Problems abound. We live in a world swirling with problems. Decision-making and problem solving are two of the premier skills for leaders. In this article, we will look at the process of solving problems and, in addition, finding the leverage points that keep problems solved instead of becoming the seeds of the next-level problem that replaces it. In a VUCA world, there are few more important tasks.

Need to know: Like decisions, problem-solving is paradoxical in nature. As leaders solve problems or direct the process of solving problems, the paradoxical competency called Instinctive Logic is a great way to understand the behavioral foundations of these skills. The competency combines analytical logic (left brain) with intuitive hunches (right brain). While looking into a problem, we analyze facts, educated guesses, and “ballpark” probabilities while sensing the meaning of hunches, patterns, and trends. We feed our left-brain analytical thinking by looking for, compiling, and analyzing relevant data as needed. To feed our right-brain intuition, we look back at the history of the person, organization, process or system to gain an understanding of how we got to the present state. Then, we analyze the problem itself: what is the gap between what should be going on and what is actually happening. This starts the process described through this series of articles. We must develop a description of the identified gap and specify, in as detailed a way as possible, what the problem we are looking to solve actually is. Only by knowing how things work can we see the outlines of why problems exist and then search for the leverage points where a situation, an organization, process, or a system can be accessed and fixed.

Having researched a wide range of sources, the writer chose Ditmar Sternad’s Solve It!, a concise and incisive look at problem solving. Sternad’s model of the process is used in this and several following articles as the structure of the thought process involved in solving problems.