Improving the Education Situation in our State: by use of Option Solving!

Posted on June 17, 2011 by Peter Arthur-Smith

A little while ago I was working with a small group of executives to enable them to understand the technique and benefits of Option Solving. We solved one issue and then they wanted to try it on a topic that was bugging them immensely, the health of their State education system. And, of course, option solving is a technique for that issue, too.

In their case, they were already primed to produce an appropriate question, so they quickly set about building the best one as follows: “What is our best option to improve the education situation in our State, considering certain industries are in control and don’t appreciate education, the anti-tax mentality, and teachers’ unions preserving the status quo?” Note their three considerations which were fifty percent of the list they originally produced.

So now, to properly frame their possibilities, they had to come up with “Ying and Yang” bookends. These were, as you can see in the latest example: “Who cares- leave as is” and “Have 100% private schools.” Clearly these were options, but the least likely ones based on their scenario.

Once their question and “bookends” were in place, they created a nice framework for their intuitions to start building some promising options. They came up with seven and you will see three of them. Again, it isn’t appropriate to show you all their options, to discourage you from second guessing them or pursuing similar options, which might not prove helpful because your State’s situation might be different.

Please refer to the Latest Example to view the overall picture of this dilemma and its potential solution. If you have any example of your own, please share it with the blogger through the COMMENTS icon.
Thanks Option Solving. (NOTE: Next posting in 2 weeks: “Using Option Solving to decide on ‘Providing high value to my special client?’” We will appreciate your COMMENTS or go to peter @ileadershipsolutions.com to connect with the blogger.)

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Dealing with Inevitable Tensions between Sales and Manufacturing: by use of Option Solving!

Posted on June 3, 2011 by Peter Arthur-Smith

Not so long ago I was working with a group of executives to share the benefits of Option Solving. We agreed to find a common topic to use as a practical example, which is where the issue of the inevitable tensions between sales and manufacturing came up.

With a healthy amount of discussion we arrived at an appropriate question: “What
is our best option for dealing with the inevitable tensions between sales and
manufacturing , considering differences in product understanding, working
with different goals, and insufficient understanding of each other?” (Note: The
three considerations that were incorporated into the question. Initially there were
more than three, but we honed them down to the most important ones.)

Once the question was ready, we sought to develop “bookends” (see the Latest
Example). You can see these are extreme options that participants used to frame the
exercise, so that they would nudge their intuitive minds into high creative gear.
Now they were in the best position, along with their question, to eke out the best
range of options. Among the seven they created, were “Involve operations in the
sales development process,” “Complete/Insure common objectives,” “Swap
roles ” and “Manufacturing report to sales.”

Once their choices were in place, we took a 10 minute natural break for some
emotional distancing and then invited independent polling among all the
participants. The group made their choice and then seemed comfortable with the
outcome. The exercise brought sudden clarity to their perspective and they were ready to move ahead. We immediately defined the steps they would take at the outset, while the momentum was there. This only added to their satisfaction with the result.

Please refer to the Latest Example to view the overall picture of this dilemma and its
potential solution. If you have an example of your own, please share it with this
blogger, through the COMMENTS area.
Thanks Option Solving. (NOTE: Next posting in 2 weeks: “Using Option Solving to decide on ‘Handling the education situation in our State?’” We will appreciate your COMMENTS or go to peter @ileadershipsolutions.com to connect with the blogger.)

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  • Six Principles of Option Solving

    1. Ask the right contextual question and frame the possibilities through bookends
    2. Be imaginitive and think "Out of the Box"
    3. Avoid asking "how, why, when or where" until the best option is identified
    4. Avoid excluding any option until all options have emerged
    5. Allow participants to support a less than conclusiv option
    6. Accept hunches or gut feelings