Curiosity and Problem Solving

When presented with a problem, I routinely get very curious. Curiosity is a mindset that when applied correctly can be incredibly powerful for problem solving. However, curiosity takes humility, and if you find yourself struggling with humility, approaching any problem with a natural sense of curiosity can oftentimes be challenging. 

Being a high achiever myself, this took a lot of work and not from the sense that I was a know-it-all, but in a sense that I had a strong level of confidence in my own ability to understand and develop a solution that would work. In fact, my success was built on my ability to do this.  

So why would I now, being at the relative pinnacle of my career take a step back and reframe problems not from a mindset of “I can solve this myself and do it quickly” but to one of “what don't I understand, what questions should I ask, and who else needs to be a part of creating the solution?”  

My willingness and ability to complete tasks drove me, and helped ensure I had the success I wanted. I always wanted, through action, to demonstrate what hard work looked like, and one of the ways I did this was through showing my team how willing I was to get dirty and solve problems. Though part of my ability to do this did provide a good tangible example of what dealing with hard and uncomfortable things can look like, the way in which I did it alienated my team. And that’s a vulnerable thing to admit. 

I was not at the point where I was a believer in the philosophy of how to lead, empower, and get out of the way. Though three years into my first company I soon realized that while I was able to develop a solution rather quickly, it was at best a band aid, and sometimes it was a band aid for something that was not the root problem, merely a symptom. I was missing the bigger picture, and as my company grew in size so did the need for more complex results-oriented solutions that addressed the root problem and not symptoms. 

I hit a point when I realized that it was no longer asking my company to keep up, but my company was asking me to keep up. This became most apparent in solutions and processes I would create or build by shooting from the hip, only to see my team and company break the solution/process, or have it not work as intended, nor get the results the solution/process was designed to achieve. Honestly, this was a bit of a blow to my ego, but it gave me the right nudge to seek humility and with that the curiosity I would need to be the leader my company deserved.  

So how did I get out of my own way to focus on real, tangible solutions? Below we will look at how you can ensure you understand the root problem, and how best to create those solutions:

1. Seeing Past Symptoms: Approaching presented problems with curiosity will change the quality of solutions you develop. Oftentimes at first glance, the problem you are presented with is not really the problem you should work to solve for, it is merely a symptom of a larger challenge that is most likely creating symptoms in several different areas (some of which may be visible, some not). When you get curious, you take on a mindset of “I don't know enough about the problem, let alone the solution.” The more people on your team or company you can engage in this conversation around ensuring the problem we can see is the problem we need to solve, the better your solutions will be. Ask questions, and lots of questions, and don't stop until everyone believes they have gone as deep as possible, that they understand the real challenge and can name its symptoms. Another way of looking at this is that you have built consensus on the best way forward. Sometimes this discussion can reveal that there isn't an actual problem that needs to be solved for, which if you are like I was, shooting from the hip, building processes and creating solutions as quickly as possible can actually cause more issues and strain rather than alleviate it. If nothing else when approaching the problem, start with the question: is this the root problem or a symptom of a larger or different issue of which I am unaware?
2. Put your Ego Away: This used to irk my team to no end, but hey, I thought I knew better than them, that my solutions would be better, and that they just had to be believers and would eventually see. Boy was I wrong! I built some terrible solutions and processes in my time. Some of which made the current challenge even worse, some which broke a few days after I rolled them out, and others which had no regard to their effects on others. In a one-to-one solutions contest you might beat everyone on your team head-to-head, but you will not beat them acting as a team, their solutions will be better thought through than yours. This is not a bad thing, it should be something to be proud of. It means you have a team that leverages their knowledge and experience for the betterment of the entire team and company. Now that we have resolved that you cannot do this by yourself, let's look at how resolutions should be developed. And while they may still fail or not work as desired you will have a much better chance of being successful.
3. Team centric solutions: The second thing I like to do when someone on my team presents a problem (first is to get curious and ask questions) is to ask them who and what departments in the company the current challenges impact. Said another way, who is experiencing pain or less than desired results? Once we have that list, we set up a call or meeting to discuss what we believe the problem is, we ask a lot of questions, and build a consensus around what we collectively see as the root cause or problem of our pain and lackluster results. There will be a temptation to ignore this step and dive right into discussing solutions, but you need to hold yourself and your team back and not allow step 1 to be skipped or you may find yourself and team with a really awesome resolution to something that is a symptom and not a problem. After building this consensus and understanding, we then start discussing solutions. Complex problems don't necessarily require complex solutions, they require well thought through solutions, which sometimes end up being extremely simple. I like to think beauty in business is often found in the simple. During this step continue to stay curious and ask questions, thinking through the possible ripple effect solution ideas could have. If there is a ripple that could touch someone not on the call or the meeting, have them join. Otherwise you might find you created a really amazing solution that causes someone a ton of pain and headache. 

When the team has built an agreement around the best solution, most people would want to get to work building it and rolling it out. Again, you may need to stop yourself here. Instead, hold a secondary meeting with those that report to your direct reports involved in creating this resolution.Talk through what you collectively see as the challenge and explain how your solution will eliminate the problem or get the results you want. Ask everyone attending to get curious, ask as many questions as they can, get their feedback and buy in. Many times I have found someone 2-3 levels down from me has a perspective that allowed them to see a flaw my team and I could not. Make these changes and hold the same larger buy-in meeting one more time if you need to. 

You will find that staying loyal to this process will serve you, your team, and company better, and while it wont produce perfect solutions, you will produce better solutions that fix root challenges with a willing and engaged team more often than if you were to go at it alone or at the surface band-aid level.