Problems, Symptoms & Tensions

A problem is "a situation, person, or thing that needs attention and needs to be dealt with or solved". A symptom is "any single problem that is caused by and shows a more serious and general problem" (generally related to an illness or disease). A tension (as described in #Holacracy) is "a person's felt a sense that there is a gap between the current reality and a potential future".

In the complexity of a system we are always encountering problems. These problems are generally the symptom of something else, more embedded in the system. The key to problem-solving is to define it clearly. There are many tools and processes. One of them is Dwayne Spradli's Problem-Definition Process, which basically suggests 4 steps to do this: (1) Establish the need, (2) Justify the need, (3) Understand the problem and its wider context and (4) Write a problem statement.

I have read about problem-centred approaches to challenges or threats, which put you in the frame of the negative when there could be an alternative approach based on opportunity. Opportunity-based approaches include appreciative inquiry or in self-managed organisation frameworks the concept of tension proposed in Holacracy.

Tension is the gap between an ideal state or "potential future" defined in the mind of an individual and shared collectively and the perceived reality of the present moment. The key here is that it invites us to reflect on the opportunity to improve. Improvement many times in the governance (how it functions) of a team or organisation is simply the need for clarity.

In Organisational Development, what I call #organisationalgardening, one of the responsibilities of this function is to identify problems and assess if they are the symptom of a deeper issue. A systemic issue. Once it has been assessed it must be defined, and then it must be decided if it is problem that requires attention in the short, medium or long term.

When you find a weed or a pest in your garden you might pull it out or kill it once, but if it is coming back there is something bigger at play; within the micro-system of the plot or in the broader context of the allotment, field or location.

While writing this it makes me think that one might also find trends or behaviours that are positive in the overall culture and understanding the root cause(s) might be useful to reproduce or propagate it more around the system.

Going back to the gardening analogy the use of biocontrols (biological controls) to keep a balance on the system is a common (and organic) alternative to pest management. Instead of keep pulling out weeds or killing insects (or weeds) with pesticides you attract other insects that are natural predators to the pests. For example, if you have an aphid pest in your plants you bring ladybugs to eat them, but still this positive solution to the pest might only be attacking the symptom of a bigger problem such as weak plants, which might point out that our soil is not rich enough to feed the plants properly for them to fend off the pests.

As an organisational gardener you notice "something is happening", and maybe before judging it as something bad or good, we first decide if it is a symptom, a problem or a tension.

This takes me back again to the idea of looking at the system. However you want to frame a problem as a symptom of a disease or a tension based on opportunity, the best way forward is to have a deeper look (or big picture look) of the system.