Do you ignore it, pretending that if you don’t acknowledge your discomfort, then you don’t have to correct your mistakes? Do you carry it with you, stashing it in a back pocket so you can take it out and flog yourself periodically?
I’ve done both. But the healthiest thing I’ve learned to do with guilt is use it for its intended purpose.
Guilt has an intended purpose? Yes. And because it has a purpose, it has an end-point of usefulness.
I believe the purpose of guilt is to show you where you’ve gotten off-course and where you can improve. Once you have figured out where you jumped the tracks and gotten back on them, guilt has reached its expiration date.
Don’t hold onto guilt any longer than it is useful. Like any rotten thing, it will clutter your life and stink up your emotions.
This is the transcript of a Leadership Training presentation I gave at the William F. Laman Public Library System in February 2017.
Sometimes the life of a leader can feel like a gigantic puzzle to which someone has hidden half the pieces. In this session, I’ll be talking about how to develop traits like resourcefulness and outside-the-box thinking.
Relevance
Before I go into the research, how do you think creative problem-solving skills are relevant to your position? [This was followed by a brief discussion in which participants told me various ways they needed creative problem-solving skills. There were also participants who said they felt like creativity was not required for problem-solving.]
A few years ago, the World Economic Forum published the “Future of Jobs Report” wherein they listed the “Top 10 Job Skills” of 2015. Here they are:
Complex Problem-Solving
Critical Thinking
Creativity
People Management
Coordinating With Others
Emotional Intelligence
Judgement/Decision-Making
Service Orientation
Negotiation
Cognitive Flexibility
No real surprises here, right? These are all fairly standard skills that I think we can all agree are useful for any job. Notice that Complex Problem-Solving and Creativity are in the top 3.
Once the World Economic Forum compiled this data, they projected the top 10 job skills for 2020. This is how it changed:
Complex Problem-Solving
Coordinating With Others
People Management
Critical Thinking
Negotiation
Quality Control
Service Orientation
Judgement/Decision-Making
Active Listening
Creativity
You’ll notice, it’s basically the same list except emotional intelligence and cognitive flexibility were replaced by quality control and active listening and the order of some of the others got scrambled.
I especially want you to notice that Complex Problem-Solving stayed at the top of the list while Creativity fell all the way to the bottom. I believe this is due to a lack of understanding about what creativity is.
We’ll get to a definition in a moment, but first I want to go back to the opening screen and examine it more closely. [The opening screen reads “Creative Problem Solving”.] There are multiple ways to look at these words.
Are we solving problems related to creativity? Are we solving problems that were creatively invented? [group laughter] Are we solving problems in a creative way?
No matter how you look at it, it’s obvious that the three parts of creative problem-solving are the creative part, the problem part, and the solving part.
The 3 D’s of Creative Problem-Solving Let’s talk about the 3 D’s of creative problem-solving:
Developing Creativity
Discerning Problems
Designing Solutions
Before we get into Developing Creativity, do you have any questions related to Relevance? [There were no questions.]
Developing Creativity
Defining Creativity According to MindTools, a resource I’ve mentioned before, there are two kinds of creativity:
Artistic Creativity
Technical Creativity
Who wants to define these? [There is a brief discussion wherein participants correctly define each.]
Great! Here are the MindTools definitions:
Artistic Creativity: Self-expression through skill and technique
Technical Creativity: The creation of new theories, technologies, or ideas
Obviously, there is sometimes going to be overlap between these two different types of creativity, but for the purposes of this presentation, we are going to be talking mostly about technical creativity.
The “No” Brain According to neuroscientist Dr. Dan Siegel, there are two kinds of brains: the “no” brain, which is not very creative, and the “yes” brain, which is highly creative.
We can all slip back and forth between “no” brain and “yes” brain, but some people get stuck in “no” brain – to their own detriment.
So let’s explore this idea. The “no” brain is
Reactive, even when the situation doesn’t call for a reaction
Focused on surviving – not thriving
Defensive because it perceives everything as something that is happening “to” it
Lashes out at others
Is always trying to escape the present
Freezes up when it doesn’t know what to do
Collapses like a tall structure that is too rigid to sway in the wind
Is easily triggered into throwing fits – both aggressive and passive aggressive fits
Is inflexible
Obviously, there are times when the “no” brain can be useful. In a triage situation, you need to be reactive. In a life-or-death situation, you need to focus on survival. You don’t ever need to be stuck in “no” mode.
The “Yes” Brain To be creative problem-solvers, we need to stay in our “yes” brain as much as possible. The “yes” brain is
Not reactive but receptive to new things
Not focused on survival but focused on engaging with the people and situations around it
Not defensive but introspective (willing to look into itself)
Not lashing out but striving for harmony, especially with teammates
Not trying to escape but is unafraid to address challenges head on
Not freezing up but has a sense of clarity
Not collapsing but remaining strong by swaying when things don’t go its way
Not easily triggered but calm and collected
Not inflexible but flexible, adapting its thought patterns to the situation
How to Develop Your “Yes” Brain According to Dr. Siegel, here’s how to develop our “yes” brain and, thus, our creativity:
Be courageous.
Don’t blame others.
Do take responsibility.
Conclusion of group discussion: It takes a lot of courage not to blame others for your situation but to take responsibility for the consequences of your decisions.
Be curious.
Don’t pass judgement.
Do ask questions.
Conclusion of group discussion: Keep an open mind about problems, and become an incessant question-asker.
Be resilient.
Don’t shut down.
Do focus on the big picture.
Conclusion of group discussion: Resilient people don’t shut down when they get knocked down because they are focused on the bigger picture.
Before we move on to Discerning Problems, are there any questions about Developing Creativity? [There were no questions.]
Discerning Problems
“If I had an hour to solve a problem, I’d spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and 5 minutes thinking about the solution.”
Albert Einstein
This is an exaggerated way of explaining the common saying that “a well-stated problem is a half-solved problem”. So let’s examine some different ways to think about problems.
The FAQ Method
First, tell me about this picture. [There is a brief discussion about what might be going on in the above pic.}
This is good! I’m hearing facts, assumptions, and questions, which is the basis for the FAQ Method of trouble-shooting. Here’s the process:
Establish the facts. What do you know for sure about this situation? [Our discussion concludes that the only facts we know are that there is a person sitting alone in the cold in a row of charis in a stadium which has at least three sections of green-ish chairs.]
Separate your assumptions. What are you projecting onto this situation? [During discussion, various participants realize they have made assumptions about gender, mental and physical abilities, and the person’s state of mind based on their own experiences.]
Define your questions. What do you need to know to understand the question better? [We talk about all the things we want to know about this pic.]
Curious Questioning Suppose it’s your job to shut down the stadium after an event, and you are faced with this sole person sitting there in the stands. What kinds of questions are you going to ask in order to properly handle this situation?
“What are you doing?”
This is an open-ended question, meaning it cannot be answered with “yes” or “no”. Open-ended questions are best for gathering information, but this particular one can come off as too brusque.
“Are you ok?”
This one is a closed-ended question, meaning it can be answered with “yes” or “no”. There is certainly a time and a place for closed-ended questions, and this could be one of them.
“Why are you alone?”
This is an example of a neutral question. Neutral questions are often open-ended and are designed to gather information without swaying the person’s answer.
“Are you waiting for someone?”
This is a leading question. Leading questions are often closed-ended, and they are designed to create a scenario for the other person to either agree with or deny.
Warning: Be very careful with leading questions! You can lead someone to a scenario you want them to agree with, but you can also lead them to panic. For example, “May I show you a different place to wait while I close the stadium?” leads them to the idea that you are closing the stadium but that you are going to consider their needs and help them first, while “Did your parents leave you here?” leads them to the idea that they’ve been abandoned, which could make the problem worse.
“Do you need help?”
This can be thought of as a primary question. It gets to the heart of the matter quickly, and it is often ok, even necessary, to pose these as closed-ended questions.
“Where is your caregiver?”
This one could be a good follow-up question to a primary question, especially the primary question we just discussed. Think of follow-up questions as a funnel or a drill, getting you to the who, what, when, where, why, and how of the situation.
Analysis Now that you’ve separated facts from assumptions and approached the situation with curious questioning, you need to analyze the situation. A quick way to do this is with these three questions:
What? Gain a thorough understanding of the issue.
So what? Determine whether this is actually a problem that needs to be solved or simply a dumpster fire that will burn itself out.
Now what? Decide what needs to be done next.
Critical Thinking Once you reach the “Now what?” stage of analysis, don’t forget to engage your critical thinking skills.
Many times we mistake critical thinking for logical thinking. Logic is required for critical thinking, but logic isn’t the whole story. Logical thinking alone can lead you to a solution that no one will go along with.
To avoid the trap of purely logical thinking, make sure you understand the perspectives and the motives of everyone involved in the issue.
Before we move on to Designing Solutions, does anyone have questions about Discerning Problems? [There were no questions.]
Designing Solutions
Nan Gesche teaches Critical Thinking and Problem Solving at the University of Minnesota. Some of the information I’ve used today came from a webinar she taught.
In that webinar, Gesche talks about some of the difficulties that arise when we are trying to generate solutions to a problem. She believes that one of the problems is that
Sometimes we change what we’re saying without changing the way we’re thinking.
Nan Gesche
She’s right. You can say to your team, “Yes, this is a problem, and I’m going to help solve it,” without actually believing that there is a problem. That’s a shortcut to misery.
It is nearly impossible to generate viable solutions to a problem if you don’t believe the problem actually exists.
You can even say, “I dropped the ball and caused a problem, and I’m sorry,” without actually believing that you dropped the ball and without actually being sorry.
There are a number of ways in which people can change what they’re saying without changing the way they’re thinking, and there are a number of reasons this occurs.
The point to keep in mind is that until you have a solution-oriented mindset, nothing will change – no matter what your mouth is saying.
Change Your Perspective If you find yourself unable to design a solution for a problem you are facing, this is a good indication that you need to change your perspective.
We can find fresh perspective by asking ourselves, “What if I’d never been presented with a situation like this before?” Sometimes the problem is that we keep comparing this problem with a previous problem we’ve faced, and that might not be a useful comparison.
This same question can help you gain perspective if you are in a situation wherein you find yourself trying to implement a really cool solution that worked well for someone else but isn’t working at all for you.
What if you hadn’t come into the situation with a solution already in mind? How might you think differently about the problem then?
Another good question to ask yourself is, “How can I expand my thought bubble to include other’s ways of thinking?”
I read a Chinese proverb recently that said
Of all the strategies, knowing when to quit might be the best.
Chinese Proverb
I’m not sure if that is an actual Chinese proverb or something someone made up for a fortune cookie, but it is true nonetheless.
Sometimes we have to know the limitations of our own experiences. We have to be aware of when the solution to our problem is in someone else’s head, and then go looking for it.
The Process Now I’m going to spell out a problem-solving process that is going to seem super-simple and overly defined, but I believe there is value in consciously considering each of these steps.
Generate as many solutions as you possibly can. At this stage, they don’t even have to make sense because one thought can lead to another, and you can start out with something impossible and end up with a viable solution, so just brainstorm.
Select one, usually the one you think is most likely to work, but the important thing is that you just pick one and try it. Don’t be afraid to make a decision.
Develop an action plan. Stop and think about how you and your team are going to implement this plan. Sometimes people have to be taught how to implement your solution. Sometimes people have to be convinced to implement your solution.
Implement your action plan. Some people are really terrible with follow-through, so the importance of actually being responsible for the implementation of your solution can’t be underestimated.
Evaluate the results. This should be done before implementation by evaluating possible results and being prepared for each. It should also be done after you’ve implemented your solution and you have real results to analyze.
If it didn’t work, scrap it and start over. It doesn’t make you look bad to say, “Hey, my solution didn’t work out the way I thought it would. Let’s do something different.” In fact, it shows wisdom to own it and help fix it.
Take an Art Break! In Tinkering School, children are presented with all kinds of real tools (including power tools) and materials (wood, plastic, rubber, paint, metal, etc.) and told to make something – anything they want.
The children can work together or individually to come up with a project and figure out how to build it and make it work. For example, a group of elementary school students make a wooden roller coaster.
After conducting Tinkering School for several years, the administrators noticed a pattern. Whenever the kids ran into a problem they couldn’t solve, they’d take an art break.
They’d decorate their project or doodle or color or fold paper. Suddenly, the solution would come to them when they weren’t even thinking about it, and they’d be right back at it, working on their main project.
Children do this naturally. It’s not something they have to be taught. But to some adults, this looks like kids are giving up. Adults need to learn to take breaks in order to generate better solutions to their problems.
For some people, it will be an actual art break – doodling, painting, crafting. For others, it might be reading a novel for 15 minutes or getting a good night’s sleep and waking up to an epiphany or a greater sense of clarity.
Figure out what kind of breaks work for you, and take them!
That’s all I have for you today. Thank you all for being here and participating in this session. Do you have any questions or comments or tips you’d like to share before you go? [There was no further discussion.]
Fredonna Walker 