Solutions Looking for Problems: Seek and Ye Shall Find (24 September 2002)

Why is it that there are so many problem solving methodologies but the number of problems never decrease? Perhaps if we had a way of creating solutions instead of problems we would be a whole lot more productive.

Do you know someone with one of those jobs that just seem to be filled with endless problems - all of which need to be solved urgently? Whether they are problems of your own making or someone else's, there is a never-ending supply of things to manage and fix. But often, on reflection, it doesn't seem like anything is getting any better. For all the work we are putting in does it sometimes feel like we are just going through the motions?

Learning organization guru Peter Senge observed that 95% "of today's problems come from yesterday's solutions"1.. When we examine the root cause of a presenting problem it usually has its basis in something that did or did not happen in the past. But we can't change the past - so we usually overlook this, moan, and try to fix the previous oversight with a new solution - as quickly as possible. However, the future is something we can fix. It hasn't yet occurred. So it is within our control. With a little foresight we can plan for and actively create outcomes. This means that when we get to the future it is a better place to be. While we think we do this - and try to do so in every decision we make - if this was actually what was happening things would be a whole lot better. But they are not.

So why is this the case? Why do we have so many problems with things we thought were fixed? Part of the reason is found in system dynamics. When we use systems thinking to problem solve we look not only at the effect of the solution on the problem in the 'here and now' but look also to the 'where-else and when'. Systems thinking is about examining the repercussions of our actions. Any action we take has an effect right now and an effect in the future. It also has an effect outside of our field of view. Looking properly at the future consequences, those otherwise outside our thinking by virtue of time or distance, is something we do not often consciously do (mostly due to the pressing nature of the problem).

For example, we decide today to grab a source of funding that is available as a solution to cash-flow issues. We do not think about how this affects our possible future. Many a good business proposition has been ruined by the baggage that came with the desperately needed seed capital which arrived at the 11th hour. The solution, not linked with a defined problem, provides its own ongoing future problems. Our future is written by our history.

So the implications in 'time' are something we often do not see. There are also the effects of the solution to the problem that we do not see in 'space'. A problem may be solved with reference to our immediate focus. That's what we do with a problem - focus in on it. But the effects in a wider span of distance often have much greater repercussions. Like ripples spreading outwards, the pebble may disappear from sight, but the circular waves expand and spread, clearly pointing to the location of the cause.

Those that use system dynamics to view problems see the problem in time and space as well as the here and now. This is the secret to effective problem solving and ongoing success. It is what makes for successful organizations, those that use sophisticated thinking processes to succeed. Rather than dealing with the immediate, urgently (and the resulting effects later), our efforts are invested so as to make a significant difference now and in the future. The results enhance future results and a stress culture instead becomes a success culture.

Why then is it so hard to consider the system effects? Why is it that when the pivotal moment presents itself we do not create a solution that eliminates, or at least considers, the resulting problems that will only appear over time or that were outside our originally narrow focus? The answer is that when we are problem solving - we are doing just that - looking to solve the problem.

A problem is by definition 'a doubtful or difficult matter requiring a solution'. A problem needs to be fixed. It is already difficult and we are reluctant to make it more so. We already have doubt, so exploring a wider focus just increases the uncertainty we are already feeling. The psychology of problem solving shows that essentially, once we have identified a problem, we feel uncomfortable and just wish to restore the status quo as fast as possible. To do this we will take the quickest, simplest solution -- as soon as it is presented. Problem solved. Or is it?

What organizations that think strategically do is look at problems as learning opportunities that enhance potential. They thrive on the tension they create - because it provides a reason to look at the status quo and improve upon it. This requires a major shift in thinking. It is the difference between problem solving and solution creation. It is this difference that creates ongoing success.

So this is how we make better decisions. By using systems thinking processes for solution creation. But how do we stop ourselves from adopting bad solutions - those that just create more problems? This is what really causes business failure. The answer lies in identifying an interesting phenomenon where we are presented with a solution looking for a problem we did not know we had. We call this a 'SLIP' - "Solutions Looking for Immediate Problems".

The best part about a SLIP is that we already have the solution - and having not properly defined the problem, the solution presented provides an instant fit. For example, an interesting candidate may suddenly become available after being retrenched from another organization. That person may have uniquely valuable skills and an impressive resume. A frenzy of activity results as we try to find how we can best make use of this new opportunity. But what was the skill gap that we had identified previously as making this person a necessary part of our team and our strategy? Is this opportunity one that we knew about and were waiting for - or just another good idea? Who knows? No-one - because no-one stopped to ask.

While our desire to relieve the tension caused by a presenting problem is great - the desire to find a quick fix is even greater. It is actually intensely satisfying - albeit briefly. The trap is easily sprung when we do not need to explore the problem in order to solve it. Having the solution, the satisfaction of solving something means we can easily enough find a problem that matches. Often the solution to the problem we didn't know we had causes even more problems than those we really needed to fix. We will, however, only discover them later in time when the ripples bounce back from the edge of the pond.

The secret to strategically managing all of this is in the methodology we use to make important decisions. These are the decisions that have relevance to our future or to the efficiency of what we doing at present. Usually a problem solving methodology will seek to narrow the focus, look to the output required and find 'the quickest' solution. By contrast, a solution creation process will widen the focus, look to the outcome that needs to be created and find 'the best' solution - meaning the best when looked at from a systems perspective in the context of a clear definition of success.

How to do this lies in the words of the poet Robert Frost (1874-1963) who saw the question in a country stroll:

The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that, the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I marked the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

We learn so many skills in our working life, accumulating so much knowledge, over such a long period of time. But when we come to a crossroad that requires us to have a strategic focus, how often do we really pause and find a way to use, and to combine, our collective wisdom? Taking the time to pause to do this is what matters. And it is this that makes all the difference.

William Varey, Executive Director,
Forsyth Consulting Group
www.fcg.com.au

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