I think there is a lot of power in thinking about the problem instead of thinking about a solution. It takes some time to find and define a problem fully. A well-defined problem is usually attached to several questions. I usually see people(leadership?) walk into meetings with a problem and then ask people “How do we solve it?”. The people in the room rarely feel attached, and standard questions get clichéd answers. Maybe it’s and maybe it isn’t, but just showing the meeting existed (AHGHHH!) and people were there (AGHGHHGHGHHGHGH!!!!) is generally good enough. Not digging into the question is like an athlete that just hits the field with no stretching. Would you expect that athlete to work at his best?
Is there anything worse than clichéd thinking? I can’t stand hearing the cliché. There is a place and a time where it was the best we could do, it caught on, and people could use it to move forward. But now, we live in a world where there is more research and better ways of communicating what we need to get done. Words matter, so I reject that idea of concepts like “thinking outside the box.”. It is hollow corporate speak in a world where knowing how to say something allows you to get back to whatever you want instead of what you need.
When was the last time you stopped a meeting and asked if we are asking the right questions? (Actually, when were you in a meeting that tried to solve a problem? That is another issue for another post.) In my experience, taking the time to understand what you are looking at instead of just tackling what provided opens up a well of solutions.
It is easy to try to shortcut this process, and that is exactly why you can’t. Learning how to question the problems is a powerful tool in getting things done.
From the desk of Adam Thomas 