January 9th, 2009

Creative Problem Solving

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This entry was posted on Friday, January 9th, 2009 at 8:13 am and is filed under Clarity, Leadership, Process.
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5 Comments on to “Creative Problem Solving”

  • Doug Kyle says:
    January 9, 2009 at 11:50 am

    Good stuff. I know the tendency to jump into solutions too quickly. From your example of Faithbridge, sounds like you weren’t so much defining the problem as brainstorming solutions and then addressing any new problems that might arise if that solution was adopted. Is that what you mean?
    Best line for me: It is in the process of determining the precise way of stating the problem that genius arises.
    Thanks, Doug
    Lead Pastor in San Diego
    (also following you on twitter)

  • Joe Ely says:
    January 10, 2009 at 10:30 am

    Good post, Will.
    In the world of Lean Manufacturing, we work hard to drill this focus on understanding the problem before getting to a plan of action. It’s just as tough there as in the church.
    One of the simplest and best tools we use is called “5 Why”…you simply state the undesired issue (“we have more worshipers than we can handle”) and then ask “Why are there more worshipers than we can handle” and answer “Because these folks all showed up at 9 or 11.” Why did they all show up at 9 or 11?” We might now know…may need to ask. But it might be “because that’s the most convienet time to show up on Sunday morning”
    Anyway, you force yourself to ask ever-deeper questions. You can branch into other tracks. Eventually, you get to some root cause that you can then address.
    In any event, it simply helps define the problem.
    And I’ll say it takes a strong leader to NOT launch directly into the solution before understanding the problem.
    And my problem is talking too much!!
    Thanks, Will.

  • Mark Howell says:
    January 10, 2009 at 6:47 pm

    Just read Jack’s Notebook by Gregg Fraley, http://www.strategycentral.org/2008/12/jacks-notebook.html. Fraley talks about CPS and I have to say it looks pretty promising. Thanks for illustrating your process at Faithbridge!
    mark

  • Davis Staedtler says:
    January 15, 2009 at 6:25 pm

    One of my favorite best practices for CPS is to keep the goal at coming up with more ideas, not solving right away. No evaluating or critiquing of any mentioned ideas is allowed, and questions are unnecessary until we agree to narrow down.

  • 5 Things You Must Do if You’re a Frustrated Church Planter – Will Mancini says:
    March 18, 2011 at 5:09 pm

    [...] the table who bring an objective, outside perspective.  Look at your challenges differently. Do a creative problem solving session.  You want to get on the solution side of some of your challenges with fresh ideas to stop [...]

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