Off the Wall Solutions

Post 3 of 4: Series on methods of Solving Problems in complex world.

Post 1: Help: How do I get out of this Mess?

Post 2: Scientific Method: A Saner Way to Go?

Off the Wall album was released by Michael Jackson in 1979. You can hear it on: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQPn79fucCM. Jackson collaborated with a number of other writers and performers such as Paul McCartney, Stevie Wonder and Rod Temperton. It was a departure from his previous work . Jackson wrote 3 of the 5 songs himself, including the number-one Grammy-winning single “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough”. The album was an enormous commercial success; making it one of the best selling albums of all time and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. Michael Jackson became a legend!

What has this got to do with tackling messy problems.

Nothing! I just liked the concept of “Off the Wall”; or,

Everything! Sometimes, you need to do things so unconventional and so out of the norms that it ends up making a dramatic impact and propels you like a rocket.

In a complex world, doing incrementally more of the same is ineffective. The need is for new insights. We need to deploy other methods, than “rational’ methods to tackle knotty problems that have survived the traditional solutions to tackle them.

Intuitive Methods

All these methods follow a derivative of the Creative process. It can be described as:

• Problem Description- Thorough description and study of the problem. Without proper identification of the problem you will solve only the symptoms. The real problem will remain unsolved.
• Incubation- The process of letting the mind work on the problem. Don’t shut out solutions because they don’t fit the established “truths”.
• Illumination-Stage at which the process of incubation results in the aha! moment and a novel solution is reached.
• Verification- Test the solution for its applicability and efficacy.

Creativity training is becoming serious business. It is no longer “off the wall” and frivolous. The concept has reached corporate Board rooms as evidenced by the dramatic jump in the number of senior executives attending such sessions.

Exemplar

Brainstorming: is the exemplar of “intuitive” methods. This is a group or individual creativity technique by which member(s) contribute a list of ideas spontaneously in an effort to find a conclusion for a specific problem. The term was popularized by Alex Osborne in 1953. Today, the term is used as a catch all for all group ideation sessions. The two essential principles are: 1. Defer judgment and 2. Reach for quantity. The focus on quantity enhances divergent production of ideas with a greater chance of producing a radical or unusual idea leading to an effective solution. Criticism of ideas should be put ‘on hold’. Instead, participants focus on extending or adding to ideas, reserving criticism for a later stage of the process.

Other methods are:

• Analogies/Metaphors
• Role Playing
• Different Worlds
• Paradox Management

They all follow the Creative Process of problem solving. These require that social inhibitions among the group members be contained to stimulate idea generation in large quantities. The assumption is that the greater the number of ideas generated, the greater the chance of producing a radical and effective solution.To get a good and long list of ideas, unusual ideas are welcomed. They can be generated by looking from new perspectives and suspending assumptions. These new ways of thinking may provide better solutions. Good ideas may be combined to form a single better good idea, as suggested by the slogan “1+1=3”.

The detailed steps of these methods can be found by simply searching for them by name.

As a mentor I have participated in several such sessions either with the mentee or their team. What I have learnt is that we are creatures of habit and in order to gain efficiency, we sabotage the process by saying,”Please give me some good ideas!”. Ideation should be kept to a two step process: 1 . Generate a lot of ideas, and 2. Reject those ideas that need to be rejected. Efficiency is a “rational” idea. Here we are concerned with “Effectiveness”.

My present interest is in advancing the art, science and practice of Mentoring.

Suggestions, Questions and Comments related to Mentor-Mentee topics, entrepreneurial development or business incubators are invited through your comments. I will attempt to be responsive.