Problem solving, making, creating and deciding

Better problem solving?

Do you know how you solve problems? It’s a curious question because we can often blaze ahead problem solving, without being aware of our process for how we’re actually doing it.?

Perhaps we’re on auto pilot, not conscious of what we’re doing or too busy in the details of the task to think about it.?

We can’t get better at a critically important skill like problem solving if we’re not tuned in to it.?

The?World Economic Forum?suggests problem solving is right up there in the skills we need for today and will be even more frequently in the future.?

So how do you solve problems??

• Do you get all the information you can??
• Assess your options??
• Generate some alternatives??
• Try out some solutions??
• Experiment a little?
• Consult with respected peers??
• Try a Google search to see what others have done??
• Or phone a friend??

Each of these is part of a suite of problem solving tools and techniques.?

As you work through solving your next problem, challenge or tricky situation, make a mental (or physical or digital) note of what you do and how you do it.?

There’s greater?

• possibility,?
• efficiency and?
• creativity?

on the other side of our awareness.?

You’ll be more aware of what worked for you and what didn’t. And you’ll get an insight to your preferences for how you like to work.?

What do you make?

Eating up content is relatively easy. You can read it, listen to it, scan over it, click on it and get endlessly lost in it.?But do you make??

Do you work out what you think and put it out there for others to consider??

For example, only a small percentage of?LinkedIn?users make and share their thinking.?

So how about it? Let’s make something!

Pick a topic you're interested in. What are three things you think people need to know or they get wrong or would do well to try??

Write about it.?

And if you’re not a regular writer, maybe you’re more of a talker. Hit ‘record’ on the voice memo on your phone and talk for a few minutes. Your thoughts and opinions will become clearer.?

Alternatively, tap the microphone button on the keyboard while using a notes app and use talk to text.?

The world needs more future thinkers; not the same voices, reading the same authors and sharing the same quotes.?

That’s an ever-decreasing spiral.?

Your diverse and different point of view is needed. We need to hear it - whether it’s a story of your experience, an opinion about some insights you’ve had or a projection of how you think the future could be.?

What are you seeing? What are you noticing? What do you think??

I’d love to consume more of your making.

A quick creative tip?

I saw the postal delivery worker, the ‘postie’, finishing delivering mail to the letterboxes in our building at about 11am. Usually she delivers the mail to our area at about 3pm.

‘Hi!’ I said. ‘Hey you seem a bit earlier, a different time today?’

‘Yes', she said, 'I thought I’d do my delivery round in reverse today; you know, keep it fresh.’

She went on...'It’s easy to become a machine, doing the same thing, same way, same route, riding up streets the same direction, the same order and same views. But wow, this has really snapped me out of things today; I’ve had to think and not just go by habit.'

She delivered the mail — and a great insight!

What’s the current way you do something? And how could you reverse it? Even a small part of it?

Creativity and novel thinking data suggests this helps us:

?? see new things

and so we?

?? make new connections, and

?? make sense in other ways.

Most of all, it changes our locked-in perspective… which we may not even realize is locked-in.?

Reverse something: How you research, how you plan, how you think, how you implement, how you complete or how you execute on things.?

Stay alert to the new connections, opportunities or ideas that spring forth.?

Making team decisions easier

Deciding as a team, group or business can be one of the most time consuming — and frustrating — things about everyday work.?

Particularly when decisions are stalled, delayed, complicated or … never happen at all.?

Sometimes we don’t realise that it’s our decision making process (or lack of one) that’s making things more difficult for us.?

Nancy Duarte ?of?Duarte, Inc. ?shares a brilliant quadrant of four decision types to help accelerate work through your team or business.?

When work needs to be decided on consider using these directives or categories :?

?? Decide without me

?? Inform on progress

?? Propose for approval

?? Escalate immediately.?

Decision making isn’t just doing the easiest thing. And when we need to involve people across other teams or departments, we need to be able to accelerate the process with some rigour.?

Read more of the article for details on the categories and look forward to a better flow of decision making.?

The truth about feeling bored

I remember as a child I’d call out to my mum, Shirl, and say ‘I’m bored!’ She’d give me a sweet list of things I could do to occupy and entertain myself and stimulate my mind.

I’d choose one activity and get started.?

But author Pietro Minto, in his Italian book ‘How to get bored better’ reveals some interesting thoughts, claims and insights about our boredom.?

Apparently we have a warped notion of time and time management ... and the pandemic has exacerbated the warp.?

In this great interview with Minto, we get new perspectives on what we do when we’re bored and how we’re spending a lot of time on things that may not matter so much.?

Oooh that’s a big call isn’t it.?

Aren’t we all so busy??

This quote: “It’s irrelevant how many stimuli we have – the core of the issue is about how little we are conscious of how we use our time, be it free time or otherwise.”

He says that boredom has carried negative connotations but instead, “it’s a plot of land no one has built on yet.”?

Bookmark this one to read maybe when you’re bored! ?? It’s a great prompter of thought about what we do and why we do it.

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There's your weekly digest of posts from this week.

Lynne

Lynne Cazaly helps individuals, teams and businesses transition to better ways of thinking and working.?

Lynne is an international keynote speaker, multi-award winning author and a master facilitator.

She is the author of the books:?

• Argh! Too Much Information, Not Enough Brain: A Practical Guide to Outsmarting Overwhelm
• Better Ways of Thinking and Working: How Changing the Way You Do Things, Changes What You Can Do
• ish: The Problem with our Pursuit for Perfection and the Life-Changing Practice of Good Enough
• Agile-ish: How to Create a Culture of Agility
• Ideas Book: A Journal of Templates and Tools for Thinking
• Leader as Facilitator: How to Engage, Inspire and Get Work Done
• Making Sense: A Handbook for the Future of Work?
• Create Change: How to Apply Innovation in an Era of Uncertainty
• Visual Mojo: How to Capture Thinking, Convey Information and Collaborate Using Visuals. ? ? ??

Lynne is an experienced radio broadcaster, presenter and producer having presented more than 10000 hours on-air. Her background is as a communication specialist, having lectured in under-graduate and post-graduate programs in several of Australia's Universities and consulting to different industries and sectors on change and transformation.

Lynne can help you think better, make sense of information and handle the realities of workplace overwhelm and information overload with her clever hacks and ingenious processes, tools and methods.

She is an experienced board director and chair and an #avgeek, loving everything aviation, helicopters and air traffic control.?

See more at www.lynnecazaly.com