I used to think this creative problem solving skill was inherited, and that I hadn’t inherited enough of it! And of course great leaders are great creative problem solvers!
Most people don’t think that they are creative problem solvers. However the basic premise is that anyone can be a great creative problem solver if they just understand a few basic principles and practice them routinely in their everyday work life. (Sound familiar? Again, it’s Tennis, not Particle Physics).
The basic principles are:-
1. that The Big Mess Can Be Distracting. In other words, it’s easy to get so wrapped up in the immediate details of a difficult situation that we lose site of the real problem. Often the “light bulb” solution lies outside the cloud of details we are struggling with. The cloud of the “big mess” gets in the way of us seeing the real problem. And as soon as we see the real problem, the solution often becomes obvious. This is similar to the old expression, “you can’t see the wood for the trees.”
2. that we all have “Stifling Mechanisms” that get in the way of our natural creativity. These are habits, patterns, attitudes and beliefs that make routine life more liveable, but really stifle our ability to take a fresh view of a problem. Our best creative problem solving often comes from our subconscious mind, not our conscious mind. That’s why it’s quite common to struggle for hours with a problem, be completely stuck, and then have the solution come to us in the middle of the night, or in the shower, when we’ve stopped thinking about it consciously! The subconscious mind can often see right through the wall.
3. that creative problem solving is often an iterative process, not a linear one. It is a zigzag line, not a straight line. Think of a sailing boat tacking across the sea whilst its destination is straight ahead! Don’t expect Creative Problem Solving to be a straight, logic sequence of thoughts. In fact it is the logic that has to be disrupted for the creative solution to be seen.
The lesson is that great problem solving often requires a certain amount of relaxation, great persistence and a willingness to “just keep going” where others give up or get stuck.
Creative Problem Solving Tools
Here are a few basic techniques that can blast away the obstacles to creative problem solving. You need to develop your own favourite techniques, but here are some to start with.
Brainstorming – more often than not this technique is executed badly. It is important to come up with many ideas (often in a group) as quickly as possible (two minutes maximum) and not consider them until the time is up. Far too often the ideas are discussed and/or dismissed as they are suggested which reduces the total number of ideas generated, stops building on ideas and simply puts people off (especially if their idea has been laughingly dismissed). It is really beneficial to suspend judgement and have fun and let the ideas come out – thick and fast. Capture the ideas on a flipchart, but get everything out, don’t worry about how it looks or fits together!
Anti-solution – often we find it easy or easier to be negative about a situation and this technique plays on that fact. We list all the things we can do that would make to problem or situation worse, which usually generates a long list of points! Now we take each point in turn and flip it into a potential solution and look at the total list of possible solutions.
Super Heroes – for this technique we first identify people which are very good at what they do in the world of business, sport, politics, entertainment etc, etc, Typically the list will be long and we may have to rationalise the list to the top three ‘names’. Then we take each one in turn and ask what would they do in this situation and get out typical responses for our nominated superhero. The answers may be positive, aggressive, rude or not politically correct but they form the basis of potential solutions. When all three have been “asked” you will have a long list of solutions to work on.
These are only three techniques, and, if you want (a lot) more try “Techniques of Structured Problem Solving” by Jr. Arthur B. Van Gundy (Springer 1988) – a definitive text.
After a while, all these concepts and techniques become second nature, a deeply ingrained way of thinking. They affect all your efforts and interactions accordingly, and you will be the person who always seems to come up with the creative new ideas.
Leadership Stroke 3 – People Leadership next time...
