Changing regulations.  New technologies.  Budget cuts.  Let’s face it. Challenges abound in today’s workplace! There is a tremendous need to solve problems quickly. But the last thing you need is to rush off and make mistakes that could have been avoided. Here are five problem-solving pitfalls and tips for getting around them.

Mistake 1) For the sake of speed and efficiency, you take the “I’ll do it myself” approach to identifying a solution.  (Here’s where you tell yourself that involving a lot of people will just cause confusion and/or create a scenario where people will get hurt because their input isn’t acted upon.)

Yes, when facilitated improperly, problem solving sessions can end in chaos and hurt feelings — but when you don’t involve others, you are missing an opportunity to engage your team, collect ideas from those closest to the problem and present team members with an opportunity to align themselves with organizational objectives. The key is to learn how to properly facilitate a collaborative session.  Remember, as a leader, it’s not your job to have all the answers, but it IS your job to develop and utilize the knowledge and talent of your team.

Mistake 2) Focus on who or what caused the problem so you can get to the root of it.  (This is when you act from the belief that the best way to make progress on solving a problem is to first go backward.)

Identifying the root-cause of a problem is sometimes necessary to solving it.  But most of the time it’s best not to stay mired in the past looking for who/what to blame.  Switching to a future focus can instantly change the environment from cautious to cooperative.  As much as you can, avoid fixating on the things that aren’t working and use the group’s energy to identify things that are going well (…there is always something positive to build off of, if you look hard enough).

Mistake 3) Assume that everyone shares the same understanding of what needs to be accomplished.  (Sad but true…group members often think they have the same destination in mind, but they end up arriving at different places.)

It is critically important to clarify the group’s goal by asking “what is our objective?”. Your team likely has people in different positions with vastly different perspectives on the situation. (For example, finance may think the objective is to reduce expenses while procurement thinks it is to acquire resources more efficiently.)  The diverse opinions and experiences of your team will work to your advantage only if you make sure everyone is using the same definition of success when it comes to the desired outcome.  

Mistake 4) Get buy-in to the solution by reminding people what will happen if the problem isn’t solved.  (Okay, this isn’t a bad thing in and of itself; it’s only a mistake if you don’t ALSO cover the myriad benefits of solving the problem.)

When people don’t connect value to the achievement of a goal, motivation and execution suffer.  For maximum buy-in, have the group consider the benefits that will be realized by all stakeholders—customers, ownership, the organization as a whole, internal teams and departments and, lastly, the individuals themselves. 

Mistake 5) Leave out the “accountability” piece.  (Don’t bother figuring out who’s doing what …just wing it!)

The best way to make sure people are truly part of the solution is to make sure they leave the meeting having committed to doing something. Detailed discussions should be had around questions like these: What steps must we take to reach the objective? Who will be doing what, and by when? How will we measure our progress?

For more on this topic: Preview 5 Questions Every Leader Must Ask, a video-based training program from CRM Learning. Based on the book “Leadership Made Simple” by Ed Oakley and Doug Krug, the program teaches a simple framework for facilitating a collaborative session and successfully engaging your team to address any workplace challenge (be it a problem or a new project). For more information on “Leadership Made Simple”, visit Enlightened Leadership Solutions.

1) Six Letter Cross-Out

Instructions: Write the following letter combination on the flip chart:

BSAINXLEATNTEARS

Ask participants to copy down this row of letters. Then ask them to cross out six letters from the line so that all the remaining letters in the sequence form one common English word. Allow 5 minutes for them to do this brain teaser. Now ask for their answers. If some came up with banana, they are right! Ask them how they arrived at their answer. They should have crossed out the phrase, six letters, so that the remaining letters spell out banana. Explain to the group that although the clue is huge, many of us do not hear it because we are caught up in the details and take it literally to mean eliminate six letters. We see ears and tears which obscures the obvious. It’s analogous to getting caught up in the details of life and missing the big picture. So often we see the trees, but not the forest, and it’s easier to lose our way and our perspective.

2) Popsicle Sticks

Break participants into groups of 3-4 people. Give each team a bundle of nine Popsicle sticks (coffee stirrer sticks or short cocktail straws will work just fine, too). Ask participants to stand up around their tables. Draw this figure on your flip chart:

 (three triangles in a row, composed of three Popsicle sticks each, with the bottom corners of each pyramid touching)

Have participants arrange their sticks in the same configuration. Give the group their challenge.

The group’s job is to make as many triangles as they can with the sticks, moving only three of them. The minimum number of triangles they must make is seven. That means they have to leave six sticks in place, and can move only three—any three they like. This is a timed exercise. They will have just two minutes to create as many triangles as they can.

Timing the exercise will add tension and excitement, encouraging the groups to work quickly. If they ask you questions while they are working, like “Can we break the sticks?”—do not answer the question. Simply repeat your directions: “Your job is to make as many triangles as you can, a minimum of seven, moving only three sticks.” Let them figure it out.

At the end of the two minutes, ask how many tables made seven triangles.

Acknowledge their accomplishment. Ask someone from one of the teams to come to the front of the room and draw their solution on a flip chart. Ask if any other teams got seven, but did it differently. If so, then ask them to come up and draw their solution on the flip chart. Give each person who comes to the flip chart a round of applause when they are done. This will reinforce participation.

Then ask if any teams made more. Eight? Nine? Ten? More? Ask the team that made the most to send a representative to the front of the room to draw their solution on the flip chart. See how many they made. Ask them how they did it. Give them a round of applause.

Icebreaker Debrief

• Did any of the groups break the sticks?

• And how did the rest of you feel when you saw that someone broke their sticks?

• What does this have to do with how we solve problems at work?

• Do you think you would have had the same results if you had worked on the problem alone?

• Did working in a team make your more creative or less creative?

• If you could do the exercise over again, do you think you would make more triangles this time?

• There is usually more than one good solution to any problem. You want to explore lots of different possible solutions before you decide on the one you think is best.

• Groups of people are usually more successful at solving a problem and being creative than individuals working alone.

• We often make assumptions about what’s possible/permissible without ever checking to see if those assumptions are accurate or real. Our assumptions can limit our creativity.

• People learn with experience. Watching others and learning from their experience can help us be more creative in the future.

3) Communication Art

Break participants into pairs. Have the participants stand back to back, each with a piece of paper and a pen or pencil. Have one participant be the communicator and the other the listener. The communicator will begin to draw on the paper and describe what they are drawing to the listener, who must then draw what is being described to them. Give the participants a time limit with which to complete the exercise. At the end of the allotted time, have participants compare drawings. Give prizes to the drawings that most resemble one another.

4) Diversity Scavenger Hunt

Instructions to the Trainer: Put the following questions on an 8 ½ x 11 sheet of paper. Make enough copies for everyone. Tell the group they have 10 minutes to complete this exercise.

Group Instructions: Attempt to fill in your sheet by finding a person who can say “yes” or can respond appropriately to each question. Write their first name in the space provided. You may use each person’s name only once.

1. _______________________speaks English as a 2nd language. What is their primary language?_________________________________________

2. _______________________speaks Spanish.

3. _______________________speaks an Asian language. Which? ________________________

4. _______________________has traveled abroad in the last year.

5. ________________________lived in another country for a significant period of time.

6. ________________________has experienced acupuncture.

7. ________________________ was born in a country other than the U.S.

8. ________________________ has parents that moved here from another country.

9. ________________________ grandparents come from the same country as one of your grandparents. Which country? ____________________________________________

10. _______________________comes from a family of 4 or more children.

11. __________________ _____ attended parochial (religious) school as a child.

12. ________________________reads one or more books a month.

13. ________________________still owns vinyl (LP) records.

14. ________________________has more than 2 children.

15. ________________________ attended college in a country other than the one in which they were born.

5) Who Started It?

In this exercise, one volunteer will leave the room and another volunteer will be picked to lead the group (the second should be picked after the first has left the room). Participants in the room will stand in a circle and the “leader” will begin a sound and a motion (i.e. swinging arms back and forth and clapping once). All of the participants in the circle must watch what the “leader” is doing and copy the motion and sound.

The volunteer outside the room is then asked to come in and stands in the center of the circle. The “outsider” must observe the group and discover who the “leader” of the group is. The “leader” must change the motion and sound at least two times during the exercise, and all participants must copy the motion and sound. The trick for the participants is to change their motions and sounds without giving away who the “leader” is. A common tactic is to not look at the “leader,” but rather the person directly across the circle from them. This exercise can be repeated several times to give multiple participants the opportunity to be the “leader” and the “outsider.”

This material excerpted from various CRM Learning videos’ Leader’s Guides.

Assumptions: A major roadblock to innovation
By Mitchell Ditkoff

Thomas Edison had a very simple way of conducting job interviews. He’d invite prospective employees to join him for soup in the company cafeteria. If they salted their soup before tasting it, the interview was over. Plain and simple. Given the nature of his work – where even a single stone unturned could mean the difference between the failure or success of a costly product – Edison could not afford to surround himself with people ruled by faulty assumptions.

Of all the roadblocks to innovation, assumptions are the worst. Invisible, insidious and habitual, they stop us before we even start – the default position for those of us too consumed by our past to consider the future the way it really is: pure potentiality.

Definition of an assumption
What is an assumption? Simply put, it’s “taking something for granted”. A “supposition.” We do it all the time – although not always to our detriment. For example, if you leave your toothbrush in the bathroom at night, it’s safe to assume that it will be there in the morning. Your assumption saves you lots of time searching for it in the kitchen or garage. Other assumptions, however, don’t work out quite as well – despite the seeming evidence for their veracity. Many of our ancestors, for example, assumed the earth was flat. They had “proof.” They saw it with their own eyes. But their so-called proof – their inaccurate interpretation of existing phenomena – was a far cry from reality. And it was precisely because of their faulty assumptions, that many of our ancestors missed out on the New World and all the fabulous beachfront property that came with it.

Think about it. If every ten years half of what scientists believe to be true is proven to be false, how much of what your decisions are based on is anything more than just a temporary – and not very elegant – arrangement of half-baked perceptions, flaky factoids, and loosely interpreted statistics?
Take a minute now to consider what you may be assuming falsely. What conclusions have you drawn that prevent you from sailing new oceans? What beliefs are you bound by that are likely to be laughable three years from now? Are you absolutely sure you know what your customers want? Are you positive your manager won’t free up the money to fund your latest idea? Can you say, without a shadow of a doubt, that your current strategy to accomplish your “stretch goal” is based on anything more than hearsay and hot talk?

Famous assumptions
But hey, you’re not alone in your tendency to jump to conclusions. Join the club as you consider some of these (now famous) limiting assumptions throughout history:

“I think there is a world market for about five computers.” (Thomas Watson, founder of IBM)

“Everything that can be invented has been invented.” (Charles Duell, Commissioner, US Office of Patents, 1899)

“There is not the slightest indication that nuclear energy will ever be obtainable. It would mean that the atom would have to be shattered at will.” (Albert Einstein)

“The phonograph is not of any commercial value.” ( Thomas Edison)

“I don’t need body guards.” (Jimmy Hoffa)

“Man will not fly for 50 years.” (Wilbur Wright, 1903)

“640K ought to be enough for anybody.” (Bill Gates)

“With over 50 foreign cars on sale here, the Japanese auto industry isn’t likely to carve out a big slice of the U.S. market for itself.” (Business Week, 1968)

Conclusion
What is your biggest assumption about your hottest new idea? What is your company’s most pervasive, collective assumption? What can you do today to identify the one assumption most likely to sabotage your future success? What can you do to go beyond it?

Mitchell Ditkoff is president of Idea Champions, www.ideachampions.com
Reprinted from innovationtools.com

Training Solution: Pigeonholed in The Land of Penguins This video shows your employees how to see their co-workers in a new and different way; and helps them tap into the creativity of every team member.