Problem-Solving
I have been battling a cold for the last month. Let me state this more clearly: I have been suffering from the symptoms of my body's natural defense mechanisms as it battles a viral or bacterial infection.
Precision in communication is important in problem-solving.
Dealing with a cold is not a subject that might readily come to mind when elaborating on the essential leadership skill of problem-solving. I have not thought of this context when I have been unwell in the past. Nonetheless, the same steps one follows when addressing a management concern are applicable here as well.
I do not know how or precisely when I contracted the illness. As symptoms appeared, I did what I always do: nothing. I assumed that, like any common cold, it would go away on its own after a week or so.
There are two reasons why doing nothing is a justifiable strategy. First, one of the ways in which problems are typically addressed is through analogy. A circumstance is evaluated in terms of its similarity to other circumstances faced before. It is reasonable to assume that actions that were successful in resolving like situations in the past will be successful in the future.
The second justification for doing nothing is that getting a cold is not, in fact, a problem in the usual sense. The traditional, historic definition of "problem" is a difficult question proposed for solution. My getting a cold is not a difficult question. It is, at most, an annoyance and an inconvenience that, based on my past experience, will cause only minimal disruptions to my life and, before long, go away on its own.
My cold became a problem when it did not go away on its own and became worse.
Either you find the problem or the problem finds you. -- Karl Albrecht, Brain Power
I am not sure, in fact, if I have had a cold as opposed to RSV or, if it was a cold, whether the same one has lasted for a month or it was two colds back-to-back, or if it was RSV followed by a cold. I was sick with a rattling, wheezy cough and runny nose, I was better, then I was sick again with a dry cough and runny nose, then I came down with pink eye.
When pink eye appeared, I was forced to conclude that doing nothing was no longer effective as a way to address my cold. Now it was time to state the difficult question: What must I do to return to wellness?
A problem well stated is a problem half solved. -- Charles Kettering
It is not entirely accurate to say that I was doing nothing. I was treating the symptoms of my cold. This provided temporary relief. Had this cold been like others I have had, this would have been sufficient to provide a measure of comfort while my body healed itself. I was aware that was what I was doing.
When addressing other, more complex situations, however, mistaking symptoms for causes and dealing with the former rather than the latter is almost guaranteed to lead to failure.
The next step, once a problem has been well stated, is to understand its nature more thoroughly. I do not recall ever having pink eye in the past. The appearance of an unusual symptom of a highly contagious condition meant I needed to know more than what I already did. As I am not a physician, I felt was time for a visit to the skilled professionals at my local urgent care facility.
I was not surprised when the online registration process for urgent care informed me it would be one hour and forty-five minutes before I could be seen. This does not seem to be the urgency with which urgent care should be handled, but it is the time of year when lots of people contract all sorts of nasty illnesses. I was also not surprise when I found the parking lot full upon my arrival and learned it would take another hour before someone could see me.
The physician's assistant examined my ears, my throat, and eyes and declared confidently that I had a bacterial infection. I suspect she could have reached the same conclusion from across the room after I described my symptoms.
Her determination might have been a highly educated guess based on what else was bringing patients to urgent care recently. On the other hand, perhaps she had no idea whether mine is a viral or bacterial infection. If it is a viral infection, there is nothing to be done apart from letting nature run its course. If she is uncertain, prescribing antibiotics will give the appearance of addressing a bacterial infection at the same time as letting nature run its course. That seems like a more reasonable course of action than taking cultures to determine which I had.
Here is another important lesson for problem-solvers. When arriving at a solution, it is best to have a plan B or even a plan C. In this instance, putting both plan A (do nothing) and plan B (prescribe antibiotics and eye drops) into effect simultaneously seemed to me, upon reflection, to be a good strategy. (I refused her offer to also prescribe a nasal spray to address my congestion. I do not like taking medications unnecessarily, my congestion was not that bad, and it just meant more of treating symptoms rather than causes.)
My prescriptions were called in to the pharmacy. Shortly after I arrived home from urgent care, I receive a text notifying me that they were available to be picked up.
This leads to the next critical step in addressing my health problem. It is not enough to get a prescription; I actually need to take the medications. It is not enough to arrive at solutions; they have to be implemented.
This seems obvious until we consider the number of studies that are consigned to shelves to collect dust. This is sometimes due to a fear of unintended consequences. In other cases, it is a reflection of a lack of personal courage, conviction, and confidence. Whatever the cause, failure to seek implementation of a solution to a problem is a failure of management and leadership. Executives unwilling to build the bridge while they walk on it might wish to consider less demanding roles.
To recap, here are the steps in my model of problem-solving:
Find a problem;
Generate solutions;
Decide on a course of action;
Implement the solution(s); and
Evaluate the outcomes.
It is too soon for me to conclude whether my taking the prescribed medications will restore me to wellness. There is one thing I do know. My act of taking the medications does not solve the problem. That is merely an output. The chemistry of the medications relative to the disease with which I am afflicted determines whether the disease is eliminated from my body. That is the outcome.
Too often, particularly with regard to government initiatives, we celebrate outputs and ignore outcomes. Consider the manner in which we address the challenge of citizen engagement. We might focus solely on the number of people who attend the meetings we schedule or the number of responses to internet surveys we offer. Have we heard from the people most knowledgeable about and most affected by the program or policy? Have we approached the data gathering in a way that captures input that will be constructive in designing solutions?
If the answer to these and similar questions is "no" or "we're not sure," it is likely there has been an output orientation rather than an outcome orientation. We can check the box on the report we submit to the grantor agency and congratulate ourselves. The problem to be addressed, however, might still remain. Further, we might have expended valuable time and resources solving the wrong problem.
I hope my illustration is helpful in making my readers more effective problem-solvers. If so, getting a cold will have been totally worth it. Just kidding. It is not worth it at all. I could have done the same thing without having gotten sick.