Solving The Wrong Problem

One of the great competencies of professionals like you is the ability to solve problems. You are good at it and you want to help. It is so gratifying to find a solution that wasn’t readily evident at first. It reminds me of a survey I saw that showed a majority of professionals enjoyed solving problems more than any other aspect of professional service. That said, sometimes we are so interested in helping that we forget to listen.

Problems are almost always more complex than they first appear. When you respond to the first indication of a problem, you are likely to miss its depth. It’s so easy to notice a surface or symptomatic problem, solve it and think it was taken care of. Simple and easy. Yet the problem itself or some variation will surface again in another way. The complexity of the problem was missed because of the quick solution. The goal is to protect yourself from quick solutions that don’t work. Try this hack.

Problem-solving Hack

When you see a situation that isn’t working, ask, “What’s going on here?” That will engage your analytical thinking, which will give you ideas on how to solve the problem at hand. However, if the problem is more complex, you will solve a surface or symptom of a problem, but not address the cause.

To get deeper, ask, “what’s REALLY going on here?” That question forces you into exploratory thinking, where you consider other factors, inputs and influences that create the problem in the first place. Dealing with the problem at the root level is where complex problems are identified and solved effectively.

An Example

For instance, a tax account relies heavily on the information provided by the client. If the information is incomplete, inaccurate or delayed, it has a direct impact on her agility to finalize the return. Grousing about the client’s inability to meet promised delivery dates hardly solves anything.

Instead, use the hack. First ask, “What’s going on here?” If the answer is that the client continually misses delivery dates, you may “solve” the problem by moving up their delivery date, charge a fee for late delivery or pester the client daily until they get something to you. These options aren’t likely to make much of a difference and only irritate the client.

If you ask the next question, “What’s REALLY going on here?” you may determine that the client doesn’t have an effective internal system, or their procedures for finalizing data are insufficient or they don’t have the capacity or capability to get it all together. Now your solution options might include a review of their system and procedures, provide training or suggest they allow you to assist them. These options are all additional fee options that the client would value.

Continue to solve problems. Just avoid solving symptomatic problems. Use the hack.