If You Can’t Solve a Problem, Make It Bigger

Some problems defy resolution.

They are either too complex, too full of negative history, or too big to address easily.

The size and scope of some problems make finding a workable solution nearly impossible. That’s where systems thinking comes to the rescue.

Systems thinking views problems and their components as a whole rather than just a collection of its parts.

This brand of holistic thinking emphasizes the relationships and interactions between factors or components and how they influence each other over time.

When leaders consider the whole system, rather than the smaller sum of the problem parts, they can often find an insight into a root cause. Changing this element or a factor connected to this cause changes everything else.

Take, for example, a dispute between two roommates who fight over doing the dishes. They create washing schedules, confront each other over dirty dishes in the sink, buy a dishwasher, and put money in a pot for each dish washed, all to no avail. The dishes still stack up, and the conflict repeats itself.

Applying systems thinking to this problem suggests examining each feature, element, and factor and the relationships between them. At the end of this analysis is the realization that washing the dishes, not the dishes or the remedies, is at the root of the issue.

From this perspective, the answer lies in eliminating the need to wash the dishes. Using paper plates is a solution that remains hidden to anything other than systems thinking.

The premise in systems thinking to solve problems is this: Changes in any part of the interconnected system can lead to changes in other parts, often in unexpected ways.

After viewing the problem as a system, the question is: What elements, if changed, change everything else?

In problems inside teams and organizations, root cause elements often include reporting relationships, desired outcomes, metrics to measure goals, rewards, processes, expectations, timelines, and technologies, among many others.

When leaders completely rethink and change one element in the system, it typically has an effect on all the other elements.

But the change can’t be small or incremental. It can’t bend the frame. Rather, it must break the framework together. Similar to the dishes and paper plates.

While systems thinking isn’t the answer to every complex problem, it can often spur the creative insights needed to free everyone involved from the deeply held assumptions they currently depend upon to make sense of the issue.

Creative and innovative ideas and insights are a by-product of sound systems thinking.

So, the next time you confront a problem no one can seem to solve, consider making the problem bigger by incorporating systems thinking. With a little ingenuity, you might find a solution that surprises everyone.