New solutions require new questions

As organizational and management consultants, it is our job to help companies solve current issues and challenges in a way that leaves the organization better equipped to do what it does best. In short. And there are plenty of problems. At the societal level, there are refugee crises and a financial crisis that will not end. In business, there is talk of disruption, big data, innovation and new business models. And as individuals, we are pressured by the many conflicting demands and expectations placed by others and ourselves. So there's enough to do.
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In our experience, however, the traditional way of solving problems often strains the very thing we want to do something about. This is because problems are talked up or tried to solve in a fundamentally destructive, inhibitory or destructive way. Thus, in order to create new solutions, we need to ask new questions and find new methods. Here are our suggestions for how we can solve the same problems more constructively, redemptively and constructively, but with better results.

Traditional problem solving won't solve your problems

Einstein once said that a problem cannot be solved at the level at which it is created. What really is the consequence of that? After all, it's basically a reinvention of the whole idea of how we solve problems. A classic and still widely used method of problem solving is to analyze. And it often makes good sense to collect data (which, by definition, is the past) to understand where we are now — so that we can make decisions about — and plan for — the future. Unfortunately, the analysis is often about “gaps”: dissatisfied customers are analyzed in order to create happy customers. Human suffering is studied to increase human happiness. Failure is studied to pave the way for success.
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The problem is that we do not find the answers to what the future calls for by studying only the mistakes and shortcomings of the past. We should also focus on figuring out what new things we can do that will take us in a right direction. And what we can take with us from the past, which already works. It takes a completely different mindset and analysis. Analyses that not only look at where there are gaps and flaws, but also look at where something actually works. So we can learn from it and build on it, while addressing the problems. This boat-and-thinking we often illustrate by using a ship as a metaphor. If the ship is to sail stronger, the existing engine power must be increased by building on what is already working. However, if there are holes in the hull below the surface of the water, they must be patched before the boat sinks. Both approaches are vital for the ship to move forward faster. We continue to see a very strong focus on the holes in the hull, regardless of the fact that there is often a volume of good things to build on.
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Thus, we often find that the problem itself is not the problem. The problem is often the way problems are attempted to be solved. By analyzing mistakes and shortcomings and what has gone wrong, you often end up “blaming someone”, leaving everyone feeling exposed and perhaps even scared while the analysis is on. And as we all know, anxiety and guilt don't exactly promote people's ability to think new and out of the box. And this is what is needed when problems need to be solved and new opportunities are invented.

Instead, organizations should involve people in dialogues about future desires and opportunities. Not only in dialogues about what we want to get away from (how do we get lower sick leave or less waste in production), but in dialogues about what we want to move towards (e.g. how do we get more pride in work or better customer experiences). Engaging in dialogue about the desire, instead of the problem, requires a change in mindset and way of solving problems. But once we have our minds turned upside down, the energy, the sense of responsibility and innovation increase significantly. “To engage in dialogue about the desire rather than about the problem requires a change in mindset and way of solving problems”

Blind spots as a challenge

But if it's so clever, why don't we just do the above of ourselves? Why do we keep falling into the problem-solving trap? The explanation is found, among other things, in research about the brain and knowledge about the way we think and make decisions. Research has laid bare just how irrational creatures we humans basically are. The dangerous thing is that, however, we experience ourselves as strongly rational. The truth is that along the way we are marked by a number of blind spots such as “negativity bias” and an overestimation of our own abilities. Nobel Prize winner in economics Daniel Kahnemann has documented this in the impressive work “Thinking, Fast and Slow” (2011), if one wants to read more specifically about that subject. These blind spots prevent us from seeing what is. Often we only see problems and obstacles when trying to achieve our common dreams and visions. And we are looking for simple answers. We believe that one problem has one solution, when the truth is that there can often be 99 different paths to a better future. And we often overlook the fact that there are many things that are already pointing in the right direction almost no matter how heavy problems we try to solve. And last but not least, we often overlook our own part in a problem, whereas it is very easy for us to see the share of others.
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The solution is to consciously do away with these blind spots. If we know, and we do now, that we tend to focus on everything that can and has gone wrong (something that evolutionarily helped us survive), then we must consciously also look for what has gone and can go well in organizational lives. Because it doesn't happen by itself. But when we ask simple questions in organizations about what is pointing in the right direction already, a lot of surprising and very value-adding things often come up. Things that have been taken for granted and not seen as essential. It can cause the energy in a room to change, and suddenly there are more forces to do what it takes. Development is also doing more of what already works. But it takes a different approach to spot it — and dare to talk about it — and to overcome the negativity bias that we as humans are predisposed to. It is at once really demanding and painfully simple. Ask new types of questions — and find new types of solutions.

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