Parallel Problem Solving

Have you ever had a boss who seems to constantly confront you with new problems?

Everyday there is something new for you to solve, some new challenge that

boss gives to you personally and then dashes off.

I had a boss like that once. I often wondered why he trusted so many problems to me? Why was I personally in charge of so many vital issues on the team?

Then I became a bit flattered by the notion. If my boss was giving all those problems to me, he must really trust me. He must really think that I'm a quality thinker and problem solving. That must be it. How cool is that?

And then I realized: he was asking several people about the same problems. He was parallel processing solutions in the laboratories of his team members' minds. One or more of us would come up with viable solutions. One or more of us would develop ideas that the boss either couldn't or didn't have the time to develop himself. And they would be different ideas than if we were all in the same room, when interpersonal dynamics, posturing, and groupthink might impact our potential solutions.

Although I was disappointed at first, and even resented the idea, I later realized that it was a brilliant strategy. It worked. Sometimes the idea that I came up with would be implemented, and it would work. If my idea was one that would likely not work, it usually did not pass the mult-processing test because another idea would emerge as better.

It was fast (we were each working at the same time, just apart from each other). It was efficient - we each worked on the problems when it made sense for each of us (in our individual best problem solving environments) instead of trying to find an impossible time and place that worked for everyone.

It wasn't the only way to solve problems. My boss would still occasionally schedule group collaboration sessions, but the parallel individual nobody-knows-who's-working-on-what method worked great.

I've used the method sometimes myself as a leader with one minor yet major alteration: I let people know what is going on. I tell them that I am also seeking solutions to the same problem from other people and in other ways. It's not that it is a competition (although it benefits a bit from the competitive edge of some people) but rather it is a way to process more ideas faster with less interference. People tend to like the "with less interference" aspect of this method, and reach deep down for their most creative ideas.

Try it some time. Just let people know what's going on and you'll avoid those feelings of disappoint and resentment that people can get when they feel deceived.

Problems aren't going away on their own. High performance leaders generate solutions.

Putting It Into Action

Think about your list of former bosses. What unusual methods of problem solving do you remember among the mix?

Did any work particularly well?

What would you do to change the ones that seemed to work?

-- Douglas Brent Smith

Leadership Teleclasses and Workshops

Comments

Get Going!

What goal are you working on? Maybe you don't spend every minute of every day working on your goals. I certainly don't. But when I do work on my goals they propel me forward. They get me going. Find your favorite goal. Work on it. Even if you start with the smallest task. Put one task after the other like little steps leading to a lofty elevation. Goals get us going. Because standing still goes nowhere. -- Doug Smith

Start With Decisions

Do you share leadership? The most powerful teams share leadership responsibilities AND attitude. When you develop a team where people feel empowered to take charge, take responsibility, and take ownership you then no longer need to do all the difficult work. Delegation becomes easier. Collaboration feels more natural. Start with decisions. It's fast and easy as a leader to make all of the big decisions, but when you include your team in the conversations it takes to gain mutually shared understandings and collaborative decisions, you no longer have to "sell" your decisions --- people simply know what you as a team have decided and act accordingly. No passive aggressive resistance, no passengers on your team "bus" -- just fully engaged team members. Start with collaborative decisions. The rest will be much easier. -- Doug Smith

Focused Truth

Focused leaders have zero time for inauthentic messages. They tell the truth unconditionally and insist on the truth consistently. Be a leader who can handle the truth. Be a leader who tells the truth. -- doug smith

Personally

Improving performance does require us to take our work seriously. But it does not require us to take ourselves too seriously. Taking things personally is a waste of self-esteem. -- doug smith

Expanding Capacity

High performance leaders expand capacity by constantly developing their people. How does your team grow? How can you get more done with less? There are many answers to the question of increasing capacity and responsible leaders explore them all, including improving processes and design. It's also important to constantly develop your people People who feel valued and who are constantly growing develop new ideas. They fix problems. They engage in processes and structures and find better ways to get things done. People who are developing stop tolerating defects and instead work toward optimizing their environment. They raise their capacity and increase the value of the team. What are you doing to develop your people? How much more capacity could your team have with people who were fully engaged, truly energized, and growing? -- Douglas Brent Smith Learn more in the workshop: Building Your Team

Life Never Stops Teaching

Which learning curve are you climbing? The lessons keep coming. When we keep growing, our energy sparks with new creativity, new courage, new compassion, and new clarity. When we keep growing, life's adventure brings more smiles than troubles. High performance leaders make it a point to keep learning. That means taking on the tough assignments. That means listening to the needs of your team and building on their ideas. That means constantly debriefing, decoding, and deciding. There's a lesson in all of this somewhere. Centered leaders find the lesson and grow. Life never stops teaching. What have you learned today? -- Doug Smith

Solving Problems and Perspective

Have you noticed how much our ability to solve problems relies on our perspective? Sometimes we get too tight to think. Sometimes our thinking is so narrow that even the walls seem to close in on us as we struggle with a persistent problem. It costs almost nothing to take a fifteen and think it over. Talk with a trusted friend. Maybe the conversation will be about the problem at hand or maybe it will be about something else. Take a break. Many problems look smaller after a cup of coffee and a friendly conversation. Isn't it worth a try? -- Douglas Brent Smith Workshops and Teleclasses for Front Line Supervisors

Dessert of Darkness

Lead long enough, and some type of crisis will develop. Stay the course and eventually you will find obstacles to overcome. Resistance is a natural part of progress. Difficulty is bound to follow innovation. How do you handle it? Does every leader eventually travel thru a dessert of darkness when you're not sure of the answer and not even sure of the direction? What will pull YOU thru? Having an answer before you get to that dessert is critical to success. -- Douglas Brent Smith http://frontrangeleadership.com

Promise and then Deliver

Be careful what you promise to gain a new customer. They are only new for a day. After that, expectations continue even if you forget your promise. Be careful what you promise. Do you have what you need to give your customers what they want? Because probably, what they want, is what you've promised. -- doug smith

More Than Convenience

This is probably get some disagreement. We've come to rely so much on one particular trait of business, probably even more than price. Convenience. We make so many decisions based on how EASY a transaction is. It's so much EASIER than ever before and we've all been spoiled by click-and-ship that anything with any friction whatsoever gets passed over. That's an understandable decision, but not always the best one. Convenience is great, but no substitute for quality. Hamburgers are convenient but wouldn't you rather eat a steak? (please excuse me my vegetarian and vegan friends.) Social media is convenient but how about the depth and richness of a long face to face conversation with a dear friend? I advocate that we consider other measures in our important decisions. Measures other than convenience: Quality Durability Care Beauty Drama What would you add to the list? Convenience is a poor measure of quality. Let's consider everything else that makes business -- a...

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