Introduction
It was Plato who said, “The beginning is the most important part of any work.”
And the famous 20th Century educator, John Dewey, said, “The nature of the problem fixes the end of thought, and the end controls the process of thinking.”
Truly, how we start a thinking project is the most important part. Once we become adept at it, we’ll find ourselves using it in multiple situations. It alone will take our outcomes to a higher level.
Definition: The Start Right competency is a series of thinking steps that we use at the beginning of a thinking project to ensure that we are gaining the most value from the project by clearly defining the deepest and most valuable ending point.
The purpose of this competency is to produce a beginning question. This question will focus the thinking project, ensure a powerful and positive outcome, and prevent time and energy being dissipated in distractions.
Input & Output
The input is the vague and general unease or discomfort we sense when we described the “Situations/Challenge.”
The out put is the all-important beginning question.
How to
This Start Right competency consists of four parts.
1. Precisely describe the problem
This is where the discipline of writing helps. Write out the problem as specifically as possible. Give it a bit of thought, evaluate what you have written, and edit it until you are happy with it.
As an example, let’s follow a small business owner who is facing a cash-flow problem. As he begins to work on the problem, he writes: “ I have a cash flow problem.”
With a little extra thought, that becomes, “Unless something changes, it looks like I will run out of money on the 17th of the month.”
And then, “It looks like I will run out of money on the 17th and won’t be able to pay my bills or my employees on the 25th.”
In this case, it took us several renditions to get to the point that we have precisely described the problem. It could take more or less. The end reslt is a written statement of exactly what the problem is.
2. Turn the problem into an objective
In this step, we re-state the problem in the form of a forward-looking objective.
So, if our problem is “It looks like I will run out of money on the 17th and won’t be able to pay my bills, or my employees on the 25th,” the objective would be, “To be able to pay my bills on the 17th and meet my payroll on the 25th. ”
Note that the statement of the problem describes our situation in the present or past tense. When we transform that into the objective, we describe the future.
While relatively simple, this step is hugely important because it transforms our thinking trajectory. Now, instead of being focused on the problem, we are focused on the solution.
3. Turn the objective into an objective of sufficient depth
Often the simple, easy objective that we started with calls for a continuation of the status quo. Too often we fix something and simply restore the situation we had.
We restored the status quo. However, every problem/objective is an opportunity to put something better in place.
In today’s rapidly-changing world (Remember The Age of Turmoil from Chapter Two?) to merely restore the status quo is to fall behind. To simply replace a policy, procedure or bit of hardware or software that was acquired years ago may have been Okay some time ago, but today it represents an opportunity to make a strategic improvement. Every crises and every major maintenance action is an opportunity to create a more powerful, strategically motivated outcome – to focus on the future and create something new — something we call a “Leap Forward’.
A Leap Forward is a statement that is often the end result of the Menta-Morphosis® process. It identifies an initiative that not only solves the problem but puts something better in place, equipping us to deal with a changing environment and prepare for future success.
When we create a deeper objective, we give ourselves an opportunity to adjust to the times instead of relying on past decisions and returning to the status quo.
Back to our example. With a little bit of thought, you may decide that paying my bills on the 17th and meet my payroll on the 25th. may be a temporary objective, and what you really want to do is “to generate a situation so that I don’t have to continually worry about cash flow.”
That’s a deeper objective than the starting point. It will reach into the future and create a more harmonious set of circumstances, be better for most everyone involved, improve the likelihood of the company surviving and thriving, and add to the company’s health and security. It would be a leap forward.
So, the output of this step is a restated, deeper objective, often a leap forward.
4. Turn the deeper objective into a beginning question
“What can I do to pay my bills on the 17th and meet my payroll on the 25th, and not have to continually worry about cash flow?”
Getting this right is the single most important part of the whole process. The language in this question will energize and put the borders around all the thinking that comes after it.
You could, for example, have created this question: “What expenses can I cut in order to be able to make payroll on the 17th?” That question will lead the thinking process down a whole different path.
Note that the question addresses the acute situation — What can I do to pay my bills on the 17th and meet my payroll on the 25th — and seeks to create something new that will prevent the problem from arising in the future — and not have to continually worry about cash flow?”
Now, we’re ready to begin. The starting point is a weighty situation in which we have some discontent, and for which we want to create a thinking project. The end result of this competency is a forward-looking question which forms the organizing concept for the thinking project.
To Dig Deeper into this Competency:
Listen to the podcast: When fixing a problem is not a good idea
