A Practical Alternative To Problem Solving

Sometimes I am more inspired than others. I've come to accept that this is part of being human. When I talk to other people, it is rare to come across someone who experiences high levels of inspiration consistently day to day. None of us are machines, so a natural level of variation is likely.

Knowing this, is it a problem? It seems to be - it's frustrating to know that we can be more inspired when we are not feeling that way. Thinking of it as a problem means that we start searching for the cause. We get into problem solving mode.

But there is an alternative. The fact that our inspiration levels do vary is a clue on how to increase them. Rather than get into the well-worn problem solving mentality we can adopt solution thinking. It works like this.

Suppose we have a difficult working relationship. This relationship saps our energy and distracts our focus. The chances are that we have already tried to solve this problem by analyzing it, looking for the cause and attempting various fixes. We have not yet succeeded.

This is not surprising because, like many problems at work, it is a divergent problem. Unlike a convergent problem, it can not be solved Sherlock Holmes style with deductive logic.

A relationship at work will depend on many inter-related factors: environment, motivation, competence, intelligence, health, stress, personality, values, background, history and so on. Such a problem can not be solved with the detective's approach, even if we try really hard!

Solution thinking starts from an entirely different standpoint. It looks for natural variation; even a poor relationship is better some days than others. Solution thinking follows two key principles:

1. Find out what you are doing that works and do more of it
   Change is happening all the time - identify and amplify useful change. Small changes in the right direction can create major progress.
2. Stop doing what does not work and do something else
   Clues to the solution are present already - be on the lookout for them. What is going on when the problem is at its worst? What can you do differently next time?

The contrast with problem oriented focus is:

PROBLEM FOCUS	SOLUTIONS FOCUS
The past	The future
What's wrong?	What's working?
Blame	Progress
Control	Influence
The expert knows best	Collaboration
Deficits	Resources
Complications	Simplicity
Definitions	Actions

We can use solution thinking in many areas of working life (and beyond). What would solution thinking do for your inspiration at work?

Try it yourself and let me know how you get on.