Leadership Lessons - 11 : Problem Solving

 Leadership Lessons - 11

Problem solving is both an attitude and a capability. Understanding the causes, content and consequences of a problem is the first step and an ability to address a problem requires experience, expertise, skills, resources and creative thinking.

Many people are good at finding problems or pointing fingers at a problem or simply pointing fingers at others. However, many of them are not capable of solving a problem or to address an issue.

Because it is often easy to point fingers at a problem or a person. But it is not easy to solve a problem.

Those with leadership qualities will identify the problem, by listening to others and also listening to critics, so that they can solve the problems with a multi-dimensional approach.

In any organisation, there are people who are quick to find problems and who are quick not to take the responsibility for the problem. But those with good leadership capacity will immediately see the creative options to solve a problems as soon as they understand a problem.

Problem-solving requires an attitude of learning all aspects of a problem: its pros and cons, its context, actors involved and to understand the consequence of the problem. This is also because the extent of the problem is often influenced by causes, context, culture and consequences. And without understanding the detailed of all these and all information, it is often difficult to solve a problem and issue.

Solving an issue or a problem also requires creative thinking and imaginative options. While some of the problems can be simple in a given context, it can be very complex in a different context. Hence there can't be a single or one dimensional approach to problem-solving. There is no 'ready made solutions' as the context and content of the problem keep changing over time.

One of the difficulties of solving a problem is wrong judgement based on quick perceptions, known or unknown biases, and also tendency to jump in to conclusion. A set of wrong assumptions, analysis and 'judgement' can often create more problems rather than solving the real problem.

So the most important aspect of problem-solving is to see a problem from multiple perspectives and also from different locations, based on information and different perceptions by different actors. Many may see a problem or an issue differently depending on their locations of perceptions and perspective. However, many of them may not be able to see the other sides of a problem or may be myopic to some issues.

Hence, those with good problem solving approach will listen to different perceptions and perspective and then consider all factors before deciding on the best available options to solve a problem or address an issue.

Sometime problem solving problem can be effectively done by a team or through group work. However, it requires an ability to discuss such issues /problems in a team or collective. This is important to ensure that there is enough collective inputs as well as ownership for addressing any important issue/policy/problem in a effective way.

JS Adoor

To be continued

55Methilaj MA, Sreejith Krishnankutty and 53 others

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