Problem Solving | Guy Harris: The Recovering Engineer

Archive for Problem Solving

Nov
2

Effective Communication: What DO You Want?

by Guy Harris

This morning, I read a great post by my friend and colleague Kevin Eikenberry. In this post, Kevin makes a great point we can all learn from the campaign process that those of us in the United States have been watching for the last few weeks.

In addition to triggering some amplifying thoughts for today, it reminded me of a post I wrote several months ago on Why You Shouldn’t Take Conflict Resolution Lessons From Politicians.

If you want to become a better communicator, I recommend that you read his post, and I offer the following thoughts to build on Kevin’s observations.

As I lead workshops on conflict resolution, leadership, team dynamics, and communication skills, this communication tip frequently comes to the surface for discussion:

Say what you DO want rather than what you DON’T want.

To illustrate the power of this tip, imagine a young child walking across your kitchen with a cup of milk.

Assuming that you want them to get the cup safely to a counter top without spilling it, you could say:

Don’t spill that milk. – or -
Please be careful with that cup.

The first statement says what you DON’T want. The second, and more powerful statement, says what you DO want.

Photo by JoelMontes

1 Categories : Communication Skills, Leadership Skills, Persuasion, Resolving Conflict

Oct
11

How to Tell If a Conflict is Good or Bad

by Guy Harris

Not all conflict is bad. In fact some conflict can actually be good.

The difference is whether the conflict is constructive or destructive.

The challenge is that the emotional energy, body language, and other external signs of the conflict can look the same to an outside observer.

So, how can you tell the difference between a constructive conflict and a destructive conflict?

Here are three tell-tale signs to help you distinguish between the two types.

Constructive conflict conversations focus on issues. Destructive conflict conversations focus on people.
Constructive conflict conversations focus on the future. Destructive conflict conversations focus on the past.
Constructive conflict conversations bring people together to solve a problem. Destructive conflict conversations create polarization and division within an organization.

If a conflict conversation is constructive, let it go to completion. It is likely to turn out well.

If a conflict conversation is destructive, use the Seven Secrets for Resolving Personal Workplace Conflict to move the conflict in a positive direction.

Photo by jphilipg.

0 Categories : Gallery, Resolving Conflict

Sep
27

Group Problem Solving – Give People a Chance to Talk

by Guy Harris

As I write this post, I am sitting in a hotel room in Anaheim, California preparing to lead a Bud to Boss workshop. In the process of looking over my notes and thinking through the planned events tomorrow, I started reflecting on a meeting that I facilitated for a client in Indiana last week. The events of this meeting reminded me of a vitally important issue that affects group decision making dynamics:

Until people talk through their perspectives to the point that they feel heard and understood, they will find it difficult to come to a collective decision that they can all live with and act upon.

There where 18 powerful leaders from across the state of Indiana in this meeting – business leaders, educational leaders, and leaders of not-for-profit organizations. Eighteen people with different perspectives, different backgrounds, different view points, and strong opinions.

This organization is facing some pretty stiff challenges in both funding and organization. Each of these leaders is committed to the survival of the organization, and they each have different views of what their collective future looks likes.

In preparation for the meeting, I put together an agenda with a structured process designed to allow the time necessary to talk through issues with an eye towards driving decisions and commitments rather than just talk.

As we began the meeting and I led the group through the initial discussion steps, I could feel myself getting anxious. I began to get worried that we would spend too much time talking and not enough time deciding.

Remember – I built the agenda, and I started to get frustrated with the process.

And then, near the end of the meeting, we did an exercise designed to identify and rank obstacles the group needed to face in reaching their desired future. Quickly, in less than an hour, we listed, ranked and developed specific action plans for overcoming their biggest challenges.

It took us nearly four hours to reach the point that we could make a group decision. Four hours of talk about different perspectives and viewpoints so that we could drive to a conclusion in just a few minutes.

And that’s the observation that reminded me of the lesson I mentioned above.

The talking, even though it felt slow to me, was a vital part of the overall process. I’m pretty sure that if we had tried to rush or bypass those steps, we would not have been able to come to the final decisions with the unanimity of purpose and perspective that we did that day.

I believe that the process we used supported the group in coming to a conclusion, and the time to talk it out was a big part of the final success.

The next time you lead a group problem solving session, make sure you allow the time necessary to let everyone have their say. The time you invest in the process will come back to you many times over in the increased energy and productivity that the meeting generates.

Graphic by www.lumaxart.com.

0 Categories : Leadership Skills, Problem Solving

Feb
27

Why The Health Care Reform Debate Makes Me Sick

by Guy Harris

A few weeks ago, I wrote a post titled Why You Shouldn’t Take Conflict Resolution Lessons From Politicians. In that post, I listed a number of things common to the political process that are terrible examples of how to behave when you are really trying to solve a problem or resolve a conflict.

As I look at the health care reform debate, I see a number of these behaviors in the way the discussion(s) is (are) proceeding. And, frankly, it makes me sick.

I am not a doctor, pharmacist, attorney, drug company executive or any other person who has deep insights into the intricacies of our health care system. I am, though, a person who can observe the process and see how the current discussion has virtually no hope of arriving at a good conclusion.

Virtually all of the discussion that I have seen mentions or implies that the system itself is broken. Then, the debate turns to how we should redesign the way we pay for the broken system. Almost no substantive discussion about how to fix the system. Just discussions, arguments and rants about how to pay for it.

Excuse me! How does that make any sense at all?

Do I have an opinion about what needs to happen to make the system better. Well, of course I do, and that’s not the point of this post.

The point of this post is to learn from the communication, conflict resolution, and problem solving failures present in this discussion.

Problem number one: Discussing solutions before reaching agreement on the definition of the problem.

If we disagree on the definition of the problem, we can never agree on the solution. When people jump to discussing solutions before they discuss their respective viewpoints about how to best define the problem, they lock themselves into a negative spiral of conversation that rarely, if ever, leads to resolution. It might lead to one party “beating” the other. It does not lead to resolution.

Problem number two: Discussing symptoms rather than root causes.

A former co-worker of mine once received a call from a family member for help with a leaking water heater. As my co-worker entered his family member’s home, he found his brother-in-law frantically mopping water from the floor trying to stay ahead of the leaking water heater. My co-worker, also my friend, approached the scene and then reached over his brother-in-law’s head to shut the supply valve on the water heater. Once the supply of water stopped, the leak slowed and they could clean-up the mess. My friend’s brother-in-law was so focused on the symptom (water on the floor) that he didn’t stop long enough to fix the root cause (water flowing through the water heater).

Failing to clearly identify root causes forces you to spend inordinate amounts of effort on “fixing” the symptoms rather than dealing with the real problem.

When you’re trying your case in the court of public opinion, attempting to preserve your chances for re-election, or hoping for a powerful sound byte for the evening news; the tactics employed by politicians may be useful. Just don’t use them in your personal or professional life. They are almost destined to fail.

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/streamishmc/ / CC BY-ND 2.0

2 Categories : Decision Making, Problem Solving, Reflections, Resolving Conflict

Jan
31

Using Detours To Get Where You Want to Go

by Guy Harris

There are times in both personal and professional situations where apparent road blocks get in the way of achieving your desired goals. Earlier in my life, these road blocks discouraged me. Now, I just see them as detours, and I have learned to learn from the detours. I learned to use them to get where I want to go.

In the picture above, the desired goal is somewhere on 9th Street. At the moment, the normal or shortest path down 9th Street is closed. That does not mean that we should change our destination because the original road we wanted to travel was closed. We just take the detour, enjoy the scenery, and move on towards our goal.

Similar situations strike us as we move through life. It could be a college choice – which college to attend and what to study. It could be a career choice – what to do, where to do it, etc. It could be a business direction decision – what product to launch ( or cancel), how to offer a service, or what market to enter ( or leave). These situations hit us over and over again as we go through our lives.

Here’s what I’ve learned at this point in my life: stay focused on the end goal and take the detour.

The detour might take longer to follow than your originally intended path. The detour might make you do some things you had not planned to do and may not enjoy doing.

The detour might also show you some things you would not have otherwise seen. The detour might give you a chance to learn some skills or insights into yourself that you would not have learned on your original path. The detour might actually be a little bit of fun to follow.

I’m not suggesting that you should look for detours. I’m not even saying that I’m always good at accepting detours with a positive attitude. I am saying that re-framing the detour as a learning experience or as an adventure rather than a road block can make it valuable.

Some of my greatest lessons in life have come from detours. So far, I have always found a way to use the lessons I learned on the detour to help me move closer to where I really want to be.

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/krossbow/ / CC BY 2.0