let go of it and let it morph?

Sometimes we hold on so tightly to a decision or idea that we won’t be swayed or moved no matter the potential or the evidence. 

Even when that idea may not be working. 
Even when it could work if it was changed or adapted - even a little. 

Our willingness to morph an idea is powerful given the world we’re living in. 

Look at the ideas you’ve got ready to go. Which of them would you be happy to morph or change? 

And are there any you’re holding on to a little too tightly? 

Patterns in our thinking

We see patterns in fabrics, in nature and in design and architecture. 

Patterns exist in many other parts of our world: 
The time we wake up. 
How we behave. 
The actions we take. 
The way we tackle and complete tasks. 

Some of the patterns that go unnoticed - or at least under noticed - are the patterns in our thinking. 

How we solve problems. 
How we learn. 
How we make sense of things. 

If we’re unaware of our thinking patterns, were less able to change them to ways that will work for us. 

First we can get better at noticing. It’s turning up our powers of observation, taking note, capturing an insight, connecting the dots. 

This is Sensemaking and it’s a powerful skill in these times of change and uncertainty. 

Where are the patterns in your thinking? What do you see and notice? What dots can you connect?

The better we are at observing and identifying patterns, the easier it becomes to interrupt them, in pursuit of better ways of working.