We’re often conditioned to associate the word “problem” negatively. Problems are something to be avoided, right? For purposes of this course, I’d like you to let go of that negative connotation.
As we think and talk about problem-solving, let’s agree to define a “problem” as anything that stands between our current state and an improved state. By “state” I mean general condition, and, depending on context, we might be referring to the condition of an organization or maybe of ourselves personally. So, when framed in that way, a “problem” is actually an opportunity to improve. It just needs to be solved to unlock an opportunity to grow and get better.
All right, with that important frame set, and definitional problem solved, let’s move forward.
We’ve all had those weeks– maybe as a student, or as an employee, family member, athlete— when there are far more things to do than time and energy available to do them. Many of those “things to do” are actually problems to solve or at least tasks that must be completed in order to solve problems. Together, we’ll refer to all those problems presented to a leader (or individual contributor) on any given day as “The Universe of Opportunities.”
The bad news is those weeks aren’t going away. As a matter of fact, as you grow personally and professionally and enter phases of life with more stakeholders — supervisors, colleagues, mentors, spouse/partners, children— the inevitable list of problems— and list of things that must be done to solve them — only increases. Unfortunately, the corresponding amounts of available time and energy stay largely the same.[1]
One key to success then— in leading an organization of problem solvers or simply in improving any aspect of your condition– is to be able to manage your time effectively. This means being intentionally selective about the problems you choose to solve. Leaders who can do this effectively, and go on to solve those carefully selected problems, add significant value to their organizations and tend to get promoted into roles of increasing importance and responsibility.
I used to think that there was something about my circumstance (at least professionally) that I could potentially change to avoid this challenge of having more demands than time. For example, if I was only a bit better at my job, or could get promoted to the next level of management, or worked for a different leader, or was in a different organization, the list of problems and potential steps to solve them on my “to-do” list would moderate and come back into line with the time and energy I had available to expend upon them.
I’ve learned that this is not the case. In fact, I think the opposite is true— at least in the context of professional organizations. The “better” you and your organization become at thinking about problem-solving and actively seeking out opportunities for improvement— the more potentially competing demands there will be on your time. [More on this in Part 3 of the Course, when we take a deeper dive into The Criticality of Culture]
Good leaders don’t run from the reality that they have multiple “problems” (better thought of as opportunities for improvement.) Instead, they embrace it. Every organization is “broken” to some extent. One key to leading a highly effective organization is to embrace that reality and attack the problems that offer the highest-impact improvements.
As cruel as it may seem, once you adopt the frame that problems represent opportunities for improvement, it also becomes really important to embrace the reality that there will always be more potential things to do than time and energy in which to do them. For purposes of making it easier for you to study for the exam, let’s give this idea an important- sounding name to make sure you realize just how critical it is. Let’s call it, I don’t know, the “Rule of Perpetual Frustration”:
For any highly functioning organization (or individual, for that matter), the quantity of problems to which one could devote time will always be greater than the time and energy available to solve them. [2]
So, the Universe of Opportunities is not going to shrink. It’s probably (hopefully?) only going to expand for you. Even as I write this, I feel the reader’s (and my own) anxiety level rising.
“You’re telling me that one of the inescapable realities of life in a high-functioning organization is that I will have more things on my plate than I have time to address? That sounds terrible!”
It is incredibly frustrating! (Thus the clever name of the rule above.) The good news is there are at least two important ways of enhancing your mental health in this kind of environment, and helping to think about tackling the Universe of Opportunities in a constructive way:
1) Accept and understand what you can influence and what you can’t. As you, either as a leader or individual contributor, try to determine where you want to spend your time, it’s important to ask, “is the thing I’m about to take on something that I individually, or my team, can reasonably expect to influence or change?”
Consider, for instance, Juanita, the owner of a roofing supply business in Des Moines. Juanita’s company makes money when general contractors hire it to put roofs on commercial buildings. While they do some roof repair and replacement, Juanita understands that the total revenue of her business in any given year is tightly aligned to the amount of commercial construction that occurs in central Iowa during that year. Solving the problem of increasing growth of commercial construction in Polk county would undoubtedly grow her business. However, there is probably very little that she and her team can undertake to solve this problem.
This is an extreme example, and a problem that is unlikely to wind up on Juanita’s to-do list, but it illustrates a common error and stressor for young leaders. As you prioritize the universe of options of how to spend your time in any given period, you should identify the things you and your team can directly influence and bias resources (time and energy) toward them (and try to forget about the things you can’t control).
2) The Pareto Principle, sometimes referred to as “The Law of the Vital [3]Few”, or 80/20 Principle[4], is another key to maintaining sanity for leaders in high-functioning organizations with more problems than time and energy. According to this principle, 80 percent of a given effect is due to just 20% of the possible causes. This is a powerful concept with many applications. For purposes of this course, here’s the key insight that the principle yields:
As you are considering the universe of potential options for spending your time, there are probably two out of the ten options that will have outsize influence on the results you are seeking to achieve.
The inverse insight, then, from the Pareto Principle is that for every 10 things appearing to demand your time on any given day/week/month, you need to find a way to decline, or at least defer, 8 of them. This is easier said than done, (and in some cases may be politically impossible especially for someone relatively early or junior in their career path). We’ll talk about how to address that at the end of this Part of the course.
In the meantime, identifying filtering tools to help identify the magic 20%, and learning how and when to say “no” are critical keys to success for problem-solvers. We’ll unpack both in this part of the course.
Reflection Questions
- Can you think of some “problems” in your life that you recently solved to unlock an improvement or growth opportunity?
- Author Cal Newport encourages his readers to adopt “Lifestyle-centric career planning” rather than pursuing a career they think they’ll love.[5] This involves defining the key elements that people want in their life 10-15 years from now [urban/pastoral geographic location; certain income level; family/no family; working inside/outside] and then working backward from that “future state” to identify the steps that need to be taken (or problems that need to be solved) in order to attain that lifestyle. Give this a try. What “problems” emerge for you to solve in order to obtain your ideal setting?
- How do you feel, physically and mentally, when you sense you have more things to do than time to do them?
- When you consider that 2 out of 10 options on how to spend any given block of time will yield outsize results does that relieve anxiety or increase it?
Footnotes
[1]. Time, at least according to my limited understanding of physics, is finite. The amount of energy we have to expend can theoretically be increased. That discussion would probably take us outside the scope of this course.
[2]. There’s an excellent discussion of this phenomenon and several of the underlying concepts I this course in the book, The 4 Disciplines of Execution by McChesney, Covey and Huling (2d ed) p. 36.
[3]. Newport, Deep Work p. 201
[4]. For a deeper dive on this powerful concept, I highly recommend Richard Koch’s book The 80/20 Principle.
[5]. https://video.search.yahoo.com/search/video?fr=mcafee&ei=UTF-8&p=cal+newport+lifestyle-centric+career+planning&type=E210US714G0#id=1&vid=664f5eef3360a375edcd49e511e41900&action=click
Iowa Diasporan 