What’s the REAL problem?
There’s a great quotation ascribed to Albert Einstein:
“If I had an hour to solve a problem I’d spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and 5 minutes thinking about solutions.”
The problem is, it likely wasn’t Einstein who said it.
Quote Investigator found a similar idea in a 1966 article on manufacturing:
“Some years ago the head of the Industrial Engineering Department of Yale University said, ‘If I had only one hour to solve a problem, I would spend up to two-thirds of that hour in attempting to define what the problem is.’”
Whether you prefer the 55-minute drama of the fictional Einstein quote, or the 40-minute engineering version, the point is still valid.
Understanding, clarifying, and defining the problem to be solved is the necessary – essential – first step in actually solving the problem.
And the paradox that comes along with that fact is that spending time in this stage of the problem solving process usually makes the rest of the process run more quickly and effectively.
The Creative Problem Solving Process
Last week, I shared some foundations of creativity and creative problem solving.
I highlighted the fact that creativity is a mindset, a process, and a set of tools… all skills which can be learned - and because of that, everyone can be creative.
I explained the difference between divergent thinking (generates ideas and options) and convergent thinking (evaluates ideas and makes solid decisions).
I shared a bedrock principle of creative problem solving: seeing problems as questions.
And I mentioned that there are four distinct stages to the creative problem solving process.
In this blog, and over the next three weeks, we’ll look at each of these stages more deeply.
Clarify: Identifying the issue, expanding understanding with related data, and formulating the real challenge to be addressed.
Ideate: Generating ideas that may address the challenge.
Develop: Evaluating, strengthening, and selecting a solution to be implemented.
Implement: Exploring acceptance and identifying resources and action steps to implement the selected solution.
Clarify
The first stage of the creative problem solving process is “Clarify,” aptly named since the goal of this stage is to clarify the problem that needs to be addressed: to better understand it, to define it accurately and clearly, and to ensure that it’s the correct problem to be solved.
This stage usually involves three key steps:
Exploring the vision – which is an initial identification of the problem. It starts with reframing any statement of a problem or complaint as an open-ended question that invites exploration.
Gather data – which generates more information (data, facts, feelings) about the issue
Formulate challenges – which sharpens awareness of the problem and creates challenge questions that invite solutions.
To illustrate this stage of the process, let’s walk through an example. Now, this example might not be a problem you’re actually wrestling with, but I hope you’ll be able to see how this works and then try it at home with your own problems.
1. Explore the Vision
In our example, let’s start with a complaint. After all, most problems show up as a complaint – from ourselves or someone else. If we have a problem in our lives, we complain to someone about it. If we have a problem with a product or service that our business offers, we get a customer complaint. If someone is dissatisfied with something in our community, we read, hear, or watch a news report that highlights the complaint. Complaints point to problems. But they’re only the very beginning of the journey.
Since I don’t feel like exploring a complaint about air travel or politics, I’ll choose an example from my personal life.
Complaint: “My garden is overrun with weeds.” (Yes, in case you’re wondering, this is a real problem in my world.)
Part 1: Use divergent thinking to rephrase the complaint into “wish statements” using the stems “I wish…” or “It would be great if…”
Wish examples:
I wish my garden had fewer weeds.
I wish I had more time to take care of my garden.
It would be great if my garden looked beautiful and well-maintained.
It would be great if I didn’t have to spend so much time weeding.
It would be great if my garden was neat and colorful.
I wish my garden could maintain itself.
To really dive into divergent thinking, I’d ask myself a few questions that invite new thinking, like “What exactly do I really want?”
Part 2: Use convergent thinking to choose the wish statement that best describes the problem. It should be a challenge that meets the test of the “Three I’s”:
Is it Important?
Do I have Influence?
Do I need new Ideas?
If it’s a yes to all three of those questions, then it’s time to move on.
In this example, it’s a yes. While my garden isn’t the most important problem I’m facing, it’s been a perennial problem (pun intended), and I’m tired of the eyesore it’s become. Also, I know that it’s become a haven for rodents which creates another (bigger) problem for us and our neighbors.
So it’s important to work on this problem, it’s clearly a problem I have influence over, and since it’s been a problem for a few years, I’m clearly stuck and in need of new ideas.
2. Gather Data
In the second step, we spend more time trying to really understand the problem: e.g. its origins, its impacts, its component parts, past attempts to resolve it, etc.
We use divergent thinking to consider many different perspectives and gather a variety of data points. The foundational “journalism questions” of “who, what, where, when, why, and how” are helpful here.
Then, using convergent thinking, we select the data that helps us understand the challenge statement best. This step of gathering data provides us with a clearer understanding of the challenge.
I’ll spare you all the details of the data on my garden example, but I’ll summarize to say that two new pieces of information that surfaced are that I don’t really enjoy gardening and that I originally started this garden in 2007 when I was struggling with grief. The garden was both a distraction from and a productive outlet for my emotions. This makes me wonder whether the garden even needs to continue to exist – a new thought!
3. Formulate Challenges
In this third step of the Clarify stage, we bring all of the information from steps 1 and 2 together, and put it through another round of sharpening.
The goal is to transform our “wish statement” from step 1 into a solvable “challenge statement” that is brief, focused, and beneficial. A refined challenge statement invites solutions and stimulates new thinking.
Within the “set of tools” of creativity, there are many that can help us with divergent thinking in this step. I’m going to use my favorite here with our example. It’s called “Why? What’s Stopping You?”
We begin with an articulation of the wish statement from step 1: “It would be great if my yard was better maintained.” (Notice that it’s changed from “garden” to “yard” because of the data from step 2.)
Part 1: I ask myself, “Why?” or “What’s important about that for you?”
And I write down the answer: “Because it would be cleaner, more colorful, and pest-free.”
Then I ask again about that new response, “And what’s important about that for you?”
The answer: “I’d feel more relaxed and happy spending time in my yard.”
And I’d ask again, “And what’s important about that for you?”
Answer: “My yard is a reflection of my home, and I want it to be beautiful and instill a sense of calm, warm invitation.”
And one more time: “And what’s important about that for you?”
Answer: “Life is stressful, so it’s important to me to have surroundings that ease stress and bring joy and peace to myself and my visitors.”
It’s usually a good idea to ask and answer that question 3-5 times.
But that’s not the end! After doing this, the trick is to go back over all those answers and reframe them into sample challenge statements.
For instance, “I want my yard to be beautiful and instill a sense of calm, warm invitation” becomes “How might I make my yard reflect beauty and serenity?”
Doing this for each of the answers provided gives me a variety of different challenge statements, all at different “levels” of the original problem. Remember, we started with “How might I better maintain my yard?” This part of the tool took us to “How might I bring joy and peace to myself and others?”
Sometimes we spend time and effort solving a problem that is really a symptom of a larger problem. Asking “why” several times helps us consider layers of the problem we might not have initially seen.
Part 2: That’s right! There’s a “part 2!” Remember, this tool is called “Why? What’s Stopping You?” So for part 2, we’ll explore what’s stopping you.
I return to my original wish statement: It would be great if my yard was better maintained.
And this time, I ask myself, “What’s stopping you?”
An obvious answer: “I don’t have time to maintain it.”
I ask again: “What’s stopping you?”
Answer: "I feel overwhelmed by the amount of work it needs."
Ask again: "What's stopping you?"
Answer: "I don’t have the knowledge or skills for proper yard care."
Ask again: "What's stopping you?"
Answer: "I worry that maintaining the yard will be too expensive."
Ask again: "What's stopping you?"
Answer: "I don’t really have a deep interest or passion for gardening."
Well, would you look at that?? We went all the way from a time challenge, to a budget challenge, to a mindset challenge!
In part 1 above, asking “Why?” helped us to see that our initial problem might be a symptom of a larger problem. Here in part 2, asking “What’s stopping you?” helps identify underlying barriers that prevent us from achieving our initial wish.
This simple tool helps us understand these barriers – and by reframing those barriers as questions, we walk away with specific, actionable challenges to address.
For instance, if “time” is a major barrier, a challenge statement could be: "How might I schedule regular time for yard maintenance?" If "tools" are the issue, we might ask: "How might I find the right tools to make the tasks easier?” If “budget” is the issue, we might ask: “How might I allocate resources to yard maintenance?” or even “How might I maintain the yard in a cost-effective way?”
These new challenge statements are more precise and actionable than the initial broad wish statement. This step is crucial as it helps transform vague desires into specific, manageable problems to solve.
Bringing It All Together
It’s time for some convergent thinking to bring it all together!
NOTE: Not ALL of the “How might I” questions need to be solved! Remember, until now, we were prompting our divergent thinking, and the point of the last exercise was to identify MANY possible problems.
This might sound strange, but let’s look at this example. My original complaint was “My garden is overrun with weeds.” A simple solution would be “Buy a powerful weedkiller” or “Spend a weekend working in the garden.” But the process of clarifying, especially using the tool of “Why? What’s Stopping You?” helped me explore what I really wanted and opened up many different aspects of this problem for me.
At the end of the "Clarify" stage, we should have a well-defined problem statement or a set of related challenge statements that guide our next steps in the creative problem solving process.
Through this clarification process, I realized that getting rid of weeds wasn’t the real problem. The real problem is that the yard looks messy and I don’t have the time and interest to clean it up. What I really want instead is a lovely yard that is tidy, colorful, and easy to maintain.
Ta Da! My new challenge statement:
"How might my yard become a place that is neat, colorful, and low maintenance?
This challenge statement provides a clear direction for the next stage: "Ideate," where we will generate potential solutions to this clearly defined problem.
Conclusion
The Clarify stage may seem time-consuming, but it's essential for effective problem solving. By spending the necessary time to understand and define the problem, we lay a strong foundation for the subsequent stages of ideating, developing, and implementing solutions.
One final note: This process, and the tool of “Why? What’s Stopping You?” works equally well with groups as it does with individuals. If you are facing an important problem at work or in a community group, you can work through these steps together to clarify the problem. You might be surprised by what gets uncovered as you dig deeper into the issue!
Next week, we’ll dive into the "Ideate" stage, exploring how to generate a wide range of creative solutions to our clarified problems. Until then, take some time to practice clarifying your own problems. Start with a complaint, reframe it into wish statements, and use the "Why? What’s Stopping You?" tool to uncover the real challenges. You'll be amazed at how this simple exercise can transform your approach to problem solving.
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