How to 'How to' #1
28 October 2009
In my last post, I introduced ‘How to’, a powerful technique for defining a problem and moving forward from it.
Here's how I operate the technique with a problem-solving group.
‘How to’ works best in two steps.
· Step one. Generate lots of ‘How to’ statements.
· Step two. Ask the problem owner to choose one.
Sometimes, it’s difficult for the problem owner to think of different ‘How to’ statements. This is where the rest of the group can help. If the problem owner remains stuck, ask:
Can we state the problem in another way?
Is there another way of saying this?
Do any other ‘How to’s suggest themselves?
Before long, the flipchart will be covered in ‘How to’ statements: new ways of defining or looking at the problem. We are opening up our thinking about the problem.
Choosing a single ‘How to’ statement helps the problem owner to focus their thinking again. They must decide what it is that they want to achieve. The ‘How to’ statement that they choose must make sense to them logically and emotionally. It must be within their sphere of authority and competence. It must be an objective that they feel they can commit to.
The aim of the ‘How to’ technique is to increase the problem owner’s sense of responsibility for tackling the problem.
Here’s an example from a training session for team leaders. One of the group’s most persistent and frustrating problems was the failure of their briefings. Typical comments were: “They just won’t listen”; “they’re not interested”; “they bother me with dozens of questions afterwards, even though the brief answered them all”.
Our first ‘How to’ was: “How to make team briefings more effective”.
This rapidly expanded to include:
How to make my team listen
How to present the brief more interestingly
How to make team briefings more interesting
How to stop people asking stupid questions at the end of the brief
How to handle team member’s concerns more effectively
How to change the format of the brief
How to talk with my team rather than at them
How to turn the briefing into a more meaningful meeting
How to involve the team more
In all, we generated over seventy new statements. The result was a rich set of ideas for transforming team briefings into more interactive and productive meetings.
There's more to say about this powerful technique. Watch this space.
You can find out more in my book, How to Solve Almost Any Problem.