9 minute read
2. Problem solving and change management
Subject title Problem solving and change management
Purpose of the activity To help a young person develop the skills needed to properly process information about emerging daily challenges in their personal lives and careers and to address emerging issues effectively.
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Duration 3–4 hours.
Location and tools Sheets of paper of various sizes, writing tools, projectors, flip charts, small candles, several matchboxes, pins, several tables into which the pins can be easily inserted.
Number of participants 10–25 participants.
Acquaintance/ team building methods
Nine dots exercise
Participants are grouped in pairs, they are given one writing tool and a sheet of paper on which nine dots are drawn. Participants are asked to both take the pen at the same time (it must be held by both participants) and to connect up all the dots without talking and lifting the pen from the paper. At the end of the exercise, the pairs introduce themselves, everyone says their name and shares how the process went. Each pair counts how many straight lines they needed to connect up all the dots. The most common answer is likely to be 6 straight lines, but some may be able to connect up all the dots with 5 straight lines as well. In the second part of the exercise, each participant is asked to draw nine dots individually and connect them up in four straight lines without lifting their pens. Most of the participants will try to complete this task without trespassing the boundaries of the dots. The training‘s leader then demonstrates a possible variant in which the connected straight lines are at the boundary of the dots. Participants are invited to discuss how, in their opinion, this exercise relates to the topic of problem solving.
Practical tasks
Task no. 1 “Candle Challenge“
Time to complete the task: 20 minutes, time for reflection – 15 minutes.
Participants are divided into groups of 4–5 participants and they are provided with the following tools: a small candle, a matchbox, pins and a table to which the pins can be easily attached. Participants are asked to find a way to attach the candle to the table so that it remains stable. Participants are grouped in such a way that they cannot talk to each other and see what one group or another is doing.
Practical tasks
End of session reflection methods The result that should be attained looks as described below:
At the end of the task, participants sit in a circle and are invited to discuss how have they managed to perform the task, what challenges have arisen and how the task is related to the problem-solving topic.
Task no. 2 The Toyota Method “Ask ‘why’ 5 times about every matter”
Time to complete the task: 20 minutes, time for reflection – 10 minutes.
Each participant is asked to choose one problem of their life and examine it according to the Toyota method “Ask ‘why’ 5 times about every matter” in search of the root of the problem.
After completing the task, participants who are willing to do so are invited to share their results, observations, perceptions.
Task no. 3 “Problem tree”
Time to complete the task: 20 minutes, time for reflection and group presentations – 20–30 minutes
Participants are divided into groups of 4–5 people, each group is given a large sheet of paper and writing tools, participants are invited to choose one problem (it can be very specific and local, or it can be global, universal) and examine it according to the problem tree model, discovering the roots and consequences of the problem.
After completing the task, each group presents their work, all participants share their feedback, supplement or ask questions if necessary.
A nine dots with three lines exercise
At the end of the session, participants are again invited to draw nine dots and this time without retracting the writing tool to connect them all in three lines. It is emphasized that there are absolutely no boundaries and rules, participants are invited to use all their creativity when performing this task. After a few minutes, each participant is invited to demonstrate his/her discovered solution and at the same time share impressions after the session.
THEORETICAL INFORMATION
HOW DO WE UNDERSTAND THE PROBLEM FROM OUR MIND POSITION?
In the twentieth century, the science of psychology began to actively study the peculiarities of humans and animals in solving problems of various scales and finding appropriate solutions. Experiments with chimpanzees have shown that this animal species is able to discover innovative ideas on how to overcome obstacles by identifying the problem and having the goal. In terms of emotional background and psychological state, problems and challenges most often become factors that cause stress and upset one’s mood. When you come to work and can’t find the door keys, when you rush to the car and find out that it is standing on the snowdrift, or when you realize that five minutes before the speech in front of the audience, an important long presentation has not been saved… All of these situations can make you feel frustrated and hopeless. On the other hand, one can learn to look creatively at the challenges of everyday life, by accepting them as lessons and enriching experiences.
So how do our minds look at problems and what measures do we instinctively take each time we encounter with a more or less stressful situation?
When looking at the solution to the problem schematically, the mind primarily strives to describe the problem quickly and without wasting time: the shoe cracked, you ran out of coffee, the computer stopped working, the car engine stalled in the middle of the traffic lane, etc.
After identifying a problem, the mind usually does not make any creative solutions, but strives to discover an effective problem-solving strategy as quickly as possible, saving time and resources, i.e., to remember the ways in which it is common to deal with similar problems: to glue the cracked shoe with instant glue, to borrow coffee from a neighbour, to call a friend who can explain how to deal with an inoperative computer, to activate the alarm in a car when its engine stalls, and after opening the capote to try to find the reason why did the engine stall, etc. And in the next step, the mind is already beginning to form a more complex problemsolving algorithm, which combines a sequence of several different actions, that helps to solve the problem and all the factors related to it in a coherent manner.
Here are some more concepts that are related to the characteristics of the human mind and personality strategies when faced with problems and their solutions: Tendency to seek confirmation – as mentioned above, when faced with a problem, a person is primarily looking for already tested solution strategies, and it is also important for him to obtain confirmation from the environment that the chosen strategy and algorithm are acceptable and correct. Insight – it is a moment of inspiration and pleasant excitement, when a person encounters a problem and does not find an approved strategy for solving it, but then discovers a creative solution and creates his own personal strategy.
Fixation – an inability to look at a problem from a different angle, a limited approach to emerging challenges and emerging situations. Functional fixedness – a tendency to look at the functions of objects (for example, fork, balloon, screwdriver, box) as fixed and constant. The best exercise to change this is to choose any item, for example a light bulb, and come up with as many different features for it as possible.
Mind attitude – a tendency to repeat past actions and implemented strategies. This is because, as already mentioned, when a problem arises, the mind is primarily looking for tried and tested strategies and solutions. Sustainability of beliefs – a tendency to firmly hold one’s opinion when confronted with evidence to the contrary. It is a protective reaction of the body to protect its resources and accumulated knowledge. However, strict adherence to one’s position without giving space to the opposite position is not an effective means of communication and problem solving.
Excessive self-assurance – a natural tendency of a person to overestimate his knowledge, believing that it is enough. Heuristics – a simple, practical strategy based on one’s own or others’ experiences, thus simplifying the actions of the mind.
METHODS WHICH HELP TO DEAL WITH AND SOLVE PROBLEMS
This method was developed by Sakichi Toyoda, a Japanese businessman and inventor, and was used by Toyota in order to discover the links between the causes and consequences of problems and thus accelerate the evolution of the company and improve the production methodology. Whenever a problem used to arise, employees of various levels were invited to explore it by asking the question ‘Why?’. Why did this problem occur? The employees then firstly used to answer that question. After receiving the answer, the question ‘Why?’ was asked for the second time. The employees also answered the second question ‘Why?’ and then the same question was raised for the third time for the second answer. In this way, the question ‘Why?’ was raised five times for a new answer or until employees were able to find out the root of the problem.
Today, this method is widely used as a tool for coaching and personal development that anyone can apply, thus helping themselves to solve problems at different levels.
The following is an example of how it can be applied when solving personal problems.
I can’t find a job.
Why? I don’t devote sufficient time to its search.
Why? I am not certain if I am properly prepared for that.
Why? I don’t think that my resume and cover letter are appropriate to apply for the job I want.
Why? I don’t have enough skills to prepare them properly.
Why? I didn’t show enough interest in that and I didn’t learn how to do it.
As we can see, after applying the method “Ask ‘why’ 5 times about every matter”, it turned out that the real reason for not being able to find a job is that the person was not interested enough, did not consult enough or did not search for information on how to prepare a good CV and cover letter, and this led to internal resistance to the job search. This way it becomes much clearer where to start when tackling the aforementioned problem. The example provided is not very detailed and the answers are pretty short, but once applying this method to larger and more painful problems, each answer to the question ‘Why?’ can be long, detailed, and affecting different aspects of the problem.
PROBLEM TREE
A problem tree is another pretty quick method which is used to help discover the roots and consequences of a problem. When applying this method, one can depict a tree, which clearly consists of three parts which are equally distributed in the plane of the sheet: roots that symbolize the causes of the problem, a tree trunk that symbolizes the naming of the problem itself, and leaves that symbolize the consequences of the problem and visible, tangible results as well as new emerging problems. Below there is an example of a completed problem tree:
