CHAPTER 13
Problem Solving
“Men solve far more problems by hate, love, lust, rage, sorrow, joy, hope, fear, illusion, or some other inward emotion, than by reality, authority, any legal standard, judicial precedent, or statute.”
—ROMAN STATESMAN AND PHILOSOPHER CICERO (106 BC–43 BC)
Confidence in our abilities and being able to overcome and deal with our fears are important aspects in how well we are able to come up with solutions to the problems we face. Generally, people consider problem solving to be something we use our intellectual thinking ability for. But emotions play a role that is just as important, and that can also be extremely informative.
When Others Are Involved
Since many of our problems involve others, our ability to deal with people is critical to how well we are able to solve problems. Because most problem solving involves some interaction, our success will be determined by how effectively we are able to get the help we need.
The basis of this is quite simple. Remember the last time that you went out of your way to help someone? Was the person you helped someone you liked or was it someone whom you couldn't stand? Chances are you liked the person, otherwise you would not have chosen to help him or her. Of course, there are many situations in which we help others to solve problems regardless of how we feel about them, such as in our workplace in order to keep our jobs. Even when required, however, we can choose whether the person will receive our full effort or absolute minimum. The person who will receive our full effort will be the one who has been able to form a close positive relationship with us. I can think of few problems where we are an island unto ourselves, most problems require the involvement of others to some degree to solve effectively. The relationship that has been formed between the person asking for help and the person receiving it determines whether the receiver will get the minimum or full effort.
Studies have shown that the more we need to interact with others in order to problem solve, the more critical our EI skills become. Some people assume that occupations that are highly technical in nature are big on cognitive skills and don't require much in terms of people skills. It was found in the computer sciences that the programmers and other technicians whose main interactions are problem solving with machines required fewer EI skills than those who had to work in a team unit. But regardless of the technical nature of the occupation, advancement in the field requires an increasing interdependence on others. This is where strong EI skills or lack of them will factor in to how successful a person becomes in that organization. EI skills in problem solving are just as important to technicians when they are self-employed as when they are employed in an organization and attempting to work their way up.
Several years ago, I had purchased some revenue property and was in need of an electrician. I ended up choosing Ken, a self-employed tradesman who was friendly, had great people skills, and took the time to explain the work that needed to be done in plain terms that I easily understood. Of course, I believed that he was also quite competent, but it was not his technical skill that got him the work, but his EI attributes. I felt that most of the electricians whom I had used were competent. However, they did not have Ken's level of people skills.
Asking for help and getting others to want to help us are skills involving our own emotions and an awareness of other people's emotions. There is a balance between doing for ourselves and asking for help from others. Ideally, the healthiest balance is for us to do as much as we can for ourselves, but to be comfortable asking for help when we truly need it. Many people have difficulty in both of these areas, but with practice we can improve.
Thinking—and Feeling—Our Way to the Solution
EI can help us take advantage of our thinking skills, or lack of EI could keep us from using them to their best advantage. One of the questions that I come across when speaking is, “If a person has good EI, can they do well if they aren't very smart”? The answer is yes; people who have good EI can do well even if they do not have high cognitive (IQ) intelligence. The ideal situation would be someone who has a great deal of both types of intelligence. Earlier in the book, I mentioned a number of people who had very high IQs, such as Ted Bundy, but had a great deal of trouble functioning in society. The trial judge in his case, in which Bundy defended himself, remarked how good a job Bundy was doing defending himself, and how, under different circumstances he would welcome having Bundy present a case in front of him. If Bundy would have had EQ to match his high IQ, his potential to achieve things in his life would have been great. As it was, Bundy's lack of EI severely hampered his ability to use his high IQ for his own benefit and the benefit of society.
Just as emotions can hamper us, so they can help us. Emotions are the best way to do a pre-check on the decisions we are about to make. If we feel good about what we are to do, even though it may be the more difficult decision to make, we are making the right decision. We are unable to monitor our thoughts constantly since experts tell us that the average person has 60,000 thoughts per day. Our emotions are an excellent way of aligning ourselves with thoughts that are in our best self-interest. If we are feeling good, we are thinking positive uplifting thoughts that will benefit and sustain us in life.
Benefits of Good Problem-Solving Skills
“Difficulties are opportunities to better things; they are stepping-stones to greater experience…. When one door closes, another always opens; as a natural law it has to, to balance.”
—AUTHOR BRIAN ADAMS
By doing as much as we can for ourselves, we enhance our independence and develop good self-regard. Developing our ability to cope with and overcome problems also has a positive effect on our ability to tolerate stress. Every problem that we successfully solve gives us increased confidence that we will be able to solve the next one. People who become stressed at the prospect of facing problems have a tendency to avoid problems. In doing so, they will miss out on opportunities because reaching goals in life involves facing and solving problems that come up along the way. Instead of trying to avoid problems, we are better off becoming better problem solvers.
“Problems are only opportunities in work clothes.”
—HENRI KAISER, AMERICAN INDUSTRIALIST
“Some people think only intellect counts: knowing how to solve problems, knowing how to get by, knowing how to identify an advantage and seize it. But the function of intellect is insufficient without courage, love, friendship, compassion and empathy.”
—AUTHOR DEAN KOONTZ
David's Story
Problem solving has been a big part of David's working life for more than thirty years. For a large portion of that time, he worked as a dispatcher for a number of bus and trucking firms. Many years ago, David had been attending university and was looking for a summer job. When he saw the posting in the Student Services area for drivers and tour guides in Alaska for the summer, he jumped at the opportunity. Spending the summer traveling around Alaska sounded to him like the dream summer job. While other students were working at minimum-wage menial jobs, he was experiencing the last frontier firsthand while meeting interesting people from all over the world.
One of the things the job frequently entailed was driving long distances alone to pick up a group. On one occasion, he had to travel from Whitehorse in the Yukon to Anchorage, Alaska, a distance of hundreds of miles, many of them through twisty mountain roads. To keep him company he asked a female traveler, whom he had met in Whitehorse, to accompany him on this long trip. About 200 miles from Anchorage, he had a mechanical breakdown. The throttle cable that ran from the engine at the back of the coach to the controls in front broke. David and his passenger were stranded in the middle of Alaska in the era before cell phones. When he walked to the nearest home and called the shop owned by his company to ask what to do, he was in for a rude awakening. The shop manager, whom he expected would help him out of his predicament, simply told him that he couldn't do anything for him. He said that he didn't know anyone in Anchorage to call for help, and that it happened too far from home base to be able to send out assistance.
David was shocked. His first impulse was to walk away from the broken motor coach, get a ride to Anchorage, and fly back home to California. He had never felt so alone and unsupported. Being raised to be responsible, however, David knew that he couldn't just leave. Working to overcome feelings of fear and anger, he considered his situation. Could he make temporary repairs with the material that was available, which would allow him to limp a disabled motor coach 200 miles through a mountain pass? The first experiment ended in failure. He propped open the throttle at the rear using a lock that he carried. However, the brakes soon began to get hot and started to smoke. This obviously wouldn't work, and could only cause further problems.
After a couple of hours pondering the problem from a number of alternatives, he saw a possible solution. There was an opening from inside the coach down to the engine compartment in the rear. If he could find a rope long enough, he could tie it to the throttle, run it along the inside of the motor coach, and control it from the front. A small gas station store down the road a couple of miles had a clothesline that was long enough. Making it work, though, would require teamwork. David's hands were occupied with steering and shifting gears on the coach. His traveling companion, Susan, would have to control the speed by alternately pulling and releasing the clothesline.
There were issues other than technical ones that came into play as well. David, considerably stressed by the thought of what lay ahead, also had to reassure Susan—who had doubts about her ability to carry out what she was being asked to do. At first, they were out of sync, with Susan pulling on the clothesline when David was trying to slow down or vice versa. After an hour or so, she was able to synchronize her role with David's shifting and the terrain of the highway. Exhaust fumes from the engine coming through the opening in the floor concerned Susan a great deal. Having made it through the mountain pass, with only 20 more miles of relatively flat road to go before Anchorage, she decided that the fumes were too much of a health hazard and she would be better off hitchhiking. Tired from the ordeal, David calmly listened to her concerns and tried to reassure her that with the windows open there was no danger of them suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning. After a long talk, she reluctantly agreed to get back into the bus and they made it to Anchorage. As they parted in Anchorage, David let Susan know how much he appreciated her determination, courage, and resilience. Without her, he would not have been able to make it.
David's manager, upon hearing about the trip back, was very impressed. For the rest of the season, David was rewarded by being given lucrative tours that had usually been awarded to senior drivers, not rookies like him. The story of David's trip was told to every new training class for years afterward.
Anticipating the possibility of road failures, David formed strategic relationships with people in many different states who could help him. He saw building these relationships and maintaining them as a vital part of his job and the business in which he worked. On many occasions, they paid off in that he was able to get help out to a stranded vehicle at all hours, after repair facilities were closed and it was hard to get help. It was a reciprocal relationship. The same people David could count on coming through for him knew they could also count on him to do whatever he could for them, should they require his assistance if they ran into a problem in his area. “Getting people to want to help you is not rocket science,” David explains. “Think about the people in your life that you helped and wanted to help. Do you like those people? Have you helped people you don't like, unless it's a relative or someone you really have to help? Really, all it amounts to is that to get people to want to help you, the first thing to do is get them to like you,” David expounded. Although his theory sounds simple, most basic truths are.
“A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.”
—AUTHOR HERM ALBRIGHT (1876–1944)
Techniques for Problem Solving
- Think of as many solutions as you can to every problem you encounter. Get feedback from others with different viewpoints or perspectives to get a broader range from which to choose a solution.
- Ask others for ideas and solutions.
- Practice anticipating and solving problems before they arise. For example, what are some problems that could arise in everyday life? For example, your car could break down on the way to work. Think of what you would do if that happened. How many different solutions can you come up with? What is the best one? The one you would likely choose? Having done this exercise, what could you do now to make you better prepared in the event that it happened? I have done this exercise and have a list of phone numbers in my wallet—in the order that I would call. This actually came to be as my car did end up breaking down on the way to work several months ago. Having worked through this scenario and being prepared made the actual experience much less stressful for me.
- Every day, come up with a number of solutions to an imaginary problem. For example, your regular route to work is closed; your boss suddenly quits and leaves you all his work; or you spill something on your pants on the way to an important speech you have to make.
- Play games with your children, spouse, or coworkers where you come up with a problem and try to identify as many different solutions as possible.
- Always think of problems as having more than one solution. The more tools we have at our disposal, the better problem solvers we will become. Think in terms of better answers instead of right or wrong. The more solutions we have, the better our chances to pick a good solution. This works up to a point. Too many choices on the other hand can overwhelm and confuse us.
- Take your ego out of the problem. If someone has a better solution than you do, use it. Successful people have an array of tools with which to solve problems, theirs as well as those they borrow from others. They have learned to put their egos aside and use whatever information and ideas that work best. The mark of great leaders, such as John F. Kennedy, is that they are known for being able to admit when they are wrong.
- Get away from needing to be right. Instead, focus on becoming successful. Bill Gates, who is one of the world's wealthiest men, is willing to admit when he is wrong. Initially, he did not see the potential of the Internet. When he began to see that he had been mistaken, he immediately turned his belief system around and started to invest heavily in the Internet.
- Reward yourself whenever you come up with a great solution to a problem. It will give you added incentive for coming up with one for the next problem you face.