I have been in management consulting for several years now. In this period of time, I have done tons of assessments and leveraged a variety of toolkits and methodologies to solve organizational issues.
One thing about this industry that I have noticed is that there are multiple ways to solve a client problem. In fact, based on whom you ask, there are probably hundreds of permutations that can be considered a legitimate path for resolution when solving problems.
What’s funny is that as consultants we love to argue and disagree about approaches to take to solve the problem. The bottom line is that the problem has to be solved. As long as you have a fixed budget, with fixed resources and you understand what the outcome of the solution should be, getting to resolution should be simple. Yet, as consulting team members, we “violently” love to disagree about the approach to take to attain client resolution.
At times, I have butted heads with colleagues about minor permutations of approaches to take that have led to more headaches and stress for myself. What is prevalent is that people in team-based settings just don’t know how to disagree. Team members think their way is the best way and overlook the ideas of other team members. You then have the project manager who thinks he or she is the king of the way with the right to overrule the other team members about the process – and if you take the same idea with the same approach up the organizational chain, you will get more opinions about what the best approach should be to solve a problem.
The bottom line – there is no right or wrong way to approach a problem as the long as whatever path you take leads to the desired outcome for the client.
One thing to keep in mind when finding solutions is that these solutions are just ideas and opinions. The truth is any combination of the idea and opinion will work as long as you have the solution outcome in hindsight while attaining team consensus on approach.
But no! Many times we want to enforce our resolution path as the one to solve a problem to our team members. We want show how smart we are to our team members. We want to show others that we are in control!
This is all false thinking. Learning to disagree and attain consensus is a vital part of any group setting whether you are in consulting, law, engineering, education, or any other field where you are working in teams. It even applies to marriage and relationships. Putting forth just our opinion to convince others puts you in the limelight of being difficult to work with, being a control freak, and if I can be blunt – just being a smart-ass.
Look, we are not meant to agree fully with each other as long as we have the ability to think. There will always be another and better way to skin the cat. But learning to disagree is essential for maintaining any relationship. Here are some things to keep in mind in relationships when solving problems:
- Be cognizant of your tone of voice. Is it soft or cranky? Are you raising your voice to make a point or get people on your side? Soft and calm is the way to go. No one appreciates a raised voice of authority.
- Be cognizant of your ego of intelligence. So you think you are so smart that you can enforce on others your idea or opinion for solving the problem? You should always be seeking group consensus. Problem solving in a group setting is attainment of an approach based on group decision-making as everyone on the team is now responsible for solving the problem.
- Realize others are forming a collective opinion of the team. Are you disagreeing with team members in front of a client? Are you disagreeing in front of your children? Are you disagreeing openly in a public setting? Every team member or parent will look like a fool if you provide a dog-and-pony-show display of team disharmony to a client, child, or general public. Everyone around you is forming a collective opinion about the team or collectively as parents, for example. Be cognizant of the impressions you are making in front of others.
- Avoid providing solutions or models to clients even as “food for thought” prior to starting a project. This is vital to attaining group buy-in on methodology. If the client already has a specific model to follow that you have presented prior to the project , what is the point of attaining team consensus on the approach? Don’t provide solutions in advance of understanding the premise behind the cause of the problem. Keep things neutral for all parties. Formulate solutions based on group-think.
- Create an environment that breeds innovation. Be open to other people’s ideas and opinions about solving problems. Use these ideas to create a unique approach to help organizations. You don’t need to use a cookie cutter approach that everyone else follows. Re-invent these cookie cutter approaches with the team to come up with better and faster methodologies that attain the same or better results for clients.
These ideas can be used in any circumstance, not just in the workplace. Learn to focus on outcomes and build consensus with everyone to come up with new ideas to problem solving. A happy customer or relationship is the output of collective group action that allows for free-thinking from all parties to do what is in the best interest of the relationship.