This is From The Balance Beam

[TheBalanceBeam] - Balancing Your Problem Solving Styles

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THE BALANCE BEAM
Ideas and Inspiration for Creating a Life that Works
Vol. 3 No. 15, August 8, 2001
Published by Success Builders, Inc.
http://www.SuccessBuildersInc.com
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"He who knows others is wise; he who knows himself is enlightened."
Lao-tzu
In this issue: BALANCING YOUR PROBLEM SOLVING STYLES
====================================================================== Dear Friends:
Who are the creative geniuses on your work team? Question number two: Who actually implements all those brainy ideas? In this issue of The Balance Beam, we take a look at the various ways in which people at work go about solving thorny business challenges. As with most things in life, the best results call for a balanced approach.

If you are interested in reading earlier editions of The Balance Beam, you can easily retrieve them by clicking on http://www.successbuildersinc.com/newsletter.html and going to the Archives section. If you are not yet a regular subscriber to The Balance Beam, you can also enter your subscription information at this location.
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Today's Topic: BALANCING YOUR PROBLEM SOLVING STYLES

Karen was perplexed. No, that may be putting it too mildly. She was actually pretty darned frustrated, and it had to do with her boss. As human resources director for a fast-growing distance learning company, she had a lot on her platter. Karen takes tremendous pride in the quality of her work, and she really needed John's call on a couple of questions that were pertinent to wrapping up a major project.

When Karen met with John to review the details she was concerned about, he impatiently dismissed her questions. "I don't have time for this stuff," he told her. "Just go with your gut and give it your best shot. I trust you to make the right moves." As she related this story to me, Karen emphasized that this was not an isolated incident. "He does this to me all the time," she said. "I know he's busy and I try to simply handle as much as I can. But sometimes I really need his input, and I just can't seem to pin him down."

Now, just for the record, John happens to be a pretty good guy. As president and CEO, he genuinely cares about the people in his organization. He's built a strong company quickly, by capitalizing on market timing, using a sound strategy and relying on his strong business intuition. His executive team is talented, and he genuinely does trust their judgement in most instances.

So what's really going on between John and Karen on those occasions when she just can't seem to get his attention? When I asked her to explore this question with me she identified several possibilities: The fast pace of the business, the breadth of his responsibilities as CEO, and the fundamental differences in how they approach getting work done. This last one caught my attention, and I asked her to say more about it. "He just hates details," Karen told me. "I know this stuff is not very exciting, but it's important. And I just can't seem to get him to focus on it."

What Karen was alluding to was the characteristic differences in how individuals approach problem solving, innovation and teamwork. Most people are aware that there are distinctly different styles when it comes to personality type and social style. It's pretty typical for your standard corporate employee to be able to tell you about their Myers-Briggs type or their DISC profiles. But did you know that there are also distinctly different styles with which people define and solve problems?

A useful framework for understanding these differences is sometimes referred to as the "C.A.R.E." model. It suggests that in any organization, there are four typical approaches to generating and implementing solutions. Consider where you and your team members might be in this classification scheme:

Creators are those individuals who are good at initiating novel concepts and ideas. They tend to be visionary, intuitive and see a world of possibilities. Creators are typically "big picture" thinkers, and prefer to look beyond the obvious in terms of what might work. Fear of failure is typically not an issue for Creators, and they rarely worry about constraints and details.

Advancers take the possibilities initiated by Creators to the next level. They are gifted at working with ideas in their early stages to find ways to develop and promote them. Although not as freewheeling as the Creators, Advancers tend to be fairly comfortable in ambiguous situations and provide the initial stages of structure required to move good ideas into reality.

Refiners contribute to the next stage in the process by using methodical and analytical approaches to establish a true game plan. They are good at setting up schedules, review processes, and examining proposed ideas to ensure that they are feasible and will truly solve business needs or meet project requirements.

Executors are skilled at implementing solutions. They are task-oriented and focus on ensuring that the job gets done in an orderly manner. Their approach involves staying within the confines of a project plan and red-flagging needs to go back to the drawing board when they occur.

When Karen and I reviewed this model, a light bulb went off. It became clear to her that in their typical approaches to work, John acts as a Creator and she functions as a Refiner/Executor. I asked her how this shows up in their relationship and she said, "He's more than willing to help me with the design of a big project. But when I hit him with the details, he glazes over. I never really realized that this must be excruciating for him."

What Karen learned from this exercise was a strategy that can help her meet John halfway. Now, when she goes in to see him with questions, she's careful to lay out the scenario in a way that focuses more on impact and less on detail. In her words, "I simply ask him what time it is, rather than expecting him to work with me on how to build a clock."

The most effective teams have a full complement of all of the problem solving roles and approaches, and know how to capitalize on those differences rather than letting them get in the way. Think about the members of your team. Who is creating, advancing, refining and executing great ideas? Use the diversity among your styles to produce amazing results for the team and for your organization.
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Words to live by:
"We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them."
--Albert Einstein

"Perfect solutions of our difficulties are not to be looked for in an imperfect world."
--Winston Churchill