Pablo
Picasso said that “every act of creation is, first of all, an act of
destruction”. Consider this statement in light of constraints we place on
ourselves in the workplace. What are some constraints that you need to destroy
before you can engage in creative problem solving? Give an example of how a
constraint you placed on yourself prevented you from solving a problem. Reflect
on what you could have done differently and how you will prevent that
constraint from limiting you in the future.
Creative
problem solving requires individuals to unfreeze from their traditional analytical
approach to solving at problems and begin to consider them from a new
perspective (Whetton & Cameron, 2016). Although creative problem solving is
done less frequently than analytic problem solving, there are actually several
different ways to solve problems in a creative way. Unfortunately, many people find
comfort in the systematic four-step problem solving approach, which includes:
(1) defining the problem, (2) generating alternatives, (3) evaluating
alternatives, and (4) implementing the solution (Whetton & Cameron, 2016). Comfort
with the familiar often makes it difficult to embrace the concept of trying new
methods of problem solving.
When we
become too comfortable with one approach, it can create something called a
conceptual block, or a mental obstacle that prevents a person from being
creative (Whetton & Cameron, 2016). The biggest conceptual blocks that I
face are constancy and commitment, which lead to the refusal to consider
alternate ideas and the tendency to assume that past experiences will turn out
like future ones (Whetton & Cameron, 2016). Sticking with what is comfortable
has become a constraint and it is limiting me from experiencing more innovative
and creative problem solving.
I
recently worked on an assignment at work where I had to build a strategy for negotiating
with customers remotely in an effort to cut down our department’s travel
budget. The intent was to implement this strategy throughout the Contracts
organization, so that my team (Europe) and all of the other regional teams could
equally reduce spending on customer visits. In hindsight I recognize my constraint
almost instantly. I built a Situation-Target-Proposal (STP) presentation that
discussed the issue with our budget, the goal of reducing spending on travel,
and the proposal to invest in audio/video equipment in our conference rooms to
facilitate virtual meetings. I did all of this based on my experience with my
customer, along with the conversations I heard my peers having around me. I
never took the opportunity to reach out to others, including those in other
regions, to figure out if my proposed solution would also work for them. I
found out the hard way that it did not.
When I
submitted my proposal to management for consideration, the leadership teams
from each region provided their feedback. For the most part, the European
leader agreed with my recommendation to invest in virtual-meeting equipment.
The African region, however, rejected my proposal because many of their
customers are very small regional airlines with a fleet of only one to three
aircraft. These customers simply do not have the funds available to invest in
the type of equipment that would be needed on their end to facilitate sophisticated
virtual meetings. The North America region argued that traveling domestically
from Seattle to other U.S. locations would actually be cheaper than investing
in equipment because they travel infrequently, and flights are generally inexpensive
when they do have to travel. The Asia region rejected my exercise all together,
stating that Asian customers simply refuse to do business if it isn’t done fact
to face. As a result of my conceptual block, my proposal was not seen as
something that would work for the whole organization and it was shelved.
If I
had handled this situation in a more creative way, the outcome may have been
more successful. In order to break my traditional approach to solving problems,
I need to learn how to improve my creative problem-solving abilities. One step
to doing this is to make a more conscious effort to reach out to those around
me, ask what they think about my ideas, and ask for their suggestions (Whetton
& Cameron, 2016). I have a great team of people around me who are all very
familiar with Europe contracts, but I have become too comfortable reaching out
to my immediate peers. Moving forward, I plan to reach out to peers supporting customers
located in other regions of the world, like Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. Some of the best ideas are created through
debate and discourse because it allows the unique opinions of others to surface
(Hill, 2015). I predict that making an effort to hear the perspectives of such
peers will lead me down a path towards more creative thinking.
Another
approach I will focus on is to find a quiet and comfortable place to think
where interruptions will be limited or non-existent (Whetton & Cameron, 2016).
For me, this quiet place will likely be a privacy room in my office because it
has completely blank walls, no windows, no computers, and is very well
insulated. I recently learned from Puddicombe (2013), that our minds are lost
in thought at least 47% of the time and if we give them a rest now and then, we
could expand their capacity and ability to display creative thinking. Traditionally,
I have liked to wear headphones in order to tune out noise, but I have learned
over the past few weeks that this may is not providing my brain the rest it
really needs to be more effective.
Kalyuga, Renkl,
& Paas (2010) stated that “an important goal of contemporary education is
the development of flexible problem-solving skills as abilities to apply
available knowledge in relatively new situations.” In order to find the
right mixture of both the analytical and the creative approaches to solving
problems, I must learn to be more flexible in my approach and more comfortable
departing from that which feels familiar.
References
Hill, L. (2015, March 13). How to manage for
collective creativity [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjcZrtcBZi4
Kalyuga, S., Renkl, A.,
& Paas, F. (2010). Facilitating flexible problem solving: A cognitive load
perspective. Educational Psycology
Review, 22(2), pp 175-186. Retrieved from https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10648-010-9132-9
Puddicombe, A. (2013, January). All it takes
is 10 mindful minutes. [Video file]. Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzR62JJCMBQ&feature= youtu.be
Whetton, D. A. & Cameron, K. S. (2016). Developing
management skills, 9th ed. Boston, MA: Pearson.
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