Problem Solving 101 continued

After stopping the impulse to find out who is to blame for a problem, you are ready to actually work on solving it. The easiest problems to solve are the ones that don't involve people and their emotions, of course. But even those are usually solvable. The first step is to envision what you (and everyone involved, really) wants to have happen instead of what has or is happening. Without some kind of vision that everyone can agree on, nothing will happen. There has to be a goal.

So often we all live in the problems we have instead of in the solutions. Listen to married couples bickering about how to spend their time or their money. Listen to them criticize each other. Most of the time this negative behavior is based on a lack of ability to problem solve. They are looking at the same problem, over and over, every day, instead of talking about what they would both like for their lives. And if asked what they want, they would probably tell you what they don't want - which would involve the other person making all the changes. Of course that never works. Getting their heads out of the blame game is vital. Otherwise their intelligence and creativity can't possibly be used to create something wonderful.

Once there's a vision or a goal, then ideas for getting there can be generated. This part is the tricky part - especially if there's more than one person involved. It seems there are an infinite number of ways to solve a problem. Luckily, if all parties can get and keep an open mind instead of arguing, some excellent possible solutions can be generated. And none of the potential solutions have to be "all or nothing." It's possible to carve out parts of solutions, tie them together and try them out. Because I'm a good problem solver, I love this part. It's creative and it's actually possible to have some fun. I'm a big fan of research too. Somewhere in the world other people have had this same problem and solved it. Some of their solutions, tweaked a bit, might be useful.