"No problem is too big to run away from."
                              - Charlie Brown (Charles M. Schultz)

Warren Buffet, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, once wrote: "No sooner is one problem solved than another surfaces—never is there just one cockroach in the kitchen." Mr. Buffet is right. Life is a series of problems waiting to happen. Leaders, as point people in the management of people and ideas, encounter problems daily, even hourly. The successful ones learn to deal with them and develop techniques to manage and solve them.

Unfortunately, even well-intentioned leaders can be overwhelmed by circumstance and their own stubbornness. President Lyndon Johnson’s experience in Vietnam is one such example; no matter how hard he tried, Johnson could not bend the will of the enemy, nor remove U.S. troops in a manner he deemed honorable. Likewise, the management of Chrysler Corporation in the late 1970s watched as the company continued to produce uncompetitive products and accumulated crushing debts.

Solving those problems took radical solutions. Upon taking office, President Richard Nixon began removing ground troops in a planned reduction. At the same time, he kept pressure on North Vietnam with heavy bombing raids as well as incursions into Laos and Cambodia to prevent supplies from reaching troops in South Vietnam. Lee Iacocca became President of Chrysler (later Chairman) and shortly sought government loans to save the Company. A short time later, Chrysler introduced the minivan, acquired American Motors, and positioned Jeep as America’s first sport utility vehicle. Neither Nixon nor Iacocca’s solutions were overnight successes; it took Nixon until his second term to end U.S. involvement in Vietnam, and it took Iacocca time to pay off the loans and nudge his company into the red. Both Nixon and Iacocca suffered reverses in later ventures, but both did achieve some gains. Nixon extricated American troops from Vietnam, and Iacocca helped resurrect Chrysler.

Few leaders can wait for the next in line to solve their problems. If they did, they (like Johnson and Chrysler management) would be out of a job. Leaders must devise solutions immediately or risk losing the loyalty of their followers. Good leaders, I believe, operate with a mindset that says, "problems are really solutions in waiting."

Most important, good leaders come to realize that their most able resource in any problem situation is the people around them. Just as problems do not occur in the vacuum, neither do solutions appear from thin air. It is a mistake for leaders to assume that they must solve every problem by themselves. Problem solving, like leadership in general, requires involvement of others. Leaders should make hard decisions and set direction for the organization, but they also need to seek input from those involved, particularly those who must implement the solution. Good leaders seek advice from all stakeholders (customers, employees, suppliers) and then make a decision. There are concrete steps that leaders can take to address problems

Assess the situation… Stand back and take a deep breath. Even in the heat of battle, combat officers learn to divorce themselves momentarily from the danger of the moment so that they can assess the situation before make a decision. By stepping back, if only for a day, an hour, even five minutes, gives the leader the benefit of perspective and time. Assessment in this situation is a form of reflection; it helps the leader to "get out of himself" and just think.

Envision the outcomes… A leader must ask two questions when faced with a problem: What happens if we do nothing? What happens is we do everything possible? Some problems cannot be solved no matter what you do; that problem calls for containment, or operational mode. Other problems need to be extinguished like fires—quickly, safely, and with maximum resources. Considering the outcomes narrows the options and provides a choice.

A common phrase in management is "think out of the box." The term refers to devising unconventional approaches to common problems. For example, Volkswagen's next generation Beetle is such a product. It combines the heritage of the hole in an all-new sleek package.

There are some ways to train your mind to think unconventionally.

• Brainstorm. Get everyone together and throw out ideas. Be non-judgmental.
• Adopt the perspective of the customer: What would a customer want done to solve the problem?
• Dialogue. Get a trusted partner. Review the problem. Consider solutions.
• Create a visual metaphor. Create a pictogram of the problem. Present to others and discuss it. (2)
• Think laterally. Look outside the problem to gain perspective. It involves awareness, alternatives, and provocation (i.e., stimulating creative thoughts) (3)
• Force Field Analysis. Draw two columns. Label one "forces for change." Label the other, "force against change." List forces for both columns. Discuss how to overcome the restraints so that positive change may occur. (4)

Delegate authority… Give ownership of the problem to those who must implement the solution. Provide the team with guidance, but leave the details to the employees. Let them fill in the blanks. Good leaders learn to let go. They trust their people to do their jobs. At the same time, the leader needs to "be in the loop"—informed of progress and available for consultation.

Adopt a solution…Sometimes individuals and teams find the adoption step to be the easiest. Selecting the right solution is often the logical outcome of the creative process; people know the possibilities and the outcomes, and can decide amongst themselves what is best for the organization. The ease of selection, however, does not mean the solution will be easy to implement, only that it was readily apparent as the right choice.

Implement the solution… Once the solution is formulated, the leader must find the resources to implement it. In manufacturing, the solution may involve application of a new process and acquisition of a new piece of machinery. New training may be required. The leader should gather all resources necessary and make certain people have the authority and support to do what they need to do.

Reflect on what to do next time… Evaluate the steps you took to solve the current problem. Ask yourself: could you have done it more efficiently, more quickly, more creatively? Prepare for the next eventuality. Like disaster contingency plans, formulate next steps to help the organization prepare for the next problem. And then, once again, take a step back and just think about the entire problem and solution process. Many people find that ruminating over problems over time can produce new ideas.

All of these problem-solving measures are effective, but most leaders will state that the best solution is to anticipate the problem and head it off before it occurs. Leaders who "manage by walking around" are ones who have good instincts for rooting out situations before they fester into problems. These leaders are also adept at looking problems in one area of the company and sensing that they could spread to another area. A systems thinking approach, as practiced in organizational learning, teaches us how to analyze the root cause of one problem and then think how that root cause, or its consequences, may affect another aspect of an organization. (1)

Product development teams apply systems thinking when designing various components for a product: be it an appliance, a computer, or a car. By looking at how all of the components work together, and then determining if problems with one may affect another, the engineers determine the functionality and efficiency of the total design. Likewise, astute human resource professionals look at their organizations with a similar mindset. If one group is experiencing trouble with a benefits plan, they immediately look to other departments to assess their experience with the plan. In this way, they prevent a problem from spreading by heading it off.

An even more effective means of ensuring work harmony is to assess the work styles of individuals working within teams. One instrument for assessing how people interact is "I-Opt™." By simultaneously measuring both individual styles and the relations between group members, "I Opt™" identifies individuals as possessing one of four strategic styles. "I-Opt™" groups individuals according to how they process information, react to problems, and work with others. As with most evaluation instruments, no individual is all one style or another. Most people are a combination of all styles, but with a strong accent on one or two other styles. For example, some individuals like to use spontaneous approaches to problems and situations; they are focused on tangible, near-term outcomes. Other individuals may be idea generators, who tend to work without detail and seek satisfaction in creative solutions.

Knowing the working style of an individual can help a team leader choose individuals best suited for specific project as well as assign individuals of complementary styles to work together. "I Opt™" is not a problem solver per se, but it is an instrument that leaders can use to maximize human performance. And, by knowing individual work styles, leaders can allocate the right blend of people to solve problems when they do occur. (3)

Anticipation and preparedness may be the best antidote in a leader’s problem-solving medicine kit bag. But, short of heading off a problem before it occurs, the leader who maintains the mindset that problems are prolific, but so too are solutions, is one who will be prepared to respond quickly and effectively when problems do occur.

Problem solving by its nature lends itself to a step-by-step analysis process. But the solutions required to solve them are not always based in procedure. While the steps themselves are straightforward, implementing them, particularly in fast-breaking, tension-riven situations can be extremely difficult. Furthermore, moments of crisis do not always allow for creativity. What we need is a leader who can stand back and assess the situation coolly and calmly, with the dispassion of a surgeon, but the creativity of an artist, is a leader. That leader, of course, likely does not exist, outside the pages of fiction. But the leader who can exert command over a problem, call in the right people to solve it, and support them in their efforts, is the individual most organizations need most desperately—the leader as problem-solver.

© 1999 John Baldoni

References:

(1) Systems thinking was developed at M.I.T. by Jay Forrester and his team in the early 1960s. Peter Senge later incorporated Forrester’s ideas on systems thinking into his landmark book on organizational learning, The Fifth Discipline.

(2) Proctor, Tony (1995) Essence of Management Creativity Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, UK: Prentice Hall (UK) International [This book includes a collection of creativity exercises gathered from a variety of different sources; as such it is an invaluable resource for those looking for ways to provoke creative ideas.]

(3) Edward de Bono pioneered the concept of lateral thinking and other creative thinking methodologies. [cited in Essence of Management Creativity.]

(4) Proctor, Tony (1995) Essence of Management Creativity Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, UK: Prentice Hall (UK) International

(5) Those interested in using the "I-Opt™" assessment instrument may obtain it by calling Professional Communications, Inc. at 734/662-0250 or 800-860-0250, or by visiting the "I Opt™" website at www.iopt.com.