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Innovation managers hate the road “Don’t deliver me issues, deliver me options.”
They insist that earlier than the problem-solving course of begins, an intensive evaluation of the underlying downside should happen; amassing options can solely ensue when a root reason behind the issues has been recognized and correctly outlined.
Albert Einstein’s quote is commonly invoked on this context: “If I had just one hour to save lots of the world, I’d spend fifty-five minutes defining the issue, and solely 5 minutes discovering the answer.”
I completely assist this perspective. I wish to argue you could’t efficiently remedy a illness (resolve the issue) except you diagnose its actual trigger (outline the issue). I name it the 80:20 rule of profitable problem-solving: in my expertise, 80% of unsuccessful problem-solving campaigns fail as a result of the issue offered to the group of solvers was not correctly outlined; solely 20% accomplish that due to a poor match between the issue and the solvers.
And but, I’m not prepared to interchange the hegemony of the “solution-first” orthodoxy with the “problem-first” one. Taking sides within the “problem-solution” dilemma jogs my memory of the centuries-old philosophical battle over which got here first, the hen or the egg.
I imagine that we must always undertake a extra holistic method by establishing as a substitute a sustained problem-solving course of.
With such a course of in place, the query of what’s extra vital, an issue or an answer, will merely lose its relevance. Corporations and groups will likely be continuously searching for issues, each previous and rising, after which outline these issues in a particular and actionable manner. An answer-generating section, involving numerous methods (brainstorming, co-creation with clients, inside and exterior crowdsourcing, and so forth.) will comply with, with the very best options being chosen and carried out. A solved downside will likely be instantly changed with the one ready for an answer — or by the one rising from the implementation of a newly-acquired resolution.
The issue-solving course of based mostly on a sustainable portfolio of problems-to-be-solved will extract the very best from the workers. Some individuals are higher at recognizing tendencies and sensing troubles, whereas others excel at discovering fixes; with a continuing move of issues and options, everybody will discover one thing to get excited and engaged.
As for managers, they could do that line: “Convey me issues, then options, then issues once more…” Or can anybody suggest a shorter model of the identical?
