Understand the real problem
"The most important thing in solving a problem is to understand the problem thoroughly."
Ruth Bader Ginsberg.
Last time I compared writers and facilitators. This week, it is our legal colleagues, inspired by RBG’s advice – so spot on it could have been designed for this very article.
We’ll get onto problems in a tick – I promise.
Lawyers and facilitators have a lot in common. My evidence? Sixteen years of domestic bliss with a criminal lawyer, including six lockdowns.
#1: We both get briefed. These briefs can vary in quality, which brings me onto number two:
#2: We both have to ‘work with what we’ve got’ which segues nicely into number three:
#3: We have to think on our feet. For a facilitator, the most predictable thing about a group is its unpredictability. I suspect that some defence lawyers would say the same about judges.
And underpinning this trio of similarities is the challenge we often face in understanding the ‘problem’ at the heart of the brief. Cue #1, the brief.
I’ve emerged from deep inside a 20-page brief, utterly confused. I don’t know what is the problem that the group I’m facilitating is meeting about. I’ve seen Tim, my partner, look equally perplexed after wading through briefs ten times longer.
Recently, for example, I helped a team to connect more deeply with each other. But it took a while to uncover from three leaders why the team needed to connect, and why now. If you facilitate groups, you can probably guess how many ‘whys’ I heard. Three at least. Because:
‘We want them to feel motivated.’
‘Good people keep leaving.’
‘We haven’t worked together in the same place for a few years.’
‘They need to see that management care.’
‘We want them to be resilient.’
‘We need a break with the past.’
‘We need to look forward to the future.’
It was an interesting design meeting 😊! We got there*.
My design meetings are a bit like a health check with a doctor. I aim to get past the symptoms and identify the real problem. Yep, another analogy. Bear with me.
Photo by cottonbro studio, Pexels.com
We’ve all felt sick. You can name a few symptoms but you don’t know what’s causing them (I’ve put aside that virus for this analogy). You haven’t got time to go to the doctor, so you go straight to the chemist to get some medicine. Saves time but the results are hit and miss. The pharmacist’ expertise only goes so far. They have no diagnosis from the doctor to guide their advice. Some of your symptoms might disappear, but the underlying problem will remain.
Bypassing a diagnosis from the doctor is like going straight to designing workshop activities without any understanding the real problem that a group is trying to solve.
In my design meetings I aim to diagnose the problem together with my clients. In the workshop itself, I’m a bit like a pharmacist, leading activities and processes designed to eliminate or reduce the symptoms, to get to the heart of the problem.
That’s in an ideal world. We all know it’s an imperfect one. People come to you at the last minute. You’re the ‘go to’ facilitator in your organisation. Or you’re the external one keen to please a new client. People come to you looking for the ‘medicine’ to fix their ‘symptoms’. It’s tempting to be caught up in the haste but the tortoise beat the hare for a very good reason (promise this is the last analogy!)
You may not have the luxury of time to deliberate like a Supreme Court Justice like RBG, but it doesn’t take long to ask why five times when someone tells you what they think the problem is. And it doesn’t have to be as painful as watching a tortoise race.
Sometimes my partner only has 10 minutes to talk with a client or a police informer before going into court. But he makes every second count to try to get to the heart of the problem. Your clients don’t face a prison sentence but you can make every minute of your design meeting count. Ask why at least five times. That’s (fl)awesome.
* ‘How’ is what I do every day. As a facilitator for organisations or as a trainer and mentor for their facilitators. If you're struggling to unpack the underlying problem you want your next team session to 'fix', I can help. Book a 15 min clarify call with me HERE.
