Option Solving Blog

Recently I was with an Option Solving group that was helping other participants resolve key dilemmas. Oneparticipant brought up a tough issue that was testing him and his business colleagues: Should they become a dealer for an overseas suppler that might have some impact on their current business activities? The other participants clearly saw it as a hot topic so decided to pursue it.

Having already been introduced to option solving through a typical example, they knew their first step was to produce a comprehensive question, which started with: ‘What is our best approach toward deciding on becoming an X-country dealer, considering…” Following which they came up with six particularly important considerations out of a total list of twelve – two of which were, “Potential quality issues” and “Not tested in the US market place” –see our Latest Example for the others. (NOTE: It is always advisable to cut any list of considerations by 50%, notwithstanding uneven numbers, so as to make the question as straight forward as possible.)

The participants had been split into two sub-groups of four in each, to maximize participation and create some comparative thinking. So, having put their overall question in place, the two sub-groups were requested to produce two yin and yang “bookends,” so as to form an option framework and to flush out unlikely extremes. After some group discussion, they came to a consensus on two, “Don’t work with X-country at all” – see our latestexample. The other was, “Become an exclusive dealer.” Their example indicates why these were both out of the question.

Such bookends quickly provoked each sub-group to start discussing more reasonable alternatives. You will notice that they came up with six tenable options: one of which was, “Sell only to cost sensitive clients” – Option D. Between them they were challenged to come up with at least five options, so as to stretch their thinking as much as possible – see latest example.

With their option solving picture now in place, they knew it was time for some emotional distancing  to permit space for their intuitive minds to chew over the complete picture. So we closed off the LCD projector for about ten to fifteen minutes and spent more time talking through the option solving process and why it is so powerful. Meantime, their intuitive minds were working overtime to subconsciously think through the thousands of similar experiences they had come across during the course of their lives.

After about fifteen minutes, the projector was fired up once more to display the option solving picture  and allow participants  to quickly scan it again to refresh their thinking. Each participant then made a confidential choice and wrote it on a small “post-it” and handed it over to me with no discussion, at this point.

In fact they came up with two choices, although one had more votes than the other. We then discussed whether they wanted to “Peel the Onion” or figure out “Next Steps,” while all related factors were hot on their minds. They chose to “Peel the Onion,” so we will explore this in our next blog in two weeks time.

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: “Peel the Onion: Do we allow ourselves to become a dealer for an overseas supplier?” Let’s have your COMMENTS or go to peter@ileadershipsolutions.com to connect with the blogger.)

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Not so long ago I spent some time with a college department chair to demonstrate the power of Option Solving. Jerry quickly presented his most immediate dilemma which was the need to secure accreditation for a new animal technician course. His college had recently merged the animal technician course of a two year community college into their own program, but needed accreditation to continue running it as a two year program. The college had overlooked the accreditation agency, which had put his group on 60 day notice to complete the process. Accreditations usually take up to two years to prepare for.

Using this as our practical example, we set to work with phrasing Jerry’s  option solving question, which started out as: ‘What is my best option right now to secure emergency, ongoing accreditation, considering…” Then we listed seven different considerations to provide the right context, of which he chose four – two of which were, “Overcome a political SNAFU with the accreditation board” and “Challenge staff to meet a critical deadline” –see our Latest Example for the rest. It is advisable to cut any list of considerations by 50%, notwithstanding uneven numbers, so as not to make the question too complex and unwieldy.

Now that Jerry had put his overall question in place, he was encouraged to come up with two yin and yang “bookends,” so as to form an option framework and to flush out unlikely extremes. From this, one of them was, “Don’t pursue accreditation” – see latestexample. The other was, “Pull off accreditation within 30 days.” Our example indicates why these were untenable.

 Bookends like these also tweaked Jerry’s intuition to find more appropriate options. You can see his picture of five possible options: one of which was, “Approach State Board to assist with accreditation issue” – Option E. He produced at least five, in order to stretch his creative thinking as much as possible – see latest example.

It was now time to invoke emotional distancing, so as to allow time for Jerry’s intuitive mind to chew over his full question and option picturebefore choosing. So we turned it over and talked for about ten to fifteen minutes about several other issues we were both contemplating: none of them related to the topic at hand. We knew full well that his intuitive mind would be rapidly working through his alternatives, relative to thousands of other experiences he had dealt with, during this interim period

 When the time came, we turned over the picture and Jerry quickly scanned it again to refresh his thinking. Without hesitation, he made his choice. At this point, I challenged him to come up with Next Steps, while his thinking was still absorbed with the subject at hand. These next steps would help him push forward once we had gone our separate ways. The last I heard, everything was on track and Jerry was very happy with his choice. Option Solving does that for you.

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: “Do we allow ourselves to become a dealer for an overseas supplier?” Let’s have your COMMENTS or go to peter@ileadershipsolutions.com to connect with the blogger.)

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The two business partners agreed to share their preferred option with Jenny and then get together with her before the end of the week to figure out a “Peel the Onion” solution.  They wanted her to organize regular social sessions so that their executive team would become much closer and Jenny would be drawn into the team that much more. She would be the organizer of whatever was decided.

When they got together, Jenny was already on-board and was eager to participate in the session led by the partners. They put their question together –see the Latest Example – and added in the key considerations. There were four again, one of which was: “Respect people’s personal life.”

Once their question was in place, they dug up two yin and yang “bookends” again: one of which was “Once every three months” – see latestexample. It shows why they were likely to reject it. Again, these bookends aided the priming of their intuitions to find more plausible options.

You can view their picture of five plausible options: one of which was, “Monthly wine and cheese with guest speaker” – Option A. They produced at least five options, in order to stretch their thinking as much as possible. At this point, they felt the wisest thing was to have a meeting of all members of the key team, including the partners, to share this option solving picture; allow some discussion, adjustments or additions; and then give everyone a confidential vote. This way there would be maximum buy-in.

When that moment came, they would incorporate emotional distancing before voting and then work out Next Steps. We can say that this happened, they made their choice, and so far the team is building very nicely. Jenny was also feeling that much more like an insider and was building a strong desire to stay.

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: “Securing emergency accreditation?” Let’s have your COMMENTS or go to peter@ileadershipsolutions.com to connect with the blogger.)

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At recent meeting of two business partners, I found myself talking with them about one of their daughters who was working in their company as marketing director. She had left a career in the police force a year or so back and joined the company as part of the next generation leadership and to fix some of their sales and marketing issues. She had done an excellent job so far but was having a difficult time settling down, partly because it was a challenging transition into the commercial world and partly because she was having a difficult time accepting the team of key colleagues she found herself part of. (NOTE: This is not unusual for people leaving the police, fire service or military.) The partners didn’t want to lose her, if at all possible.

Having participated in prior option solving sessions, we readily developed an appropriate question. This commenced with What, since what would challenge the partners to switch to their creative intuitive minds, which are so much more powerful than their rational minds. Our question also included picking four considerations out of seven. (NOTE: It could have been three, at around the 50% mark, but they called on four instead.) Their Latest Example Option Solving Picture shows the four chosen: two of which were, “Her frustration with colleagues” and “She’s a strong willed personality.”

Their question then provoked two yin and yang “bookends,” designed to create a clear option solving framework: as well as get their creative intuitive juices fired-up. You will notice them in our Latest Example as, “Let her leave” and “Let her push out the colleagues she doesn’t respect.” These were both clear options, but their example will show why they were very unlikely. Rejection of these bookends aided the priming of their intuitions to find more realistic options.

Now their example shows that they created a picture of five realistic options: two of which were, “Bring more into the inner circle” – Option B, and “Suggest she starts a series of Ned, Bernie and Key Team social gatherings” – Option D. It is normal to produce at least five options, in order to stretch all participants’ creative juices. By doing so, it enabled the partners to feel they had exhausted all appropriate possibilities.

At this point, we resorted to emotional distancing by turning over their option solving picture to allow time for their intuitive minds to review the depths of their past experiences for parallel options and successes. We allowed for a 15 minute break to find the bathrooms and chat about other issues. Then we returned to their uncovered option solving picture, where they were asked to take a snapshot review and pick one of the five realistic options. The term picture is intentionally used, as our intuitive minds prefer to absorb pictures more than words.

Once they made their choice, I invited them to either consider Next Steps or continue with a Peel the Onion exercise (where they would take their chosen option and redo the complete option solving exercise again to find a set of sub-options to choose from). Since they chose the latter, we will deal with that “Peeling the Onion” exercise in the next blog.

It is preferable to “Peel the Onion” while participants are still focused on the particular issue at hand: or at least do it shortly thereafter. Once this done then participants can consider going back to Next Steps.  

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: “Peeling the Onion with: Retaining a key family member in the business?” Let’s have your COMMENTS or go to peter@ileadershipsolutions.com to connect with the blogger.)

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About two weeks ago, I was in the busy office of a faculty department head, who was in the good position of finding a tremendous uptick in student enrollment for his foundation IT courses. However, he was about to go on out of the country on vacation for a week, was not permitted to hire fresh full-time faculty for budgetary reasons, and had limited space to add more classes. Again, budgetary constraints would make class space a challenge, too.  He was almost fit to be tied, so I offered to reintroduce him to option solving and at the same time encourage him to feel fortunate about having a student increase rather than decrease. This point created a wizened smile at the get go.

We quickly started developing a suitable question –starting with What– which included picking four considerations: out of a total of eight. See our Latest Example Option Solving Picture to note the four picked: one of which was “Maintain academic standards.”

His question then kindled two yin and yang “bookends,” so as to create an option solving framework: in addition to getting his creative intuitive juices churning. You will see they came out as, “Walk away from the issue” and “Hire a F/T faculty member come hell or high water.” Both were clearly options, but our example will indicate why they were unacceptable. The rejection of these helped to prime his intuition for more plausible options.

You will see in our example that he built up a picture of five plausible options: one of which was “Get resumes for more new adjuncts” – Option C. We normally aim for at least five, so as to stretch participants’ creative capabilities. It was a challenge for him to develop five, but it made him feel he had explored all reasonable possibilities.

At that moment, I reintroduced emotional distancing by covering up his option solving picture to allow gestation time for his intuitive mind to subconsciously explore the depths of his hidden experiences for similar options and successes. We did this by taking a 10 minute break to talk about his forthcoming vacation, which was very much at the forefront of his mind; especially as he would be joining up with his son’s family abroad.. After that, we returned to his turned-over option solving picture and he was invited to quickly review it and pick one of the five plausible options. We purposely use the term picture, since our intuitive mind is much better at absorbing pictures than words.

Once his speedy choice was made, I invited him to either consider Next Steps or continue with a Peel the Onion exercise (where he would take his chosen option and redo the whole option solving exercise again to find a subset of meaningful action options). Owing to a shortage of time, he chose next steps. These are left in the picture for you to see. It is important for next steps to be extracted then and there, while a participant’s mind is focused on the issue. Such activity takes advantage of the freshness of issues in one’s mind, plus the intuitive mind being primed to come up with the best steps. This encourages immediate action and momentum.  

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: “Retaining a key family member in the business.” Let’s have your COMMENTS or go to peter@ileadershipsolutions.com to connect with the blogger.)

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I was involved with a group of department leaders not so long ago and they raised what seemed to be a common and perplexing issue to all of them: dealing with a disruptive team member who undermines team spirit. None of the department leaders could easily move any such person out, owing to the nature of their organization, so finding other options became important to them.

Interestingly enough, their inclination was to take a punitive stance toward a recalcitrant person: although after some discussion, it was seen as better to challenge the individual concerned with an opportunity rather than discipline him/her. Disciplining people seems to be our traditional instinct where, more often than not, that will make matters worse rather than better. It is far better to offer people opportunities to win their cooperation rather than try to knock them down a notch.

With this thinking in mind, we developed a suitable question –starting with What, since that connects us with our intuitive mind for an opinion – which included three considerations: out of a total of six. We took the most crucial 50% of our consideration listing: see our Latest Example. Note: Finding the right question is key to obtaining an optimal option solving outcome.

This question then prompted two yin and yang “bookends,” which created a framework as well as got the group’s creative intuitive minds churning. These turned out as, “Make him a group leader” and “Don’t bother to try.” Although both were options, you will see in our Latest Example why these were unacceptable off the bat.

Challenged by these two bookends, fresh ideas/options started to flow. You will see in our example that the group ended up with seven plausible options: one of which was “Role to promote the group externally” – Option B. We normally aim for at least five, so as to stretch our creative capabilities, but in this case the energy developed in the room of eight people was such that it increased this number to seven. So far so good.

Now I introduced emotional distancing by covering up the option solving picture to allow some time to pass for the group’s intuitive minds to subconsciously consider the seven, while we talked about other issues. We did take a break and talk about other matters for about 15 minutes. At that point, the picture was uncovered and participants were requested to absorb it quickly, without due analysis, and then intuitively and confidentially make their choice from A-G.

Although there were some outliers, the group did make an overall choice and seemed pretty satisfied with the outcome, because it had considered all its options…doing that gave it peace of mind. The group then opted to consider Next Steps rather than continue with a Peel the Onion exercise. Once those next steps were fleshed out the group members seemed pretty much ready to go: with a look of relief across people’s faces as they sought to handle an issue that had been bothering them for ages.  

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: “Dealing with a sudden surge in course members.” Let’s have your COMMENTS or go to peter@ileadershipsolutions.com to connect with the blogger.)

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About a month ago two European visitors joined me in New York because they were interested in learning more about option solving. As part of their discovery exercise, I encouraged them to bring a real live issue with them for use as a practical example. So we will now use their “name modified” practical example as the next case for you to look at.

At the right moment, they put forward the issue: A client of theirs was faced with going along with “another country’s owners’ organizational requirements or quit?” Apparently, their client was a well known leader who commanded a lot of respect due to his apparent success, but was now faced with doing the owners’ bidding or feeling that he would have to quit to maintain his reputation. This was because “the other country” is not known for deferring to local country traditions owing to its rather xenophobic view of its own success.

In any event, we established an option solving question for this CEO, which went something like this: “What is my best option for handling the other country owners in how this company is led, considering that…” We then went on to add three primary considerations: “they might fire me, the subsidiary could be destroyed, and it could destroy my spirit.”

Having arrived at this point, it opened the way to produce two yin and yang “bookends,” which are depicted as “Professional suicide” and “Total turncoat.” You will see we took the step of indicating clear draw backs to both for this CEO and therefore why it is highly unlikely he would choose either. The advantage of this step, however, was that it would challenge my guests’ minds to come up with more plausible options.

 By going to the Latest Example, you will see they came up with seven different options, two of which were: “Present the company story to the Board, plus the business case to leave things as they are” and “Demote self to a prior position.” You will see their other five options in our Latest Example. We then took some time away from this picture for emotional distancing, which created a lively conversation about some of the theory behind option solving. After about ten minutes, they came back to the option solving picture, quickly absorbed it again and then made a choice on behalf of their CEO client.

Once this was made, they were now given the option to either Peel the Onion of this choice or discuss Next Steps. They opted for the latter and mapped out those potential steps. This is important to do, while the choice is hot in their minds, because it gives them the best chance of figuring out the most appropriate steps while their mind is primed.

My guests left satisfied because they had explored all the speculated options and felt they had made the right choice on the CEO’s behalf. They would now pursue matters with him when they returned home.

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: “Figuring out how to attract more participants to a meeting.”  Let’s have your COMMENTS or go to peter@ileadershipsolutions.com to connect with the blogger.)

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