How to Solve Complex Problems

A leader on my team recently approached me with an interesting question. He asked me, “how do you solve complex problems?” My initial instinct was to ask about specifics: “Tell me about your problem and we will discuss it.” His response was fantastic. He said, “I don’t want you to solve my problem for me, I want you to teach me how to think through it.” That was cool.

As a leader, I am used to solving complex problems. Usually, problems are escalated to me for a good reason. They are big enough for me to get involved in the solution. The leader that approached me was very clear: This was a request for coaching, not an escalation.

Here’s a recap of the discussion:

Visibly own the problem

When things are a mess, it’s tempting to keep your distance and fly under the radar until you figure it out. You may want to avoid guilt by association, but that’s not how leaders behave.

At this moment, when you still know very little, it’s important to visibly take ownership. Stand up in front of your team, your colleagues, and your customers. Then tell them that messy problem is yours. Explain that you don’t how it’s going to play out, but you are going to get after it.

Involve others and learn

Being a leader doesn’t mean you know all of the answers, but it does mean that you are willing to figure out where to find them. Meet with key stakeholders and listen to what they have to say. Aim for insight at this stage and open your mind to possibilities.

This probably will take longer than you think. It may take several rounds of conversations both one on one, and in group discussions until clarity starts to emerge. But when it does, you can feel it. You arrive at this place where perhaps you don’t know everything, but you know enough to start moving.

Get an external perspective

Your complex problem may seem unique, but it’s probably not. Chances are very good that your peers at other companies are facing similar challenges. This is where having a strong network is very helpful. Reach out to peers at other companies, industry groups, or research analysts to get some external insight.

These peers and external sources aren’t necessarily smarter than you. You may find that you are further along in solving your problem than they are. However, if you are fortunate, you will eventually find someone similarly situated that has experienced some relevant success.

Act

If you’ve done these three things, you are ready to start taking action to tackle your complex problem. Leaders know when it’s time. Do not delay action because of analysis paralysis. You’ve done your homework. Now, make something happen.

Most leaders act in a comprehensive way, addressing people, process, and technology issues. If you are only thinking about one or two of those areas, your action may not be comprehensive enough.

Get feedback

You’ve made some changes. Now you need to determine if they are working. If there are hard metrics you can gather that will give you strong indicators, then great. Sometimes, those aren’t available. In that case, I’d recommend meeting again with the key stakeholders you initially engaged to get their qualitative feedback.

If you are doing it right, you will hear that you are moving in the right direction, but there is more you can do. That’s fantastic news. It’s unreasonable to think you could completely solve a complex issue in one round of action. If you could, then it’s probably not that complex, and someone else would have solved it by now.

There’s also a distinct possibility that your action made things worse. For your sake, I hope that’s not the case, but it can happen. The good news is, you are hearing this early after a minimal investment, so you can course-correct and chalk it up to good learning. If you are truly blazing new trails, then this a real possibility. Be humble. Learn. Keep moving.

Revisit one of the previous items

Perhaps you need some additional external perspectives, or even a consultant or two. Perhaps you need another round of action to build upon the improvements you’ve already made.

The lesson here is, you probably aren’t done. Leaders that lean hard into complex problems are committed for the long haul. Keep iterating. Keep listening. Keep acting.

The prize

Let’s fast forward to the happy ending. Whether you’ve invested months or years into solving your complex problem, you’ve done it. Congratulations. What do you get for your leadership efforts?

1. A reputation. You are among the few. You conquered this stinky messy complex problem that everyone loved to complain about, but no one was able to solve. You did it. You didn’t do it alone, but you made it happen. That makes you a leader and people will recognize you for it.
2. Even more complex and bigger problems. Yep, it’s true. When you’ve proven that you can do this, the leaders above you will hand you more work. That’s the deal. Just rinse and repeat the process. Expect to be stretched. Expect it to be harder than last time. Expect to win in increasingly bigger ways.
3. A responsibility to teach. You’ve done something cool. You need to share it. Write a blog article. Speak at a conference. Help out a colleague in your company or someone else’s company. In doing this, two things occur: You pay it forward and you pass it on.
4. Satisfaction. The biggest reward for this is intrinsic. I love making a positive impact on the world for its own sake. Once you get this flywheel of motivation turning, there’s no stopping it.
5. Compensation. According to Elon Musk, “You get paid in direct proportion to the difficulty of problems you solve.” There’s more to it than that, but he makes a thought-provoking point.

Those are my steps for solving complex problems. I didn’t reveal the source anecdote for this story on purpose. I didn’t want to limit your thinking of the possible applications here. I don’t know what you are facing, but I hope this article has given you some clear next steps. Go forth and lead.

Read this article on my blog site or listen to it on my podcast.