A problem can be defined as a mismatch between what we expect and what actually happens in our lives. As we come to identify problems we find that our problems are often linked to an expectation we have imposed on our surroundings. To take this definition further a problem is better thought of as being an expectation that we have that does not match what we presently experience. This means our present experience is defined by our expectations. Reality, is often not what we would like it to be.
Expectations: What are they?
An often easy out for us to say something like: just don’t have any expectations. Unfortunately this is not possible. An expectation is a desire for something you want to come to pass in your own life. That desire, is as much you, as you are you. Most of the time you don’t even realise that expectation is there until the heat of the day (circumstances) reveals it. Expectations are deep down desires that I think need to be cultivated, not ignored. In some circumstances, your expectations need to shift or be changed because some of them are poisonous. Ultimately, the problem you perceive is tied to some kind of expectation you have in your life. Now, we can take our definition of what a problem is even further. A problem is an expectation or desire that has does not match what we expect reality to be. The problem does not lie in reality as such, it lies in causal structures we have mapped over reality. Here’s an example.
The man and the flat tyre parable
There was as man who was driving home from work on a rainy afternoon when suddenly his tyre blew out. Angry at the situation the man slowly edges over to the curb and gets out to assess his problem. He studies his problem and doesn’t see the 18 wheeler approaching from behind. He is hit and killed. Now his problem no longer exists. Why? Because he is dead. Problems are perspectives on events that are tied to deep rooted expectations of what we take things to be. Here is another one.
The stock market problem
The CEO of SuperCompany Inc. (sorry burned out at the moment couldn’t think of a snazzier name), walks into his office one morning to a frantic Chief Financial Officer. He says to the lady, ‘My God Chloe, wants the matter, you look like crap?’ The CFO hands the CEO a piece of paper with a media report that the company is going bankrupt due to bad investments in Australian wheat. The CEO takes one look at the piece of paper and throws it in the bin. The CFO is amazed. ‘Why did you do that,’ she asks. He looks back at her and says, ‘That’s not my problem,’ he says, ‘my problem is that we are going bankrupt and you had to tell me via a media report!’
In this example we can see that neither the CEO or CFO were aware of the problem until it was created for them to believe. These are boundary judgments. Those ideas which we create that form rules and expectations of what we think is the case. In this case the company didn’t think it was going bankrupt. How much of what you hear is ‘actually’ the case? There is a reality and you can be sure it will impact on you but it’s a reality of intersecting ideas and thoughts some of which cause great problems (like the internet bubble burst) and some of which cause smaller ones.
Three ways of exploring a problem by changing your mind
There are three ways I know of problem solving by changing your mind. Here we go:
Doing nothing
When we absolve a problem we actually do nothing. There are times when a ‘wait and see’ approach is called for. Say you are building an adwords campaign to boost traffic to your website. You select a bunch of keywords and wait. They come back with a little bit more traffic everyday than the amount you had before. A bit more, a bit more and a bit more. Imagine if you grew impatient? You then start to muck about with keywords and ruin the campaign. In this case you should do nothing, observe and then take action if required.
Invoke dialectical processes
When you begin to examine life from many angles you begin to see just how limiting your point of view is. If you are facing a problem you can’t solve. Begin to play the devil’s advocate. Take the heart of the contradiction and expose it for what it really is. I recommend using at least four contradictory ideas to analyse the situation. Let’s go back to our stockbroker example above. What if he said the CFO, ‘I don’t believe the report because I trust your judgement… are we going bankrupt?’ He could have also taken the dreamers approach, ‘Now that I have read this report, I believe it will turn out for our good.’ In turn he could have taken a mathematical approach, ‘Show the numbers is this true?’ Then again he could have taken the view of a seasoned old veteran, ‘Listen to me, there is no crisis, people invent nonsense like this all the time. Put out a statement saying we are not going bankrupt and quote some numbers. People will believe that over some half-cocked media report.’ In short, take what you think the problem is and look at it’s enemy. By teasing out the enemy you will be able to see the faults in your own thinking.
Creative problem solving
Creative problem solving is the hardest and least likely to succeed in a problem solving intervention. This is when you take a brand new idea that hasn’t been tried which removes the old one completely. In this version you solve the problem by changing the expectation on which it’s framed. What? I mean you take the initial expectation of the problem, the idea that the problem is a problem and you begin to move into a new way of thinking that gets rid of the problem. In essence you change the rules of the expectation by shifting the ideas it’s built upon to a new solution that removes the need for the old one to exist. For example, our friend with the tyre problem had a death problem which is a nasty creative solution to his tyre problem. The tyre is the least of his worries.
When people create a problem it’s built on expectations and perceptions. Problems often revolve around what we think is the case. I know managers who will not make decisions because of fear. Fear stops creativity because it blocks the flow of anything opposed to it. You need to begin to create rather than do what you think you should. A creative solution is a new idea that moves the old out of the way. If a market problem emerges it’s because of perceptions. If there is a climate crisis, we have found that through our man-made data, analysis and conversations. If we find there isn’t… it’s exactly the same process.
When we change our mind about something new solutions begin to emerge. As we learn to shift the perspectives that hold us back we will change our mind and new more creative solutions will spring up.
