How you handle a problem

When you were most recently working on a problem, a conundrum or a tricky situation, how were you handling the problem? Were you talking about it? Say, sitting around a table with other people, just talking it through? Or were you ‘handling the problem’? Did you actually get your hands on the problem?

When we physically work with a problem, see, feel and imagine the pieces of it and move things around, we solve it quicker.

If we do, that means the l-o-n-g meetings we’re in (where we are usually just talking about the problem) will be finished sooner! We'll come up with better ideas and solutions and we generate a greater range of possibilities.

A product development team at a consumer goods business used cards with the key issues, challenges and obstacles written on them. They moved the cards around on the meeting table.

Seems simple, right? Engagement, participation and buy-in was boosted, and people more clearly understood what the details of the issue were all about.

Try not to just talk about the problem - but get your hands on it! You'll bring more people into the work to be done. 

Do you see patterns

Spotting trends, seeing patterns, staying observant. These are crucial skills for today’s world of work where things change and uncertainty is high.

It’s easy to get caught up in our own world, deep in the culture of a project or workplace, cycling through our usual activities, routines and habits.

So what would make you take notice of something? And how would you make note of it? Do you know how observant you are?

🔲 Oblivious

or

🔲 Observant?

and

🔲 Forgetful

or

🔲 Insightful?

Our powers of observation are powerful... and insight-full. Don't miss them as they fly by!

Take care not to be:

Departed, nor to Waste great insights, or to arrive at them Unfounded.

Today’s changing world needs us to be observant, noticing things, picking up on trends, spotting patterns and connecting sequences of information. It is indeed 'connecting the dots'. 

We can’t make meaning without first making some sense

Plenty of things don’t make sense in our life, in the world. So it’s not until we get some perspective to look back that we are more able to make sense of it. And then... then we put meaning to it.

‘This happened... and NOW I understand why or what it was all about.'

We can muck about, procrastinating, avoiding action yet still try to make sense of things. But it kind of doesn’t work that way.

The sooner you can get on the other side of something, the better.

Decide. Do. Deliver. Get something done.

You’ll make more sense once you're on the other side of it. And then you can work out what it all means. 

Overloaded before we start work

Most of us have experienced the feelings of overwhelm and information overload ... just thinking about our 'to do’ list can cue overwhelm.

A group I worked with last week, (boosting cognitive load coping skills + how to deal with information overload) explained how they listen to podcasts, audio books, interviews and radio programs on their daily commutes to work.

There’s nothing wrong with this. It’s entertaining and educational and a great use of time.

What we need to be aware of is how we fill up our sponge or tank with content and information that we absorb, synthesize and digest. Because then we arrive at work and are faced with even more content and information to absorb, synthesize and digest!

Aargh!

No wonder overload comes a’ knocking!

Cognitive overload happens rapidly or g-r-a-d-u-a-l-l-y. It's possible we could be overloaded before the work day begins, or soon after we get started at work.

Our indicator rises to ‘full’; there's just no capacity to add much more.

An answer? Allow a buffer, like half-time in a sporting event. Allow neutral time where you’re taking in nothing. Nothing. It helps "release the load".

Coping with information overload

A Time Inc article suggests modern psychologists and neurologists have found more reasons why we dream. Using PET scans and MRI imaging they’ve discovered what our brain is trying to do - after a full day’s work of overwhelming meetings and information dumps.

While we’re asleep, dreaming is the brain’s way of deleting or ‘dumping excess data’. Our brain is kind of taking out the trash, but it’s also ‘consolidating important information’.

The categorizing, sorting and processing that's going on in dreaming is epic!

So how in our waking hours could we also DUMP the meaningless and CACHE the valuable stuff?

If we’re doing it automatically, unconsciously while we sleep, imagine if we did more of this while we're awake and working, collaborating and problem solving. Imagine our performance lift!

I’m not suggesting you nod off right now, trying to make sense of that meeting you were just in, but hey, some businesses do support power napping!

Rather, try using my 'CCC' technique:

- Categorize

- Consolidate and then

- Clear ... throughout the day. I

t's a much smarter way to work when overloaded. Why wait until bed time.