Problem Solving Part 3 - Presuppose Multiple Solutions
Even experienced, educated executives often trip over this business blooper. It lies in wait, ready to spring out and ambush the unwary. When faced with a problem, most business leaders are far too easily satisfied with the first solution they unearth…And so stop looking for additional answers much too soon.
One-Right-Answer Thinking
This error reflects an acquired tendency to believe that every problem should have one, clear cut solution. It’s a consequence of your education which conditioned you to avoid ambiguity, seek certainty and assume there’s only one-right-answer in every situation. An approach epitomized by the multiple-choice exam…
Five possible answers…One totally right. Four completely wrong. Feeling lucky? If you dared to deviate from the one-right-answer in the approved textbook, your grade fell. Remember how you responded to those awful ambiguous questions that plagued multiple choice exams? “That was so unfair! There’s only supposed to be one-right-answer!”
In his book “Managers Not MBAs,” Professor Henry Mintzberg provides another excellent example of the one-right-answer delusion in education. He observes that an MBA degree generally leaves graduates woefully ill prepared for the rigors of ‘real world’ business management. Mintzberg goes on to explain that one important reason for this trend is that MBA professors generally teach ‘one-size-fits-all techniques’.
Too Young…
During my teens, on my birthday I'd hang out at the local record store and spend hours choosing a long playing record. (For my younger readers, that’s a flimsy black plastic disc with grooves that your parents used to play pop music.) After making a decision—generally in favor of Billy Joel—I'd carefully examine the record for scratches before returning home. (Okay, honestly, the first LP I ever bought was Donny Osmond’s “Too Young”…turns out I was too young to know any better!)
That night, I gently slid my shiny new LP from its (grit collecting) sleeve, blew off any dust and—touching only the edges—placed it gingerly on the turntable. Then, fingers trembling, I tentatively lowered the sharp needle—natural enemy of the LP—onto the delicate outside grooves…while the record was turning! One sub-microscopic slip and Billy Joel would never sing “Piano Man” again.
And yet, despite all this sweaty angst about damaging my birthday present (and torment over my younger sister getting hold of it), never once did it occur to me that there might just be a better way.
Looking back, LPs were laughably delicate. And yet, at the time, most people were far too contented with LPs to ponder the possibility of a better solution. Luckily, someone called James T. Russell conceived of a better solution and invented CDs. I’m reminded of a funny line from comedian Jay Sankey: “I’ll never forget the first time I played a CD…it screwed up the needle on my turntable!”
Even more recently, researchers dissatisfied with CDs have developed even cooler solutions and so now we can store an entire music collection on a clip-it-to-the-front-of-your-shirt iPod.
The Problem With Healthcare
As you would expect—being a medical doctor—I give motivational speeches to lots of different types of healthcare audiences. And many times I’ve asked: “In your opinion, what’s the solution to our failing healthcare system?”
Most answers are some variation on: “We need to fix…blank.” The “Blank” ranges from unscrupulous insurance agencies, unethical drug companies, ambulance chasing lawyers, money-grabbing doctors, penny-pinching administrators and litigious patients with unrealistic expectations.
In truth, as soon as you pick on, vilify or try to “fix” one of these contributing factors—a popular pastime for politicians—you’re unlikely to solve anything. Fixating on one factor is unlikely to solve the problem (and very likely to have unintended side-effects).
A Dangerous Idea
From this healthcare example, it’s abundantly (and painfully) clear that there are many potential solutions to a significant problem. And yet, if you’re deluded by one-right-answer thinking, your first idea—most likely, a predictable idea—will distract you from the pursuit of more answers. This is why French philosopher Emile Chartier observed: “Nothing is more dangerous than an idea when it’s the only one you have.”
And Heaven help you if you become intellectually invested in your first idea. Asserting your expertise, you wield your experience like a sword of truth…lopping off the head of anyone who dares to suggest an alternative solution. So how do you overcome the limitations of your one-right-answer education? Here’s one (of several) effective Perspective PowerTM strategies…
Presuppose Multiple Solutions…
First, ask questions about your dilemma that presuppose multiple answers. (This gives notice to your unconscious mind that you’re seeking even better solutions and so not to quit too soon.) You might ask…
- What are the solutions to this problem?
- What are my options in this situation?
- What are the clues to overcoming this challenge?
After identifying one possible answer, breath a sigh of relief and then…DON’T STOP!
Don’t immediately mentally accept your first solution to an important problem. If you already have a solution in mind, bracket it off and then…KEEP LOOKING.
Don’t let good solutions distract you from great solutions. Stubbornly resist the overwhelming temptation to be satisfied too soon. Look for clues to the second, third and fourth ‘one-right-answer’…KEEP THINKING.
For example—in the late 1980s and 1990s—the executives who championed downsizing could have chosen to set aside their first solution to declining revenues and sought less obvious, second, third (and even ninth) one-right-answers. An alternative approach, such as instituting pay cuts across the board, top executives first, might have avoided the disastrous aftermath of this one-right-answer approach.
Bottom line: Real world problems have multiple solutions. And so you should spend time looking for better answers than the ones you’ve got. Considering multiple solutions will enable you to solve your problem faster, more easily and cheaply.
Let’s progress to the final stage of the Perspective PowerTM approach to problem solving…
