“Never try to solve all the problems at once — make them line up for you one-by-one.” — Richard Sloma

How well can you solve your problems?  Solving problems is one of the most fundamental skills in life, and it’s something we get to practice every day.

I learned early on that wishing away problems didn’t work and that it was more effective to embrace challenges as a part of life, as a chance to grow and expand myself.  One of my favorite sayings is, “Whatever doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger.”

Unfortunately, we don’t always get taught the best ways to solve our problems.  Some of the less effective ways include anger, blame, avoidance, curling up into a little ball, etc.  The good news is, you can improve your problem solving skills by using problem solving techniques.

One of the most effective problem solving techniques to add to your problem solving skills cache is the Osborne-Parnes Creative Problem Solving Process, or CPS for short.  It’s strength lies in casting a wide net over the problem, and testing multiple paths and possibilities before locking in on a particular solution.

In the book, Creatively Ever After: A Path to Innovation , Alicia Arnold writes about how you can use the Creative Problem Solving Process to tackle your challenges in work and in life.  It’s about getting science and structure on your side, while unleashing your creative powers to solve the tough stuff.

The Creative Problem Solving Process
According to Alicia, you can think of the Creative Problem Solving Process in six main steps:

• Step 1. Identify the Goal, Wish, or Challenge.
• Step 2. Gather Data.
• Step 3. Clarify the Problem.
• Step 4. Generate Ideas.
• Step 5. Develop Solutions.
• Step 6. Plan for Action.

While the process may look simple and obvious, the key is to compare it to your current approach:

• Do you know your goal?  (Can you state it in one line?)
• Have you gathered any data and sorted facts, opinions, and fiction?
• Do you have true clarity of the problem you are solving?  (Can you state the problem as a simple question, such as, “How to ….”?)
• Do you generate multiple ideas or just run with the first thing that pops in your head?  Do you look across the ways other people have solved this problem before, and find the patterns?
• Do sketch out solutions and possibilities and test for fit or do you dive into the details?
• Do you turn your ideas and solutions into actionable steps?  Do you break the steps down into mini-goals that you can test and get feedback?

While a lot of problems can be solved by jumping to conclusions and drawing from experience, many of the problems we face cannot.  Whether you’re solving a health problem or changing the game at work, a process like the Creative Problem Solving Process can help you tap into your creative potential.  Better yet, with a process like the Creative Problem Solving Process, you can harness and leverage the collective brain power of multiple people in a coordinated way.

My Related Posts

• Solving Problems with Skill
• 4 Types of Problems
• What’s the Challenge?

Photo by Alaskan Dude.

One of the best ways to solve a problem is to first frame it.  You can start to frame it, by first restating it in the form of a challenge.

Here are some problems:

1. I’m having a bad day.
2. I can’t get the support I need for the project.
3. I don’t know where to start.

Now, here are some challenges:

1. How can I have a good day?
2. How can I get better sponsorship for the project?
3. What’s the simplest thing I can start with?

Same problems, new frame … new perspective.  Once you start asking your brain better questions, your brain kicks it into high gear and starts to problem solve.  If you find yourself looping on the same question, then either change the question, or change your approach.  For example, try asking yourself “How” questions instead of “Why” questions (“Why” questions can lock you in a loop or justify the problem your stuck in.)

Whenever you find yourself mired in problems, remember this one-liner reminder:

What’s the challenge, frame the challenge, find the solution.

And always tickle your sticking points with the famous words of Voltaire, “No problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking.”

Photo by Shandi-lee.

The beauty of the Web is that we can share solutions on a page.

A friend of mine once challenged me with the question, “If you covered that topic, how many pages would it be? … 20 pages? … 30 pages?”

In one fell swoop,  he taught me to think of knowledge in terms of pages.

It was a swift, radical shift from collections of information to collections of pages.  A page really is a wonderful frame to hang a solution on.  If you’ve ever come across a well packaged, single solution on a single page, you know exactly what I mean.

When somebody tells me they want to blog, but don’t know what to write about, I suggest they solve a problem on a page.  If they do that multiple times, they can have a powerful blog.  Talk about divide and conquering a problem.

What problems can you solve on a page?

Photo by koalazymonkey.

Are you asking the right questions? Inspiring minds want to know. The right question can be just the right prompt to inspire you to action, gain better perspective, or help you make the most of any situation.

Here is a set of 101 of my favorite questions that I draw from whether it’s to shape my day, solve a problem, figure out next steps, or get “on path.”

1. What’s the way forward?
2. What do you want your life to be about?
3. Who do you want to be and what experiences do you want to create?
4. How does that serve you in terms of who you are and who you want to be?
5. Are you giving your best where you have your best to give?
6. What do you want to accomplish?
7. What do you want to do more of each day? … What do you want to spend your time doing more of?
8. What do you want to spend less time on?
9. If this situation were to never change, what’s the one quality I need to truly enjoy it?
10. If not now, when?
11. If not you, who?
12. What’s right with this picture? (if you always ask, “What’s wrong with this picture?”, this is a nice switch)
13. How can you make the most of the situation? … If there are no good options, what’s the best play I can make for this scenario?
14. Who else shares this problem? … Who would solve this problem well? (a great way to find models and learn from the best)
15. What would <famous or interesting person XYZ> do?” … How would I respond if I were Bob Hope? … Leonardo da Vinci? … Guy Kawasaki? … Seth Godin? … etc. (this is a great way to come up with new ideas or plays for your situation)
16. What are you pointing your camera at? (a simple way to direct your day on a scene by scene basis)
17. What’s good enough for now?
18. What can you be the best at in the world?
19. What’s the most effective thing for me to focus on?
20. Are you asking the right question? … Is that the right question?
21. How is that relevant?
22. What’s that based on?
23. What’s the goal? … What are the goals?
24. What would success look like?
25. What do you need to be successful? … What do you need to be successful in this situation?
26. Is it working? … Is it effective?
27. What do you measure? … What are the metrics?
28. What are the tests for success?
29. How do you know it’s working?
30. How do you know when you’re done?
31. What did you expect?
32. Are you creating the results you want?
33. Does it matter?
34. Will it matter in 100 years?
35. Is it worth the effort?
36. What actions have I taken? … What steps have I tried? ( a great sanity check when you’re testing your ability to take action)
37. What’s next?
38. What do you want to do?
39. What’s best for you?
40. What’s the best thing for now?
41. What’s your next best thing to do?
42. Is that a good idea?
43. So what? Now what?
44. What’s the problem?
45. What’s the threat?
46. What’s the concern?
47. When do you want it by? … You want what by when?
48. Who needs to do what when?
49. Who needs to do what differently?
50. Who should do what when?
51. What would you have them do differently?
52. What’s wearing you down?
53. What’s lifting you up?
54. Why do you get up in the morning and come to work?
55. What do you want to experience? … What do you want to experience more of?
56. What are you trading? … What are you trading up for?
57. What did you learn that you can use next time?
58. What would you do differently next time around?
59. Where’s the growth?
60. What would people pay you for?
61. Do you want to run towards or away from the problem?
62. How big is the pie, how big is your slice?
63. Does it make business sense?
64. Is it business critical?
65. What’s our capacity?
66. What’s our constraint?
67. What are the KPIs (Key Performance Indicators)?
68. What’s our core business?
69. What does the market want?
70. Is it push, pull or indifferent?
71. What’s the trend?
72. What to cut back on?
73. What does the pro know that you don’t? (this is a good way to figure out if knowledge or insight can make a difference)
74. Now what are you going to do about it?
75. Can you teach it to someone else?
76. How can I use this?
77. What do you want to say?
78. What’s the right thing to do?
79. Is now the right time?
80. Is this the right forum?
81. How much time do you have?
82. What are you making time for?
83. How much time should you make for it?
84. What can you do all day long?
85. What are you spending the bulk of your time on?
86. Does your schedule reflect your priorities?
87. If you had all the time in the world, how would you spend your time?
88. If you had all the money in the world, how would you spend it?
89. Where are we on the map?
90. What would make life more wonderful for you?
91. How can you chunk it down?
92. How fast can you do it?
93. What’s the impact?
94. What would you like to have happen? … What would you like instead?
95. What’s the opposite of that?
96. How might that be true?
97. What are you seeing that I’m not?
98. What did you see, what did you hear?
99. What’s the writing on the wall?
100. What’s their story?
101. Who’s stopping you? … What’s stopping you? … What’s holding you back?

What questions drive you? … Share your favorite question in the comments.

My Related Articles

• How To Figure Out What You Really Want
• Inspirational Quotes
• Who Are You and What Do You Want?

Photo by Search Engine People Blog.

“Stay committed to your decisions, but stay flexible in your approach.” – Tony Robbins

You can make more effective decisions when you know what the key elements are.  When you make important decisions, there are a few key factors to keep in mind.

For example, you should rationalize and understand the problem itself.  You need to know the problem you’re solving.  You should also set boundary conditions for the solution.  Success is often a spectrum so you should set boundaries so that you don’t limit yourself to something that’s impractical or something that’s impossible.

Your decisions should be action-oriented.  If you can’t act on your decisions, then it’s a waste of time.  You should also be able to respond to feedback once you implement your decision.  What looks good on paper or sounds good, may not work when you actually test it.

In The Essential Drucker: The Best of Sixty Years of Peter Drucker’s Essential Writings on Management (Collins Business Essentials) , Peter Drucker outlines 5 elements of an effective decision making process.

5 Elements of an Effective Decision Making Process
According to Drucker these are the 5 elements of an effective decision making process:

• Element 1. Problem rationalization.
• Element 2. Boundary conditions.
• Element 3. The right thing to do.
• Element 4. Action.
• Element 5. Feedback.

Here’s a quick explanation of the 5 elements of effective decision making:

• Element 1.  Problem rationalization.  The clear rationalization that the problem was generic and could only be solved through a decision that establishes a rule or a principle.  Know the problem your solving.  See Opinions Over Facts for Effective Decision Making,  4 Types of Problems, and What is Relevant Decision Making Criteria.
• Element 2. Boundary conditions.  The definition of the specifications that the answer to the problem has to satisfy, that is, of the “boundary conditions.”  Know your range of options that will still count as success.  See Boundary Conditions for Effective Decisions and
• Element 3. The Right Thing to Do.  Before you decide what’s feasible, first figure out what the right thing to do is.  See First Figure Out What the Right Thing to Do Is.
• Element 4. Action.  Turn decisions into action.  See Action Commitments.
• Eelement 5. Feedback.  Get feedback on what’s working and what’s not.  See Test Your Decisions Against Reality.

I found an interesting article about contextual decision making.  It’s “A Leader’s Framework for Decision Making,” by David J. Snowden and Mary E.. Boone, an article in Harvard Business Review.  The idea is about tailoring your decision making approach based on the context.  You can use the Cynefin Framework to figure out which context you’re operating in, so you can choose the most effective response.  The five contexts are simple, complicated, complex, chaotic, and disorder.  The key is to determine whether to categorize, analyze, probe or act.

Context’s Characteristics
Based on Snowden and Boone, the following table summarizes the five context types in the Cynefin Framework:

Fact-based Management
According to Snowden and Boone, simple and complicated are part of the ordered world.  How to respond as a leader in simple and complicated scenarios:

• Simple - (The Domain of Best Practices) – Sense, categorize, respond; Ensure proper processes are in place; Delegate; Use best practices; Communicate in clear, direct ways; Understand that extensive interactive communication may not be necessary.
• Complicated - (The Domain of Experts)  – Sense, analyze, respond; Create panels of experts; Listen to conflicting advice.

Pattern-based Leadership
According to Snowden and Boone, complex and chaotic are part of the unordered world.  How to respond as a leader in complex and chaotic scenarios:

• Complex - (The Domain of Emergence) – Probe, sense, respond;  Create environments and experiments that allow patterns to emerge.  Increase levels of interaction and communication.  Use methods that can help generate ideas; Open up discussion: set barriers; stimulate attractors; encourage dissent and diversity; and manage starting conditions and monitor for emergence.
• Chaotic - (The Domain of Rapid Response) – Act, sense, respond;  Look for what works instead of seeking right answers; Take immediate action to reestablish order (command and control); Provide clear, direct communication.

My Related Posts

• Situational Leadership II
• 5 Practices and 10 Commitments for Leadership
• Management is Doing Things Right, Leadership is Doing the Right Things
• The Top 10 Leadership Lessons

Learning a new problem space can be a challenge.  Especially when there’s no map.  While writing books for the past several years, I’ve learned a more effective approach for chunking up and solving problem spaces.  Each new book is a new problem domain.  I can’t afford to churn or be inefficient while ramping up.  I’ve basically learned how to get myself and my teams up to speed faster by using a process.  This process has served me well.  I hope it does the same for you.

Problem Domain Analysis
Here’s the key steps:

1. What are the best sources of information?
2. What are the key tasks and questions for this problem space?
3. What are the key hot spots this problem space?
4. What are the possible answers for the key questions?
5. What are the empirical results to draw from?
6. Who can be my sounding board?
7. What are the best answers for the key questions?
8. What are the problem repros and the solution repros?

1. What are the best sources of information?
Finding the best sources of information is key to saving time. I cast a wide net then quickly spiral down to find the critical, trusted sources of information in terms of people, blogs, sites, aliases, forums, … etc.  Sources are effectively the key nodes in my knowledge network.

2. What are the key tasks and questions for this problem space?
This step includes making al list of tasks that users would need to perform and a list of questions that users would have.  Identifying the questions and tasks is potentially the most crucial step.  If I’m not getting the right answers, I’m not asking the right questions.  Questions also focus the mind, and no problem withstands sustained thinking (thinking is simply asking and answering questions).

3. What are the key hot spots in this problem space?
This is about finding the hot spots.  This means finding the key buckets and categories for this problem space.  It’s not long before questions start to fall into significant buckets or categories.  I think of these categories as a frame for the problem space.  By framing the space, you can organize the questions and tasks in a meaningful way.  Instead of a laundry list of items, the tasks and questions are grouped into hot spots.  You can then use the hot spots or frame as a lens.  You can also use it to gather, organize, and refine more information.

4. What are the possible answers for the key questions?
When identifying the answers, the first step is simply identifying how it’s been solved before.  I always like to know if this problem is new and if not, what are the ways it’s been solved (the patterns).  If I think I have a novel problem, I usually haven’t looked hard enough.  I ask myself who else would have this problem, and I don’t limit myself to the software industry.  For example, I’ve found great insights for project management and for storyboarding software solutions by borrowing from the movie industry.

One pitfall to avoid is that just because a solution worked in one case doesn’t mean it’s right for you.  The biggest differences are usually context.  I try to find the “why” and “when” behind the solution, so that I can understand what’s relevant for me, as well as tailor it as necessary.  When I’m given blanket advice, I’m particularly curious what’s beneath the blanket.

If you know the type of problem you’re dealing with, it helps to analyze potential answers.  See 4 Types of Problems.

5. What are the empirical results to draw from?
Nothing beats empirical results.  Specifically I mean reference examples.  Reference examples are short-cuts for success.  Success leaves clues.  I try to find the case studies and the people behind them.  This way I can model from their success and learn from their failure (failure is just another lesson in how not to do something).

6. Who can be my sounding board?
One assumption I make when solving a problem is that there’s always somebody better than me for that problem.  So I then ask, well who is that and I seek them out.  It’s a chance to learn from the best and force me to grow my network.  This is also how I build up a sounding board of experts.  A sounding board is simply a set of people I trust to have useful perspective on a problem, even if it’s nothing more than improving my own questions.

7. What are the best answers for the key questions?
The answers that I value the most are the principles.  These are my gems.  A principle is simply a fundamental law.  I’d rather know a single principle, then a bunch of rules.  By knowing a single principle, I can solve many variations of a problem.   The experts and sounding board help create and vet the answers along with the research team.

8.  What are the problem repros and the solution repros?
Creating repros of the problems and repros of the solutions helps test results.  A repro is simply a reproducible set of steps.  I’m a fan of testing results … It’s one thing to have an answer that sounds good, it’s another to test it against the scenario.  I’m also a fan of scenario-based testing because this tests the answer against a specific, concrete instance.  Either it works or it doesn’t.  Rather than speculate or debate solutions, testing solutions is a more effective approach.   Once you can reproduce a problem, you can also share it with others and get more eyes on the problem.

What Do You Know, Don’t Know, and Need to Know Next?
How do you keep from getting stuck?  One of my favorite questions to ask is, “what do we know … don’t know … and need to know next?”  Asking what you know is a way to quickly remind yourself of what you’ve figured out.  It also helps show some signs of progress.  Asking what you don’t know can be an eye opener.  Now that you’ve recapped what you know, what you don’t know might expose some obvious things you’ve overlooked or some hot topics to explore.  With a firm handle on what you know and don’t know, now you can prioritize what you need to know next.  Chip away at the stone.

Now, while I’ve left some details out, I’ve hopefully highlighted enough for you here that you find something you can use in your own problem domain analysis.

My Related Posts

• 4 Types of Problems
• How Experts Make Decisions
• Satisficing to Get Things Done
• Solution-Focused Questions
• Testing for Expert Judgment
• How To Use the Six Thinking Hats

If you know the type of problem you’re dealing with, you can handle it more effectively.  One of the best skills you can master in life is problem solving.  One of the keys to effective problem solving  is knowing what kind of problem you’re dealing with.  For example, is this a unique problem, a pattern of a problem, or an exception?  Knowing the type of problem helps you choose the most effective strategy.  In The Essential Drucker: The Best of Sixty Years of Peter Drucker’s Essential Writings on Management (Collins Business Essentials) , Peter Drucker identifies four type of problems.

Key Take Aways
Here’s my key take aways:

• Know the four types of problems.   The four types are: 1) truly generic. 2) truly unique.3) generic, but unique for the situation 4) new generic problem.
• First identify whether the problem is generic or unique.  Misery loves company.  It’s great to know if the problem you’re facing is a problem that others have faced.   Chances are you’re not alone.  
• Treat the root cause, not the symptoms.  To find the cause, you need to ask "Why?"  You might need to ask "why?" multiple times. 
• Leverage the experience of others.  How have others solved the problem? Who can you learn from?  Who else might share the problem?
• Use a principle-based approach to solving problems.    This builds on the idea of leveraging the experience of others.  What’s the underlying pattern or principle of the solution.  For example, I know one of the underlying principles for influence is "rapport before influence."  Knowing this, I adapt that principle to a variety of scenarios, whether it’s pitching a project or coaching a teammate.

4 Types of Problem
According to Drucker, there’s four types of problems:

1. Truly Generic (individual occurrence is a symptom; Two Different Kinds of Compromises)
2. Generic, but Unique for the individual institution
3. Truly exceptional, truly unique
4. Early manifestation of a new generic problem

Problem Type #1 – Truly generic
Drucker writes:

“There is first the truly generic, of which the individual occurrence is only a symptom.   Most of the problems that come up in the course of the executive’s work are of this nature.  Inventory decisions in a business, for instance, are not “decisions.”  They are adaptations.  The problem is generic.”

While many symptoms may vary, a lot of problems are actually generic if you look to the root cause.

Problem Type #2 – Generic, but Unique for the individual institution
Drucker writes:

“Then there is the problem that, while a unique event for the individual institution, is actually generic.  The company that receives an offer to merge from another, larger one will never receive such an offer again if it accepts.  This is a nonrecurrent situation as far as the individual company, its board of directors, and its management are concerned.  But it is, of course, a generic situation that occurs all the time.”
Sometimes a problem is generic, but unique in that you only face it once. 

Problem Type #3 – Truly exceptional, truly unique
Drucker writes:

“Next there is the truly exceptional, the truly unique event.   The power failure that plunged into darkness the whole of northeastern North America from St. Lawrence River to Washington D.C., in November 1965, was according to the first explanations, a truly exceptional situation.”

Every now and then, a problem truly is unique.

Problem Type #4 – Early manifestation of a new generic problem
Drucker writes:

“Truly unique events are rare, however.  Whenever one appears, one has to ask, Is this a true exception or only the first manifestation of a new genus?  And this, the early manifestation of a new generic problem, is the fourth and last category of events with which the decision process deals.”

Sometimes a new problem that at first seems unique, is really just the first instance of a new generic problem.

Generic or Exception
Drucker writes:

“The first questions the effective decision-maker asks are: Is this a generic situation or an exception?  Is this something that underlies a great many occurrences?  Or is the occurrence a unique event that needs to be dealt with as such?  The generic always has to be answered through a rule, a principle.”

Is the problem generic or an exception?  Drucker recommends starting there.

All Events But the Truly Unique Require a Generic Solution
Drucker writes:

“All events but the truly unique require a generic solution.  They require a rule, a policy, a principle.  Once the right principle has been developed, all manifestations of the same generic situation can be handled pragmatically, that is, by adaption of the rule to the concrete circumstances of the case.  Truly unique events, however, must be treated individually.  One cannot develop rules for the exceptional. ”

For generic problems, you can use generic solutions.  Tailor the proven practices for your particular situation. 

My Related Posts

• 4 Decision Making Methods
• How Experts Make Decisions
• Develop Disagreement Rather Than Concensus
• Refuse the Sucker’s Choice

Photo by emdot

Key Take Aways
Here’s my key take aways:

• Don’t use command when you need consensus.  Don’t use command for important decisions that need buy in.  Consensus would be more appropriate.
• Use consult to make efficient, informed decisions.  Use consult to gain ideas and support without bogging down decision making.
• Use vote if efficiency is the most important factor.  Use vote for efficiency and when everyone agrees to support the outcome of the vote.
• Use consensus when you need everybody’s buy in.  Use consensus when you need everybody to support an important decision.

4 Methods of Decision Making
According to Patterson, Grenny, McMillan, and Switzler, there’s four common ways of making decisions:

• Command – decisions are made with no involvement.
• Consult – invite input from others.
• Vote – discuss options and then call for a vote.
• Consensus – talk until everyone agrees to one decision.

Command
According to Patterson, Grenny, McMillan and Switzler, command is when there’s no involvement:

Let’s start with decisions that are made with no involvement whatsoever.  This happens in one of two ways.  Either outside forces place demands on us (demands that leave us no wiggle room), or we turn decisions over to others and then follow their lead.  We don’t care enough to be involved – let someone else do the work.

Consult
According to Patterson, Grenny, McMillan and Switzler, consult is when you ask for input:

Consulting is a process whereby decision makers invite others to influence them before they make their choice.  You can consult with experts, a representative population, or even everyone who wants to offer an opinion.  Consulting can be an efficient way of gaining ideas and support without bogging down the decision making process.  At least not too much.  Wise leaders, parents, and even couples frequently make decisions in this way.  They gather ideas, evaluate options, make a choice, and then inform the broader population.

Vote
Patterson, Grenny, McMillan and Switzler, suggest only using a vote when team members agree to support whatever decision is made:

Voting is best suited to situations where efficiency is the highest value – and you’re selecting from a number of good options.  Members of the team realize they may not get their first choice, but frankly they don’t want to waste time talking the issue to death.  They may discuss options for a while and then call for a vote.  When facing several decent options, voting is a great time saver but should never be used when team members don’t agree to support whatever decision is made.  In these cases, consensus is required.

Consensus
Patterson, Grenny, McMillan and Switzler, suggest using consensus when there’s high stakes or you need everyone to fully support the final decision:

This method can be both a great blessing and a frustrating curse.  Consensus means that you talk until everyone honestly agrees to one decision.  This method can produce tremendous unity and high-quality decisions.  If misapplied, it can also be a horrible waste of time.  It should only be used with (1) high-stakes and complex issues or (2) issues where everyone absolutely must support the final choice.

How To Choose Which Decision Method to Use
Patterson, Grenny, McMillan and Switzler, outline how to choose which decision making method to use:

1. Who cares?  Determine who genuinely wants to be involved in the decision along with those who will be affected.  These are your candidates for involvement.  Don’t involve people who don’t care.
2. Who knows?  Identify who has the expertise you need to make the best decision.  Encourage these people to take part.  Try not to involve people who contribute to new information.
3. Who must agree?  Think of those whose cooperation you might need in the form of authority of influence in any decisions you might make.  It’s better to involve these people than to surprise them and then suffer their open resistance.
4. How many people is it worth involving?  Your goal should be to involve the fewest number of people while still considering the quality of the decision along with the support that people will give it.  Ask: “Do we have enough people to make a good choice?  Will others have to be involved to gain their commitment?”

My Related Posts

• Consult-and-Decide and Build-Consensus for Making Decisions
• Develop Disagreement Rather Than Consensus
• What Is Relevant Decision Making Criteria
• Opinions Over Facts for Effective Decision Making
• First Know What’s Right for Effective Decision Making
• How Experts Make Decisions
• Satisficing to Get Things Done

Key Take Aways
Here’s my key take aways:

• Don’t make a decision unless there’s disagreement.   Find the concerns.  Before you make a decision, first find the concerns.
• Disagreement provides alternatives.  Disagreement provides alternatives, stimulates the imagination, and helps you break out of preconceived notions.
• Understand the alternatives.   Know the implications and impact of the alternatives.
• Know why people disagree.  People might disagree for good reasons.  Find out why.
• Know both sides of the issue.  Don’t just know one side of the story.  Take the time to know both sides.

Don’t Make a Decision Unless There’s Disagreement
Drucker writes that you should not make a decision unless you’ve considered alternatives:

Unless one has considered alternatives, one has a closed mind.  This above all, explains why effective decision-makers deliberately disregard the second major command of the textbooks on decision-making and create dissension and disagreement, rather than consensus.  Decisions of the kind the executive has to make are not made well by acclamation.  They are made well only if based on the clash of conflicting views, the dialogue between different points of view, the choice between different judgments.  The first rule in decision-making is that one does not make a decision unless there is disagreement.

The Right Decision Demands Adequate Disagreements
If you don’t have disagreement, then you’re not ready for a decision.  You don’t fully understand the problem.  Drucker writes:

Alfred P. Sloan is reported to have said at a meeting of one of his top committees, “Gentlemen, I take it we are all in complete agreement on the decision here.”  Everyone around the table nodded assent.  “Then,”continued Mr. Sloan, “I propose we postpone further discussion of this matter until our next meeting to give ourselves time to develop disagreement and perhaps gain some understanding of what the decision is all about.”  Sloan was anything but an “intuitive” decision-maker.  He always emphasized the need to test opinions against facts and the need to make absolutely sure that one did not start out with the conclusion and then look for the facts that would support it.  But he knew that the right decision demands adequate disagreements.

3 Reasons for Insisting on Disagreement
Disagreement can help you avoid preconceived notions, find new alternatives, and stimulate the imagination.  Drucker writes:

There are three main reasons for the insistence on disagreement.  It is, first, the only safeguard against the decision-maker’s becoming the prisoner of the organization.  Everybody always wants something from the decision-maker.  Everybody is a special pleader, trying – often in perfectly good faith – to obtain the decision he favors.  This is true whether the decision-maker is the president of the United States or the most junior engineer working on a design modification.  The only way to break out of the prison of special pleading and preconceived notions is to make sure of argued, documented, thought-through disagreements.

Second, disagreement alone can provide alternatives to a decision.  And a decision without an alternative is a desperate gambler’s throw, no matter how carefully thought through it might be.  There is always a high possibility that the decision will prove wrong – either because it was wrong to begin with or because a change in circumstances makes it wrong.  If one has thought through alternatives during the decision-making process, one has something to fall back on, something that has already been thought through, that has been studied.  Without such an alternative, one is likely to flounder dismally when reality proves a decision to be inoperative.

Above all, disagreement is needed to stimulate the imagination.  One does not, to be sure, need imagination to find the right solution to a problem.  But then this is of value only in mathematics.  In all matters of true uncertainty such as the executive deals with, whether his sphere is political, economic, social, or military – one needs “creative” solutions that create a new situation.  And this means that one needs imagination – a new and different way of perceiving and understanding.

Commit to Find Out Why People Disagree
Don’t just disagree, find out why there’s disagreement.  Knowing why people disagree helps you cut through the fog.  Drucker writes:

The effective decision-maker, therefore, organizes disagreement.  This protects him against being taken in by the plausible but false or incomplete.  It gives him the alternatives so that he can choose and make a decision, but also so that he is not lost in the fog when his decision proves deficient or wrong in execution.  And it forces the imagination – his own and that of his associates.  Disagreement converts the plausible into the right and the right into the good decision.  The effective decision-maker does not start out with the assumption that one proposed course of action is right and that all others must be wrong.  Nor does he start out with the assumption, I am right and he is wrong.  He starts out with the commitment to find out why people disagree.

First Understand the Alternatives
Drucker writes that you need to understand the alternatives:

Effective people know, of course, that there are fools around and that there are mischief-makers.  But they do no assume that the man who disagrees with what they themselves see as clear and obvious is, therefore, either a fool or a knave.  They know that unless prove otherwise, the dissenter has to be assumed to be reasonably intelligent and reasonably fair-minded.  Therefore, it has to be assumed that he has reaches his so obviously wrong conclusion because he sees a different reality and is concerned with a different problem.  The effective person, therefore, always asks, What does this fellow have to see if his position were, after all, tenable, rational, intelligent?  The effective person is concerned first with understanding.  Only then does he even think about who is right and who is wrong.

Lawyers Know Both Sides
Drucker writes that to make the most effective decisions, you need to understand both sides of the issue:

In a good law office, the beginner, fresh out of law school, is first assigned to drafting the strongest possible case for the other lawyer’s client.  This is not only the intelligent thing to do before one sits down to work out the case for one’s own client.  (One has to assume, after all, that the opposition’s lawyer knows his business, too.)  It is also the right training for a young lawyer.  It trains him not to start with, “I know why my case is right,” but with thinking through what it is that the other side must know, see, or take as probable to believe that it has a case at all.  It tells him to see the two cases as alternatives.  And only then is he likely to understand what his own case is all about.  Only then can he make out a strong case in court that his alternative is to be preferred over that of the other side.

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