Leaders are taught that when they encounter problems, they should implement solutions. But you’ve doubtless noticed that many so-called solutions fail to work. That’s because problems can be harder to solve than they look, and few people are clever or lucky enough to reach a valid solution in one giant leap.
As Joseph Badaracco, Jr., suggests in Leading Quietly, “Nudging, testing, and escalating gradually are often the best and fastest ways to make the world a better place.” He advocates an act-learn-act-learn approach to give leaders opportunities to see the real shape of their dilemmas through prudent experiments. “Their aim is not to solve problems with a brilliant insight, inspiring words, or a decisive act. Instead of trying to crack the case, they look for ways to work the problem.”
When we think about solutions, we tend to imagine only one possibility, unaware of the countless ways things can turn out. But as John Gall points out in Systemantics: The Underground Text of Systems Lore, “In dealing with the shape of things to come, it pays to be good at recognizing shapes.” Most times we fail to do this and in turn miss the evidence as it accumulates.