According to David Carne,school business professional and executive coach, as a leader you will inevitably encounter the dreaded ‘p’ word – problems
As leaders, one of our key roles is to look to solve or resolve problems but, as human beings, sometimes we go to extraordinary lengths to resist engaging with them. When I first heard the phrase ‘You can’t solve a problem that you’re not prepared to have’, it really resonated with me; so often, we would far rather deny reality than acknowledge a problem. This leads to problems going unsolved, tough conversations being put off, necessary change being avoided and, ultimately, bigger problems! Problems are like rumours – they tend not to get less severe over time.
One of the reasons we deny problems is because our whole psychological wiring is designed to minimise the consumption of energy, the experience of stress and our exposure to danger; this is why we have routines we follow all the time – to avoid the overwhelm of having to think about every single action. However, it also means we avoid things we should be facing. There is every possibility that you decided to read this article because you wanted to avoid doing something else, and there is every possibility that that entire process happened subconsciously.
Problems disrupt our internal narrative of what the reality ‘should’ be with what actually is. They often involve accepting things as true which we do not want to be true, and they usually take a lot of effort to resolve. We can sometimes reinterpret reality in a way that means the problem doesn’t exist or, if it does exist, it is not ours.
In this state of mind we have no intention of addressing the problem – we may not wish to accept we have one, or we may simply not believe the problem is as severe as it is. If we don’t like what the evidence is saying, this can lead us to seek an alternative interpretation of the evidence – one which is more palatable. The truth is sometimes painful so we avoid it.
Problems can also undermine our sense of competence and success as leaders – if something is wrong with our organisation, does that mean we have failed as a leader? Rather than embracing problems and failures as the opportunities they are to learn, grow and eventually flourish, we catastrophise them. However, problems cannot simply be ignored, so what can we do to stop avoiding and get started on tackling problems?
Be prepared to have problems. It is well known that the first phase of dealing with any addiction is admitting that you have a problem, and this is true of other problems in our lives. To help us accept that we may have a problem, we can shift our mindset to see problems as opportunities to grow, learn new skills and form deeper relationships, rather than as inconveniences that cause stress.
Growth occurs when we push ourselves outside of our normal zone of comfort; it also requires a willingness to explore whether our response to issues stands up to objective scrutiny, or whether we are manipulating evidence to support our existing beliefs and desired narratives.
This is one of the reasons why having people on your team who bring different perspectives, and ways of looking at things from you, is so useful – being open to challenge and criticism is important.
Acknowledge that you can’t always solve a problem alone. Someone once said, ‘Where you have people, you have problems’; it’s also true that, where you have people, you also have the resources to resolve them. As a leader it is sometimes hard to admit you don’t have all the answers, but there is collective wisdom and creativity that comes from working with others to identify solutions. Involve others where you can – they may be smarter, or just more able to solve this particular problem, than you.
Identify all the options. Most problems have many solutions so you should identify several ways forward, not just one. As I highlighted at the start of this article, we tend to be lazy in our desire not to think too hard and sometimes need nudging in order to really think properly about potential solutions. Only when we have multiple solutions can we identify the one which is the best way forward.
What would you do if? Ask yourself some ‘What would I do if’ questions. This might include questions such as ‘What would I do if…I knew it would work?…I had the courage to face the problem?…I knew that doing nothing was not an option…the solution didn’t have to be perfect?’ You can even ask yourself, ‘What would X do in this situation’ – and substitute X with your hero, someone who is a great problem-solver or who appears to have limitless courage.
Identify immediate actions and use the five second rule to take action. We often procrastinate because we think a problem is too big. The solution to this is to identify smaller steps which move us towards the end goal. Identify things we can do immediately and use the ‘five-second-rule’ to ensure we take action – this dictates that you count to five and then do the thing you have determined to do; send that email, have that ‘phone call or begin implementing your plan.
Accept there may not be a perfect solution. It is sometimes said that ‘perfect is the enemy of good’. While we all want a perfect solution, if we set our expectations too high, we risk never taking action. If we aim for good, we can tweak as we go along and get to (nearly) perfect later.
We will never be able to avoid encountering problems but, if we stop avoiding them, have the right mindset about them and a strategy to deal with them, we can begin to work with others on resolving them.
Be the first to comment