As we continue our Core Leadership Competencies series, this month’s theme is problem solving in leadership.
Problem solving is among the most ubiquitous everyday tasks for leaders. Problems come in all shapes and sizes, with varying degrees of complexity, and from a variety of sources within and outside of the organization.
As a leader, you may feel overwhelmed at times by the complexity or the sheer volume of problem solving in leadership that comes your way. Let’s consider some helpful concepts and strategies for strengthening your prowess at problem solving in leadership.
Problems are Not the Problem: The Paradigm Shift
“The problem is not that there are problems. The problem is expecting otherwise and thinking that having problems is a problem.” – Theodore Rubin, American psychiatrist and author
This reframe can be a paradigm-shifting starting point for cultivating resilience in your problem solving. Consider the stress that problems can create. Some stress is healthy, actually strengthening one’s neurological and immune responses and professional skillset; however, constant or insurmountable stress will gradually have a negative impact on one’s health and career satisfaction.
If problems are viewed as something to be avoided at all cost – for example, if we think of a good day as a problem-free day – we are setting ourselves up to experience excessive stress-responses all day long.
However, when we expect problems and view them as opportunities in disguise, we’re lessening our resistance, which promotes both our physical health and our ability to successfully address the problem with a calm and creative mind.
“What man actually needs is not a tensionless state but rather the striving and struggling for some goal worthy of him.” – Viktor Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning
These three real-time strategies can help you better tackle problem solving in leadership.
1. Practice the Pause
One of the best real-time strategies to approach problems effectively is to practice the pause.
When confronted with a problem, we understandably tend to leap into immediate action, particularly if the problem is significant or accompanied by a sense of urgency. However, this sets us up for two fatal errors.
- The first is that we’ll likely make some flawed assumptions in our attempt to respond quickly. And as Peter Drucker has said, “Erroneous assumptions can be disastrous.”
- The second error is that, unless we slow down, we forfeit valuable time that could be invested in understanding the problem on a deeper level. Even Einstein, with his exceptional brilliance, is credited with saying, “If I had an hour to solve a problem, I’d spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and 5 minutes thinking about solutions.”
“It’s not that I’m so smart; it’s just that I stay with problems longer.” – Albert Einstein
2. Clarify the Problem with Creative Questions
Roger Firestien, Innovation Consultant and former professor specializing in Creative Problem Solving, emphasizes that the language we use to describe a problem dictates the ideas we will think of.
A problem packaged as a statement, “We don’t have money for this project,” signals a dead end: the decision has been made, end of story. Instead, he coaches leaders in the art of using language that opens up our thinking to look for many possible solutions.
These questions often begin with “How might…?” “How do…?” or “What are all the ways to…?” For example, “How might we reduce the cost of this proposed project?” or “How might we raise funds for this project?”
In addition to opening up possibilities for problem solving in leadership, consider this approach to problem-solving questions:
- Emphasize what you want to create, rather than what you want to avoid: Instead of “The marketing department doesn’t give us the information that we need.” Ask “How might we increase communication between marketing and engineering?”
- Lower judgment: Instead of “The management team will never go for this.” Ask “How might we demonstrate the value of this method to the management team?”
“The most serious mistakes are not being made as a result of wrong answers. The truly dangerous thing is asking the wrong questions.” – Peter Drucker, Men, Ideas & Politics
3. Surround Yourself with Smart People
Steve Jobs famously said, “It doesn’t make sense to hire smart people and tell them what to do. We hire smart people so they can tell us what to do.”
As a leader, one of the most effective problem-solving strategies you can employ is to surround yourself with smart people – and then listen to them!
In an analysis of 150 senior teams, Harvard Business Review found that the teams strongest in problem solving in leadership all shared two key characteristics: cognitive diversity and psychological safety. You can focus on cultivating these two key qualities in your team to maximize your collective problem-solving capacity.
To dive deeper into the study and the strategies for cultivating cognitive diversity and psychological safety on your team, read more here.
You can also check out our additional resources. And as always, let us know if you’d like support in the cultivation of your team’s problem solving in leadership skills. No matter where you and your team are at in your leadership journey, the HPA team is here to help!
