Category: Work and Working

…is it a problem or just a breakdown?

When we have a ‘problem,’ there’s the possibility that there’s a ‘failure’ lurking somewhere nearby, or we most likely wouldn’t have a ‘problem.’ When confronted with a ‘problem,’ something caused by some ‘failure,’ a lot of personal recriminations arise because our identity always seems to be locked into it.

Both problems and failures have accumulated baggage over time, much of which is difficult to let go of, and we therefore approach them with a past/present mindset.

From a language perspective, reframing the something that arose (problem or failure) might be more usefully labelled a breakdown (as The Forum might indicate), due to less associated baggage.

Once reframed in this way, a space opens up as those old conversations that accompanied our ‘problem’ and ‘failure’ narratives don’t show up, and we can look at the situation with a new and different perspective.

As breakdowns (problems, disappointments, and failures) will always be around, reframing brings us to a point of realizing that most breakdowns, whatever form they take, are nothing more than feedback, data, or just something missing.

With this understanding, it becomes a little easier to move forward because we have a chance to understand the issue more clearly with less self-recriminating baggage to deal with.

PS: This blog post was thought of and written by me, no AI here, and is a mosaic of my experience, reading, and forward learning.

…and our understanding of them.

Sometimes, as we are working through a problem and finding some difficulties, our flagging efforts may not be due to lack of initiative or diligent work.

It may be that the problem we are working on may not actually be the problem. As outlined in ‘The Wicked and Wise book Series: How to Solve the World’s Toughest Problems,’ “the real problem may be our lack of understanding about the problem.”

As Einstein famously quoted, “If I had an hour to solve a problem and my life depended on the solution, I would spend the first 55 minutes determining the proper question to ask… for once I know the proper question, I could solve the problem in less than five minutes.”

In the coaching world, one comes across the terms ‘safe problems’ and ‘quality problems.’ The ‘safe problem’ is where people spend a lot of their effort, which often keeps them trapped, saying they can’t do something or other.

Dealing with the ‘safe problems’ can give us a feeling of accomplishment, but it doesn’t always help the core issue.

The ‘quality problem’ is where the effort needs to be focused, as this is most likely what’s actually causing the difficulties. The ‘quality problem’ work is where change and solutions can take place.

Which brings us back to the beginning: “The problem may not actually be the problem, and the real problem may be our lack of understanding about the problem,” which is a proverbial whole different ball game.

PS: This blog post was thought of and written by me, no AI here, and is a mosaic of my experience, reading, and forward learning.