Shifting from Problem to Solution-centered Thinking

By Khothatso Kolobe

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Photo by Ross Findon on Unsplash
Photo by Ross Findon on Unsplash

Holding your breath until you pass out is as difficult as effecting change in others when you do not know how. In this final act, our sniper muzzle is trained at the facilitation of change.

The title of the book we are dissecting is Your Mind at Work by David Rock.

Scene 13: When Other People Lose the Plot

Losing the plot issue is tricky because it is influenced by traditional methods that are wrongly believed to improve performance. It reminds me of a saying that assures that the most dangerous mistake is that of thinking you are right when you are wrong. That which you think is right but is actually wrong can kill you.

One of the things that is believed to give life although it kills is feedback. Giving feedback intensely threatens people in most cases. Even if it is given intelligent sounding names like performance review.

To prove this, Mike Morrison, who was the dean of Toyota University in Los Angeles commented that performance reviews reduced performance six days annually: three days in preparation and the other three in recovery. Back in the National University of Lesotho, there was a time we would rate the performance of lecturers. I believe the intentions were noble. However, I hope they reconsider it.

I suspect this performance tracking is one of the reasons why many complain of the stress of the corporate world. In business, managers are encouraged to give constructive performance feedback. The flaw with this is that our social brain unconsciously picks up status threats regardless of how sugarcoated the feedback is.

An imaginative solution may be viewed as serving employees a performance sandwich. Complimenting, criticising and complimenting. This is synonymous to massaging a person, slapping them in the face and easing the pain with another massage. No matter how relaxing the last massage is, the slap will be remembered.

Facilitating change is as simple as inspiring solution oriented thinking instead of problem oriented thinking. Questing for solutions makes you scan the environment holistically for cues. This flexes the right hemisphere of the brain, which gives insights to solving complex problems. Of even more value is the activation of your director from the toward state of finding a solution.

As an alternative to reviewing performance and giving feedback, employees ought to be taught how to think innovatively and solve problems. What is there to review if problems are solved and the business ship sails smoothly, at its desired profit maximisation destination with high speed?

There are surely those moments that employees may be at an impasse, feeling ill equipped for certain problems. Suggesting solutions is off the table.

This is where the SCARF model comes in. Increase status by encouragement. Increase certainty by clarifying and simplifying objectives. Increase autonomy by availing a platform for a person to come up with ideas and not just bombarding with suggestions.

The above model can be substantiated by the ARIA model (Awareness, Reflection, Insight and Action) from scene 6. Having the person in the right state of mind, with a problem reduced to one simple sentence, you just have to make a person reflect inward quietly and you are home free to a great solution.

Mark Beeman in the first edition of the NeuroLeadership Journal decrees that the likelihood of insight is increased by variables that awaken attention to subtle connections. The variables include thought opening questions such as:

If you stop and cogitate, do you know what you need to do to resolve this?
What silent hunches do you hold about the solution?
How close to the solution are you?
Which path to the solution would be best to embark on?

The director is activated in such circumstances. When you ask people to pay attention to their subtle ideas. A fascinating case of a lecturer grading students on how they grade their writing is provided. The argument by Lieberman is that instead of thinking about people’s problems and returning feedback or suggestions, change can be facilitated quicker if people thought about their thinking.

Scene 14: Transforming The Culture That Needs Transformation

Change is so hard that a study found that one in nine people who underwent heart surgery were able to change their lifestyle. This should make you rethink death as the ultimate motivation. With this mind, it should be perceivable why changing other people’s behavior is even harder.

Attention. The brain is chaotic and cacophonous. Paying attention to a thought is like bringing an orchestra together to play a song. Attention and focus give birth to neural synchrony. When different circuits fire synchronously, Hebb’s Law is invoked since it states that cells that fire together wire together.

Paying attention is at the apex of inflicting change. Schwartz explains that the act of observing, in and of itself, makes a difference in the material world. Paying close attention to anything wires networks that stay with you for ages.

Even something as challenging as learning a new language is brought down to ceasing to pay attention to your current language to create new circuits. Changing the brain is easy. It is a matter of choosing to employ effort to focus your attention in new ways.

There has to be a reward that drives the brain’s willingness to change. It should be something the brain wants. Not money or any other external reward because they are unsustainable because they have to get better every time, meaning impossible expenses.

This takes us back to SCARF, increased Status, Certainty, Autonomy, Relatedness and Fairness. The applications of this model are limitless in accomplishing the change you desire in almost every area of your life. Ponder upon it.

Reduce threat levels in a group, focus people’s attention on the precise direction you want them to go. Be clear and specific. Then watch your desired change come to life. It all boils down to setting the right goal that will exponentially increase the SCARF model.

Guard against creating away goals instead of toward goals since it’s easier for people to imagine things going wrong that were exceedingly well. It is effortless to think about known problems than unknown solutions because the brain gravitates towards certainty.

Many goals that people set are away goals that include New Year’s resolutions such along the lines of stop drinking and smoking. Setting towards goals may require the assistance of a mentor or coach.

Once you have reduce threats, facilitated proper new connections, the last task is to ensure that people pay frequent attention to their new circuits. Real change requires repetition. This truth lead Schwartz to coin the term attention density that provides a framework for future research centred on repeated attention.

To transform a culture, study everyone’s attention then focus their attention in new strategies. Even better, galvanise ways for people to activate their own director, focus their brain in new ways and therefore rewire their brains. Changing culture is equal to inducing self-directed neuroplasticity.

Too bad for us, a significant portion of people who make it to leadership positions have a highly improved intellect at the sacrifice of the social side of things. Leaders who desire to effectively drive change should practice becoming more intelligent about their inner world initially. They should balance the big brains with socialising. Engaging both hemispheres of the brain.

To conclude, a summary is by no means a substitute to reading a book. There are many details that you might find useful that we could not include due to reasonable limitations. We strongly believe in reading and are encouraging you to join our reading culture.

We further appeal to your voice of reason to apply this knowledge. Otherwise our efforts are in vain. What is the use of knowing if you are not useful to yourself and others? Now that you know, what are you going to do?

Set daily milestones and convert this knowledge to life changing wisdom.

 


Khothatso Kolobe. I am just a creative willing to do and be anyone and anything to make a positive impact. My creative history is available on my Facebook and Instagram (@artzoniac). A multi dimensional being accomplishing universal good.

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Khothatso Kolobe
Khothatso is a creative willing to do and be anyone and anything to make a positive impact. His creative history is available on Facebook and Instagram (@artzoniac). He's a multi dimensional being accomplishing universal good.