Problem solving

Question One
Do you have a working relationship?
If Yes then go to Question Two
If No then go to Task One
Before you can help another person solve their problems, you need to have a working
relationship. This means that they must be willing to talk with you and accept that you
have the right and the ability to help them find their own solutions.

Question Two
Do they think they have a problem?
If Yes then go to Question Three
If No then go to Question Two-A
A problem is a bridgeable gap between the perceived current realities and a person’s
preferred futures. If a person is happy with their current reality, or does not have a
preferred future, or does not believe anything they can do to bridge the gap, then they
will not think they have a problem.
It is also important that they think they have a problem. Thinking someone else has a
problem, or thinking that someone else needs to change, is not the same as thinking
they have a problem.

Task One
Build a working relationship
Building a working relationship means having two different focuses. Firstly, you need to
build rapport and demonstrate your empathy and non-judgemental attitude towards
the person. Secondly, you need to establish a mandate, a clear rationale for why you
have the right and ability to help this person solve their problems.
Next Step—Go to Question Two

Question Two - A
Do they think someone else thinks they have a problem?
If Yes then go to Card 5—Question Two-B
If No then go to Card 6—Task Two
Someone else wanting them to change may be enough to provide someone with
enough motivation to change. If the person does not think they have a problem and
they don’t think anyone else things they have a problem, then you cannot engage in a
problem-solving process.
Even if they do think someone else thinks they have a problem, this might not be
enough by itself to motivate change.

Task Two
Empathic Listening and Motivational Nudges
When someone does not see themselves as having a problem and is not bothered by
the impact of their behaviour on others, your task is to listen and show respect for the
person’s point of view. You need to develop empathy and establish a rapport with the
person.
At the same time you can ’listen with a constructive ear’ (Lipchik, 2012). This means as
you listen you listen for the tiny signs that someone is willing to think about changing,
and very gently reinforcing these.
Next Step—Go to Question One

Question Two - B
Does it bother them that someone else thinks they have a problem?
If Yes then go to Question Three
If No then go to Task Two
Just because someone thinks that someone else thinks they have a problem, does not
mean that bothers them. A person may not care that their behaviour bothers other
people. If this is the case you cannot engage in a problem-solving process.

Question Three
Is the problem defined in a solvable way?
If Yes then go to Question Four
If No then go to Task Three
Former Israeli president, Shimon Peres said that “if a problem has no solution, it may
not be a problem, but a fact - not to be solved, but to be coped with over time.” You
need to ask if the gap between to perceived current reality and the person’s preferred
futures can be narrowed by the person themselves taking action.

Task Three
Create a solvable problem definition
There are many ways to create a solvable problem definition. You can choose to focus
on changing the way the person perceives their current reality. You can choose to focus
on creating clear and achievable preferred futures, or you can choose to focus on
actions the person can take to narrow the gap between the current reality and their
preferred futures.
When someone’s initial problem definition focus on something that cannot be changed,
the problem definition can be shifted from the unchangeable facts to how the person
copes with the unchangeable facts.
Next Step—Go to Question Four

Question Four
Is there an agreed, concrete description of the problem?
If Yes then go to Question Five
If No then go to Task Four
In order to have a good solution you need a clear description of the problem. You need
to know what happens, when and where it happens, and in particular who does what.
You also need to know what effect this has on the person and why this matters to the
person. Ill-defined problems lead to ill-defined solutions. Well defined problems lead to
well-defined solutions.

Task Four
Create an agreed and specific definition of the problem
This requires good listening and good interviewing skills. You need to be able to ask
questions about the problem that will get the specific details of the problem, but which
do not leave the person thinking you think that they are a bad person because they
have a problem.
The key goal in this task is to people up a clear picture in your own mind of what the
problem is, where and when it happens, who is involved, and what effect it has on those
involved. You should be able to run a mental movie in your mind and see and hear the
problem happening.
Next Step—Go to Question Five

Question Five
Are there clear and specific goals?
If Yes then go to Task Six
If No then go to Task Five
It is not enough to make the solution the mere absence of the problem, what they don’t
want. Instead, you need to establish what they do want. You need to develop a clear
and specific sense of what will be different once the problem has been solved.

Task Five
Create a clear and specific definition of the goals
If the answer to Question Four (Is there an agreed, concrete description of the problem)
is yes, or if you have completed Task Four (Create an agreed and specific definition of
the problem) then the simplest start point in this task is to ask what the person would
like instead of the problem.
You can also ask them about how things will be different once the problem is solved, or
what things are like on a good day. Another thing you can ask is what would need to
change for them to think they no longer need your help.
Next Step—Go to Task Six

Question Six
Do they actively agree to carry out their plan(s)?
If Yes then go to Person’s Actions After Meeting
If No then go to Pause and Reflect - One
The key phrase here is ‘actively agree’. Listen for words and phrases like “I’ll give”, “If
you think it will help”, or “I suppose so”, and these are strong indicators of high levels of
ambivalence.
There need to be congruence between the person’s verbal commitment to carry out the
options and their non-verbal behaviour (tone of voice, body language, etc.). Only
proceed with these two match.

Task Six
Create multiple possible solutions
The best way to have good ideas is to have lots of ideas. It is therefore important to
begin with generating as many solutions as possible, even if many of these are not likely
to work.
Brainstorming is one of the most effective ways to generate solutions, but this needs to
be done with care.
You can also ask about pass solutions, or how they think other people would try and
solve the problem.
The important point is to ensure the person themselves creates solutions and you do
not try an impose solutions on them.
Next Step—Go to Task Seven

Task Seven
Decide upon the preferred option(s)
Having generated many possible solutions (Task Six - Create multiple possible solutions)
you need to decide which ones to work on. You can problem reject many of the possible
solutions as they are unacceptable to the person or the person does not think they are
achievable.
You then need to look at the list of possible options and work out which ones they think
are likely to be effective and which ones they think they can do. It is essential to pick
options that the person thinks will work and which they think they have the ability and
resources to do well. It often helps to start with what is easiest and then build up as the
person’s confidence grows, but sometimes it is better to provide something more
challenging as this can increase determination.
Next Step—Go to Task Eight

Task Eight
Mentally rehearse the preferred option(s)
When a solution is first developed, it is likely to be quite vague. This means that it is
important to mentally rehearse the preferred options. This is done by getting the person
to imagine themselves doing the solution in detail. The need to be able to see and hear
themselves doing the solution, and to anticipate any potential problems.
As with the problem definition (Task Four - Create an agreed and specific definition of
the problem), you can use the Movie Technique—where the person creates an internal
movie of themselves doing the solution.
The more detailed the rehearsal the more likely the solution is to work.
Next Step—Go to Task Nine

Task Nine
Refine the preferred option(s)
It is highly likely that rehearsing the preferred options will lead to the identification of
problems and challenges that were missed in the initial development of the option
(Card 14—Task Seven). This is where you need to go back through the plan and add or
change anything you need to in order to create options that the person believes that
they can do and that will be effective.
Next Step—Go to Question Six

Question Seven
Did they carry out their plan(s)?
If Yes, then go to Question Eight
If No, then go to Question Seven-A
This is fairly straight-forward. You can be quite brave and ask a more solution-focused
question, like “What’s been better”, or else play it safe with questions like, “How did you
get on with the plan?”

Person’s Action After Meeting
Empowering, not rescuing
The goal of this process is to help someone solve their own problems, not to solve their
problems for them.
As a result, a key focus will be what the person does for themselves.
Your role is to support and encourage people in selecting and developing their own
solutions, not to tell people what to do.
There may be times when you negotiate a division of tasks, so you do some things and
they do other things, but the majority of the work should come from the person
themselves, not from you.
Go to Question 7

Question Seven - A
Did they do something else instead?
If Yes, then go to Question Eight
If No then go to Pause and Reflect – Part 2
Do not assume that failure to carry out the plan is the same as failure.
Often, when a person did not carried out the agreed plan they did something else
instead. It is vital to ask about this. Your initial conversation may have triggered a lot of
thoughts after the meeting, and these thoughts may have led to better solutions.

Question Eight
Has it improved the situation?
If Yes then go to Task Ten
This is the central question—did it work? You will only know this if you have done Task
Five (Card 12) well. Returning to the definition of a problem, you will know if the
situation has improved if the gap between the person’s perceived current reality and
their preferred futures has narrowed.

Task Ten
Explore and explain the improvements
It is important to create a coherent narrative, or story, for the improvements. To do this
you need to again use the Movie Technique to get a clear mental image of what has
worked.
It is also important to note that not all stories work equally well. Explanations of the
improvements that rely on other people’s actions or luck/chance/coincidences do not
work as well as explanations that focus on what the person did. As a result, when
exploring and explaining focus on ‘agentifying’ the person, that is make sure that the
person themselves is the agent of change, the cause of the improvements.
Next Step—Go to Question 9

Question Nine
Have things improved enough?
If Yes then go to Task Twelve
If No then go to Question Ten
Moving toward the end, it is important to have a focus on closure. Problem-solving is a
short-term, focused activity. It is also aimed at reducing the gaps between current
realities and preferred futures, not eliminating them. Things do not need to be perfect,
they only need to be good enough for the person to carry on without you.

Question Ten
Are they still confident in the preferred option(s)?
If Yes then go to Task Eleven
Belief in the option and belief in the self are vital to effective problem-solving. As long as
the person still believes that the option will work and they will be able to do it, then you
can carry on. The old idea that ‘Rome wasn’t build in a day’ is helpful here. Long running
and challenging problems will be solved in many steps over a period of time, and not
overnight in one step

Task Eleven
Explore and refine preferred option(s)
This is very similar to Task Nine (Card 16), however this idea it is not mentally rehearsing
an imagined attempt at a solution, but using feedback from an actual attempt at a
solution. It can be really helpful here to use a reflective cycle to 1) describe what
happened, 2) explain what happened, and 3) use the explain to plan how to do it better
next time.
You need to focus on what worked, so they can do more of it, and what didn’t work, so
they can do it differently next time.
Next Step—Go to Person’s Action After Meeting

Task Twelve
Reinforce learning and close the relationship
A problem-solving relationship is a short-term, temporary one. Once the gap between
the person’s perceived current reality and their preferred future has been reduced to an
acceptable level, it is time to move on, either to end the relationship or to move to a
different kind of relationship.
It is vital to review what happened and what was learned. It may also help to review the
possible warning signs to do some ‘relapse prevention.’
Celebrating success and in some small way making the end of the work can also help
bring the relationship to a satisfactory end.
The key point is that they did it, they succeeded. All you did was join them for the
journey.

PAUSE AND REFLECT - ONE
Something has happened in the process or relationship
They do not agree to carry out the plan
Do not progress further.
Review the process so far.
So, you have assessed the problem, created a clear definition of the problems and goals,
explored and evaluated options, and agreed a specific plan, and they do not want to do
it. You need to reflect on what is going on and why.
The most likely explanation is that the person feels that they are being pressured into
making a decision that they are not ready to make yet. This could be because you have
been over confident in your assessment of your working relationship. (Return to
Question One)

PAUSE AND REFLECT - TWO
They have done nothing to tackle the problem
Despite all your work from the previous session, they do not carry out the plan.
If this is your first time here, go to Question Six.
If you have been here before return to Question One.

PAUSE AND REFLECT - THREE
Strategies Didn’t Work
The reality is that even if you have done everything right in terms of assessing the
problem, setting the goals, exploring the options, selecting promising strategies, and
they have carried them out, sometimes it does not work.
If this is your first time here, go to Task Six.

PAUSE AND REFLECT - FOUR
Losing Faith in What is Working
If this is your first time here, go to Task Six.

Problem solving

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