132: Master These 11 Skills That AI Will Never Replace | Problem-Solving

Transcript

0:00

2025 is here and the pace of change has

0:02

never been faster are you ready to

0:04

thrive in a world where AI accelerates

0:07

everything but can't replace the most

0:09

essential human skills that's why we've

0:11

created a special 11p part series on the

0:13

learn itall podcast to help you master

0:15

the skills needed to Future proof

0:16

yourself and your career from

0:18

self-awareness to listening and

0:19

developing trust these are the traits

0:21

that will make you irreplaceable in an

0:23

Ever evolving Workforce I'm Damon lmy

0:26

CEO of learn it and two-time bestselling

0:28

author and I'll be your throughout the

0:30

series joining me is Dr Mickey Fitz

0:33

Collins learn's top ranked facilitator

0:35

and a leadership expert dedicated to

0:37

helping you grow this series is brought

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to you in partnership with our good

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friends at much skills a platform that

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helps organizations map and understand

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their Workforce capabilities drawing

0:47

from Insight from their survey of over

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28,000 professionals we'll unpack 11

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skills in this weekly series that will

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prepare you to thrive in an Ever

0:55

evolving world if you enjoy this episode

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please take a moment to rate and review

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on your favorite podcast platform your

1:01

feedback helps us share this message far

1:04

and wide let's dive into today's top

1:06

skill

1:08

75% of leaders say their team struggles

1:11

with independent thinking and problem

1:13

solving that was a study in McKenzie and

1:15

Company and also how about this quote we

1:18

cannot solve our problems with the same

1:20

thinking we use when we created them

1:23

Albert Einstein Mickey welcome to the

1:27

episode today we're talking about one of

1:28

my favorite subjects something that I

1:31

think I'm pretty good at but we could

1:32

always get better at problem solving

1:35

yeah yeah I love you know Einstein has

1:37

the best quotes you know I mean you just

1:39

I I feel like that's like a master class

1:40

in problem solving that that quote alone

1:43

absolutely yeah I'm super excited to be

1:45

here Damon thanks so let's talk about

1:47

you know first of all what is problem

1:48

solving why it's important yeah

1:51

absolutely so problem solving you know

1:54

it's it's one of those things we do it

1:55

all day every single day right but it's

1:56

it's the the process really what we're

1:59

looking at a lot of people think of

2:00

problem Sol problem solving as just

2:02

about the solution but problem solving

2:04

is the entire process how do we identify

2:07

what the challenges or identify what the

2:09

problem the Gap whatever it is how do we

2:11

analyze the root causes of the issue how

2:13

do we figure out what solution we want

2:15

to bring to bear and there's really two

2:17

kinds of problem solving we're going to

2:19

focus in on the creative one but there's

2:22

analytical problem solving which is kind

2:23

of the same old same old sort of stuff

2:25

that most of us do right which is just

2:27

you know problem this problem seems

2:29

simil to other problems I've had in the

2:31

past so I apply a similar solution or

2:33

there's creative problem solving which

2:35

is where we're trying to really pursue

2:37

this really like unique different sort

2:39

of solution than what we've ever done

2:41

before and I think that's really where a

2:43

lot of people need to be these days

2:46

excellent excellent so and what

2:48

framework are we going to talk about

2:49

today yeah yeah so we have a fantastic

2:52

Workshop solv problems creatively and we

2:54

talk about in that Workshop lots of

2:55

different stuff but one of the things

2:57

that we're going to focus on we have a

2:58

five PS for reframing a problem um and I

3:03

love this framework because I the reason

3:06

why can I go ahead and jump into the

3:07

framework is that good yeah good okay

3:10

cool the reason why this framework is so

3:12

helpful and it starts with reframing the

3:15

problem is and and Damon I'm sure you've

3:16

had this experience where people jump to

3:19

Solutions right like we we are

3:22

identifying a problem we're in a

3:23

conversation we're in a meeting and all

3:24

of a sudden people are starting to throw

3:26

out a bunch of solutions and I've

3:28

mentioned this in in other uh podcast

3:30

that we've recorded right but our work

3:32

environments are just this like problem

3:33

solution problem solution let's make a

3:35

whole bunch of decisions go go go go go

3:37

the problem though and again I'm sure

3:39

you've had this experience I have as

3:41

well right is that what we find out

3:44

sometimes is that we have a lot of

3:46

different definitions of what the actual

3:48

problem is right and the and the problem

3:51

with that is that we don't actually

3:53

because we've not agreed on what the

3:54

problem is all the solutions that we're

3:57

throwing out there are to solve multiple

4:00

different problems instead of making

4:02

sure that we actually have the right

4:04

problem in mind so the five PS for

4:07

reframing the problem and I you know

4:09

we'll we'll spell these out in the show

4:10

notes here too the first one is

4:12

perspectives how do other people view

4:14

the problem and I think that this is a

4:16

fantastic thing and I I I feel like we

4:18

do this a lot internally at learn of we

4:21

have this problem this part of the

4:23

organization is experiencing the problem

4:24

what do other people think how are you

4:26

experiencing this I get this asked this

4:28

a lot as a facilitator is what is your

4:30

perspective of this thing that's

4:31

happening in sales or what's your

4:33

perspective of what's going on over in

4:35

marketing right if we can get other

4:36

people's perspectives of what the

4:38

problem is what we're doing is we're

4:39

widening our Viewpoint instead of just

4:42

this is how Mickey sees a problem or

4:43

this is how Damon sees a problem we also

4:46

the second p is about pertinent info

4:48

pertinent info what's relevant to the

4:50

situation what do I need to know what's

4:52

the context what are the important

4:53

variables what are the limitations

4:55

things like that um position is the

4:58

third one what is my position in

5:01

relationship to the problem if I am the

5:03

cause of the problem am I in the center

5:06

is it kind of right in front of me and

5:08

that's all I can see um am I distanced

5:11

from the problem am I affected by the

5:13

problem do I affect the problem right

5:15

like what is my position in relationship

5:17

to the prom the fourth P are positive

5:20

exceptions and this is actually my

5:21

favorite part of the five PS what are

5:23

their instances and how can we identify

5:26

instances where the problem is not

5:28

actually a problem where in other areas

5:31

it's an ache and a pain but in one

5:33

particular area It's actually an asset

5:35

right it's actually a multiplier right

5:39

and then the fifth one is playing

5:41

favorites now this is the part of things

5:43

when we think about reframing problems I

5:44

think a lot of us um uh with all of

5:47

those Solutions we need to bring to bear

5:48

and decisions we need to make every

5:49

single day we tend to play favorites

5:52

with the type of solution that we bring

5:54

right um I naturally as as a person who

5:56

facilitates Learning and Development

5:58

workshops what is my favorite solution

6:00

for problems right people need a

6:02

training people need to experience some

6:04

type of learning experience to be able

6:06

to get better at something right and so

6:08

we have to be aware of like what are

6:09

those favorites that we play as we're

6:12

viewing a problem because you know again

6:13

it's it's kind of like blinders on

6:15

horses right that sometimes we can only

6:17

see things in a certain way so I love

6:19

those five PS Damon what what do you

6:21

think about those like which one of

6:21

those really stands out to you the most

6:24

what I think really stands out to me the

6:26

most is making sure you're solving the

6:28

right problem I think that's something

6:30

that we a lot of us really struggle with

6:33

um there's a great book out there by I

6:35

think it's Dan Heath um called upstream

6:39

and there's he tells a great story about

6:40

it in it so I'm gon to steal his story

6:44

let's say uh two people are having a

6:46

picnic on the uh you know having a

6:48

picnic and somebody's up on a bridge and

6:50

they're throwing dogs let's say they're

6:52

throwing dogs into uh the Water right

6:55

and so they say come on the two of us

6:57

let's go and so they run over and you

6:59

grab and you keep getting one by one

7:01

you're pulling the dogs out of the water

7:02

right and um but you just can't keep up

7:05

with it and so finally one of the two

7:07

people you're having a picnic with

7:09

starts running up in the other direction

7:11

and the other guy says well where are

7:14

you going we got to solve all these dog

7:16

you know we got to save all these dogs

7:17

and the other guy says no I'm gonna get

7:19

him to stop throwing the dogs into the

7:21

water right and so I mean that's kind of

7:24

a a weird but interesting example right

7:26

where it's like instead of solving the

7:29

you know the what's right in front of

7:31

you solve the bigger problem to just

7:33

stop it and in order to do that you got

7:34

to think critically like we already

7:36

talked about and make sure that you're

7:38

solving the right problem yeah yeah I

7:41

think that's so important I mean it's

7:43

it's the default for a lot of

7:46

individuals and a lot of teams I think

7:48

is is that we just we look at what's

7:51

directly in front of us as as we're kind

7:53

of working our way through the day

7:54

working our way through the work week

7:56

and it's just like it's just this thing

7:57

on my to-do list and I got to get it

7:59

gone instead of actually looking at it

8:01

and saying how can I remove this

8:03

obstacle altoe how can I optimize how

8:05

can I find some efficiencies how can I

8:07

use AI right you know that people um

8:10

yeah you just start throwing Band-Aids

8:11

at stuff instead of saying like why do I

8:13

keep getting cut yeah and so what

8:16

happens if you if you as an individual

8:20

organ or as an organization struggle

8:23

with problem

8:24

solving yeah um you know I mean the

8:27

obvious thing is that those problem s

8:29

become bigger issues and bigger

8:32

challenges those challenges escalate

8:34

they they become I mean it's it's kind

8:36

of if we use the analogy of a simple cut

8:39

or a simple wound that you have if you

8:41

don't treat that wound

8:43

effectively it can scale right it can

8:46

scale into all sorts of gross and nasty

8:48

things right that that and that happens

8:50

in our organizations too like if we're

8:51

not really truly we can be very good at

8:55

applying a ton of solutions but if we're

8:58

not actually looking at the problem and

9:01

identifying those core problems and

9:03

really driving after solutions to those

9:05

core problems all you're going to be

9:07

doing is slapping Band-Aids on all the

9:09

time and and the reality of

9:10

organizations that are fast-paced that

9:13

are growing that are trying to scale

9:15

that are trying to to grow their

9:16

influence is the more you grow the more

9:19

problems you're going to have right 99

9:21

problems right if we don't if we don't

9:24

tackle problem solving if we don't bring

9:25

a framework into it right um you know

9:28

these things are just a Fester right and

9:30

that becomes a a fodder for

9:32

organizations to become inefficient um

9:35

you got employee issues you have

9:37

customer issues you know it's just it's

9:39

just a recipe for disaster for sure so

9:42

how how can you help an organization

9:45

stop looking at problems from like the

9:47

traditional sense as far as solving them

9:49

like just go into your your your your

9:51

same way all the time and get more

9:53

creative about finding ways to solve

9:55

problems yeah yeah and that's actually

9:58

one of the biggest challenges I think

9:59

that a lot of organizations have is um

10:02

they're you're experiencing and think

10:04

about this I mean you know zoom out a

10:05

little bit I think a lot of our

10:07

organizations are experiencing

10:08

challenges and problems that we've never

10:11

faced before like these particular

10:13

challenges and problems but what's

10:15

happening is that we're taking solutions

10:18

to problems and issues that seem

10:20

somewhat similar and we're applying

10:22

those and then we're going oh gosh like

10:24

why isn't this working right and and

10:26

that's where I think this idea of

10:27

creative problem solving needs to to

10:29

come into bear because I mean your quote

10:31

at the beginning with with from Einstein

10:33

you know really encapsulates all of that

10:35

which is to say if if you haven't if you

10:38

haven't experienced the problem before

10:40

you can't possibly apply an old solution

10:42

and think it's going to work there might

10:44

be like a dumb luck factor to that of

10:45

like oh look at that it actually worked

10:47

out um but I think that's the hesitation

10:50

a lot of organizations have to really

10:52

getting creative about problem solving

10:54

is well this actually requires us to

10:56

slow down and pause and think through

10:58

this because the same old same old

11:00

Solutions aren't going to work to a

11:02

problem that we haven't experienced

11:03

before right whether that problem is you

11:06

know uh product development problem a

11:08

sales problem a marketing issue uh you

11:11

know product Market fit whatever it is

11:13

there's a lot of X factors that are out

11:15

there that organizations have not likely

11:18

gone down that road before but it's like

11:20

oh but all we need to do is just do more

11:22

marketing or we just need to call more

11:23

people or we just need to create more

11:25

products realizing like that's not

11:27

actually solving the right problem we

11:29

need stop and talk about the problem

11:30

first what do you think is the biggest

11:32

challenge that organizations have with

11:34

problem

11:35

solving I think one of the biggest

11:37

challenges that organizations have when

11:39

it comes to problem solving is again it

11:42

comes down to safety not wanting to take

11:44

risks and trying to go for the solution

11:47

that's right in front of them and say

11:49

well this is you know this is the way

11:51

we've always done it so if this way

11:53

doesn't work then maybe there is no

11:55

solution to this you know I think

11:57

another challenge that there is in

12:00

problem solving when it comes to

12:01

organizations is lack of accountability

12:04

pointing fingers you know it's easy to

12:07

point fingers and say hey that's not my

12:09

problem let somebody else solve it where

12:12

in great organizations people take

12:14

accountability you know at the Ritz

12:17

Carlton they used to at least do this in

12:19

the past I don't know if they still do

12:20

it but if somebody walks in to a room

12:23

and let's say that you're um you're out

12:26

of towels you know the guest is out

12:29

towels and you uh you're the room

12:31

service person well if the guest tells

12:34

you hey I'm out of towels you know it

12:37

then becomes your problem to solve you

12:39

know it's your responsibility to go get

12:42

the towels or connect with somebody and

12:44

and see it all the way to the end

12:45

instead of just passing the buck you

12:47

know so I think having accountability

12:50

stop uh pointing fingers and also

12:53

understanding that you need to be

12:55

adaptable and flexible when it comes to

12:57

problem solving is super important

12:59

you know Damon um one of the things that

13:02

made me think about and I actually have

13:03

a good story about this too is like one

13:05

of the ways for us to get better at

13:08

problem solving is by asking like really

13:10

kind of different sort of questions like

13:12

questions that are either I call them

13:14

like Limitless category questions or

13:17

super limiting questions right like yeah

13:19

essentially like Divergent thinking

13:21

convergent thinking um and I'd love to

13:24

like tell tell you and our our listeners

13:26

this story because it's actually I think

13:27

it's a relevant sort of example that

13:29

many of us would probably like been in

13:31

um this again is another story that

13:32

comes from my my days in in University

13:34

Administration we were um implementing a

13:37

new online learning platform a a

13:40

learning management system and working

13:42

with an outside vendor everything was

13:44

going well everything was on track we

13:46

were just a few weeks before the first

13:48

soft launch of kind of the core of of

13:51

the learning management system and the

13:53

vendor scheduled an emergency meeting

13:56

with us with the the administrative team

13:58

and they let us know that they weren't

14:00

going to be able to do these particular

14:02

integration pieces due to the fact that

14:04

some of our campus systems were actually

14:06

out of date like we're we're inm or

14:09

non-compliant with their systems and

14:11

that left us with a couple of choices

14:13

either we delay the roll out right a

14:16

work around and in University land it's

14:18

you do it based on semesters right it's

14:20

not just like oh we'll delay it by a

14:21

couple of weeks you have to do it whole

14:23

semesters at a time or we find some type

14:25

of a workaround now people obviously

14:27

were freaking out about right people

14:29

were feeling overwhelmed you know lots

14:31

of pressure all this sort of stuff right

14:33

and I said well let's let's brainstorm

14:36

this a little bit differently right and

14:37

and obviously we all need that moment to

14:39

just kind of freak out a little bit and

14:41

um you know be emotional about all this

14:42

stuff but we had this emergency meeting

14:45

and I said okay let's just do a thought

14:47

exercise here around problem solving

14:49

let's go big and let's go really small

14:52

the question that I asked everybody is

14:53

like what would we do around this

14:55

learning management system if we had an

14:57

unlimited budget

14:59

and then so we talked about that right

15:01

of like we would be able to pour all

15:02

this money in resources we'd update our

15:04

campus systems da d da all this sort of

15:06

stuff great okay what would we do the

15:09

second question was what would we do if

15:10

we weren't in a relationship with this

15:12

vendor at all right and we talked

15:15

through all of those pieces of kind of

15:16

you know bootstrapping something

15:18

together doing stuff a little bit more

15:19

creatively right and one of the the

15:22

members of the team worked in it and

15:24

said well what if we temporarily created

15:27

a couple of these things kind of on our

15:28

own

15:29

well we figure out some of these longer

15:31

term integration compliance sort of

15:33

stuff and it wasn't a perfect solution

15:36

but it had never come up before until I

15:39

asked those two different questions the

15:41

big diverent thinking thinking of all

15:43

the possibilities thinking really

15:45

broadly and then thinking very

15:46

convergent right what if we didn't have

15:49

this what if we couldn't do this that

15:51

was the first moment in time and and I

15:53

asked him after the fact I said have you

15:54

ever thought of that before and he goes

15:56

no because it was always we're going to

15:57

Outsource and work with this fendant

15:59

and and I bring that up as an example of

16:02

thinking big and thinking small allows

16:04

us to to engage in problem solving

16:08

really what we're talking about is

16:09

infusing creativity in that problem

16:11

solving in a way that's different than

16:13

just kind of that day-to-day oh I

16:15

identified a problem here's a solution

16:17

here's what we need to do and you know

16:19

and I know that we've been I mean in my

16:20

time I learn it we've we've been in some

16:21

similar scenarios before of like what do

16:23

we do now right and and have brought

16:26

people to the table to say okay pause

16:29

okay let's freak out for a minute right

16:32

and then what are we going to do right

16:34

what what what's within our control

16:36

what's not what would be the magic fairy

16:38

Juan solution to all of this what is

16:40

within our capabilities of doing what

16:42

does that timeline look like and that

16:44

creativity I think is what's really

16:45

important to problem solving and kind of

16:47

bringing bringing um you know keeping

16:49

people Tethered to planet Earth but also

16:51

bringing a solution to bear no I agree

16:54

and I like to you know looking at a big

16:56

picture and small picture big Po and

16:58

small problems in my in my book The

17:01

learn all leader I talk about also

17:02

possibility spotting right you know

17:05

because like you said there it's like

17:06

what do we do now you know and the story

17:08

I tell in my book is about okay so now

17:10

we had to Pivot learning how to Pivot

17:12

during covid to to all virtual and I

17:17

think and so for the first time ever

17:19

everybody had to go from home and and

17:21

it's like okay so how do we handle this

17:23

you know we work together as a team but

17:25

I also think when it comes to problem

17:27

solving you want to look at it like okay

17:31

here are my constraints there are

17:32

certain things I don't have like like

17:34

you just mentioned we don't have an

17:36

unlimited budget you know but so here's

17:38

our constraints you know what can we

17:41

impact what what can we work on and in a

17:43

particular case I used is making the

17:45

best out of it

17:47

is now that we're all virtual and we

17:51

maybe now is a great time to go out and

17:53

uh in our our sales were struggling you

17:55

know because of the um covid and and the

17:58

change one way to solve it let's think

18:00

differently and get creative let's hire

18:02

more sales reps outside of the Bay Area

18:05

you know there's a lot of people looking

18:06

for work right now there's some great

18:08

people out there and so to me that's

18:10

possibility spotting

18:11

finding uh things even during rough

18:15

times working within your constraints

18:17

and and making the best out of it I mean

18:19

that's another way of being creative

18:21

yeah yeah well and and I think about

18:23

that and like wow that story directly

18:25

impacts me right because if learn it

18:27

didn't go virtual I wouldn't work for

18:29

learned right because I'm not in the Bay

18:31

Area right expanding that and and for

18:34

you know obviously so many organizations

18:37

went through that same sort of process

18:39

through the pandemic of like we have to

18:41

figure out how to do business

18:42

differently how do we survive and stuff

18:45

but the thing that I find interesting

18:46

now is we're sitting you know we're

18:48

coming upon and it's crazy to think this

18:50

right like we're coming upon five years

18:51

since the onset of covid which is just

18:53

wild because it feels like it was just

18:55

last year but you think about the things

18:57

that have really St since then in a

19:00

positive way right um curbside pickup

19:02

all of these different organizations

19:04

right that um whether it's a veterinary

19:07

hospital for your dog or cat or a

19:08

restaurant or Best Buy or something like

19:11

that I mean that's creative problem

19:13

solving at its best and I applaud these

19:15

organizations that that was a survival

19:19

mechanism especially like the restaurant

19:20

industry right that was the way that

19:22

they kept their doors open so to speak

19:24

even though their doors were closed and

19:27

now they found customer base is like I

19:29

really love this right I mean it's

19:31

essentially creating a drive-through

19:32

without having to build a drive-thru and

19:35

they've continued that practice over and

19:37

over again same goes for virtual

19:38

doctor's appointments exactly you know I

19:41

mean you think of these things even the

19:43

way you know our um we we talk about

19:45

this all the time our workshops our

19:47

virtual workshops they happen in the

19:49

flow of somebody's workday so it's not

19:51

this okay I need to go and I need to

19:53

travel and be away from my family and

19:55

it's going to be this like super intense

19:56

environment just for a couple of days

19:58

our virtual trainings are like I'm doing

20:00

some work before this I do this virtual

20:02

training I do some work after this I can

20:04

apply that directly into my work it's a

20:06

different way of doing things it's it's

20:07

a perfect example of creative problem

20:10

solving and and the sustainability of

20:12

that so Mickey how can leaders ensure

20:16

that problem solving sessions that you

20:18

have you know whether you're taking a

20:19

learn class or you have a brainstorming

20:21

session can lead to actional actionable

20:25

outcomes yeah I think I think the

20:26

biggest that's that's such a great

20:28

question I think the biggest thing is

20:30

that um like everything they can't just

20:32

be conversations right we need to be

20:33

solution oriented um and and so going

20:36

through and that's I I recommend

20:37

everybody to to check out this Workshop

20:39

that we have going through a process of

20:41

really starting first honing in on what

20:42

the problem is but zoning yourself

20:44

you're going you know Divergent multiple

20:47

Alternatives lots of exploration

20:49

convergent picking out what exactly

20:51

makes sense what do we want to pursue

20:53

rolling that out um I you know I I

20:56

hesitate to use the word campaign

20:58

because people get a little like about

20:59

that but you're campaigning within your

21:02

organization to get people on board to

21:04

communicate to talk about the why that's

21:07

is is so much a part of of a lot of our

21:09

workshops is in order for something to

21:11

become actionable in order for something

21:13

to be successful people need to

21:16

understand the why right so it's not

21:17

just hey everybody we solved this

21:19

problem we have this solution but what

21:23

are we doing to involve people along the

21:25

way in the process and then helping

21:27

people understand the why and and what

21:29

the future looks like right if we do

21:31

this then we're going to have this type

21:33

of future or it's likely we're going to

21:34

have this future and then when we get to

21:36

the place of having that future hooray

21:38

we get to celebrate right you have to

21:40

bring your folks along the way every

21:42

step of the way with with the problem

21:43

solving process and I think and I'd be

21:46

you know curious on on your perspective

21:48

on this one too Damon but I mean I think

21:49

it's again another one of those examples

21:52

of top- down leadership of you know of

21:54

of helping people see behind the scenes

21:57

of how are we identifying or or

22:00

diagnosing a problem how are we

22:02

understanding the nature of the problem

22:03

how are we applying creativity in terms

22:05

of a solution have we faced this problem

22:08

before what type of potential Solutions

22:10

are we bringing which one do we choose

22:12

and why right all of these different

22:14

steps that transparency in decision-

22:16

making is is part and parcel to problem

22:19

solving and I agree with you yeah I

22:22

agree with you on that I think from a

22:24

leadership perspective if you're

22:27

transparent like you just me mentioned

22:29

if you're communicating and if you're

22:31

also vulnerable you know vulnerable with

22:33

confidence where you open up the Kerns

22:36

you let people see behind the scenes of

22:38

okay here's the steps that we're doing

22:40

this went well or maybe this didn't go

22:42

well and we could try this differently

22:44

next time I think those are all it's

22:46

like fuel for learning to to help become

22:49

and develop as better problem solvers

22:51

and I want to add into that um premortem

22:55

and post-mortems are a great way I

22:58

believe to increase the likelihood of

23:01

success in problem solving in your

23:03

organization by talking about even if

23:05

it's something's very successful asking

23:07

open-ended questions in post wartom what

23:10

went really well but what we could what

23:11

could we do differently and what

23:13

problems came up during this project or

23:17

whatever and from the premortem side

23:20

starting backwards from the premortem

23:22

side what are some blind spots that we

23:24

should be looking at and coming up with

23:26

uh creative you know proactive

23:28

approaches to solving problems and

23:31

thinking through problems is a great way

23:33

to be creative so Mickey we're kind of

23:34

coming up on time what is the name of

23:36

the workshop again that we have I mean I

23:38

should know that yeah solve problems

23:40

creatively solve problems creatively

23:42

yeah and when somebody when somebody

23:44

goes through this workshop and then they

23:46

reach back out to you afterwards what

23:48

are one or two things that they say hey

23:51

Mickey I I really learned out how to get

23:53

better at so and so yeah one of the

23:56

things we talk about in one of the steps

23:58

of of that solve problems creatively

24:00

Workshop is applying Divergent thinking

24:02

essentially of like trying to think of

24:04

as many possible uh uh Solutions as

24:06

possible um and um one of the things

24:09

that we do with that is what's called

24:11

roll storming okay and roll storming is

24:14

like brainstorming we're all familiar

24:16

with brainstorming but R storming is

24:17

when you take on the role of somebody

24:19

else and it could be the role like I am

24:22

this role in my organization and I'm

24:23

taking on this other role or it could be

24:26

like you know I'm Mickey but I'm going

24:27

to look at this problem as though I'm

24:29

Martha Stewart or Taylor Swift or

24:31

whatever that might be and obviously

24:32

like I don't know necessarily um yeah of

24:35

course Taylor Swift I love Taylor Swift

24:37

I love Taylor Swift and Martha Stewart

24:38

and a shout out to our biggest Taylor

24:40

Swift fan that learned it Elizabeth V

24:42

all right sorry ABS yeah big big shout

24:44

out for her for sure um yeah in fact I

24:46

have this uh bracelet that everybody

24:48

thinks is a a Swifty friendship bracelet

24:50

but it's actually just my four-year-old

24:51

daughter made me a bracelet that says I

24:53

love Mama but um yeah you know I think

24:55

about that roll storming is so helpful

24:57

because even if we did this internally

24:59

of you know I could look at a problem

25:01

and say like okay well if I was CEO of

25:03

an organization if I was in your role

25:05

how might I look at this or if I was in

25:07

marketing if I were a marketing

25:09

associate how would I look at this

25:10

particular thing and sometimes that roll

25:12

storming and I've actually heard this

25:14

you know again comments back from people

25:15

afterwards we see this in in the

25:17

evaluations that really helps it kind of

25:19

takes the pressure pressure off of me as

25:22

an individual because I'm thinking about

25:24

it as though I'm someone or something

25:26

else and that often times kind of Sparks

25:29

a level of creativity or a different way

25:30

of thinking about things that I just

25:32

can't do in my particular role because

25:35

we get kind of in these ruts of the way

25:36

that we think about things so that's a

25:38

big takeaway from that workshop for sure

25:39

roll storming and I know this series is

25:42

the 11 skills to master in an AI world

25:45

that never goes away but I was just

25:47

thinking listening to you when it comes

25:49

to roll storming you could also use chat

25:52

GPT for that you can say I want you to

25:55

be this type of uh I want you to be a

25:57

marketing

25:58

uh executive and roll storm with me and

26:01

ask me questions indiv one by one or

26:04

whatever so so as much as you know these

26:07

are skills that will never go away um

26:09

because we're always going to need them

26:11

these human skills uh it doesn't mean we

26:13

can't enhance them with uh AI so Mickey

26:17

as we wrap it up here I want you to kind

26:20

of do the recap share with us again the

26:23

five PS and take it home for us yeah

26:25

absolutely so we talked a lot today

26:28

about solving problems creatively and

26:30

the model that I highlighted for us is

26:31

the five PS of reframing a problems so

26:33

we started with the first one which is

26:35

perspectives how do other people see a

26:37

problem pertinent pertinent what is the

26:40

pertinent or relevant information to the

26:42

problem um what is the position what is

26:44

your position in relationship to that

26:46

problem what are the positive exceptions

26:49

meaning where are the times in which the

26:50

problem isn't a problem it's actually an

26:52

asset and then how do we actually look

26:55

at where we play favorites and so might

26:57

iing be bringing a common solution um to

27:01

a problem and that's kind of my favorite

27:03

solution and so we talked about that

27:05

five PS model we started you know the

27:06

conversation really around why it's

27:09

important for us to engage in Creative

27:11

problem solving because a lot of us

27:13

aren't actually um facing the problems

27:15

that that we were facing two years ago

27:17

five years ago 10 years ago and so it

27:19

requires us to have a certain level of

27:21

creativity to to be bringing solutions

27:24

to bear with all of this stuff and you

27:26

know I think the other thing is is

27:28

helping create environments on our teams

27:30

you talked about this I talked about

27:32

this creating an environment creating a

27:34

psychologically safe space on our teams

27:36

for people to say hey I have a different

27:38

way of looking at that or what if we did

27:40

this or what if we zoom out and we ask

27:43

really wild and crazy questions whether

27:45

it's through a premortem uh process or

27:47

an idea generating a roll storming

27:49

process so that's a bit of what we

27:51

talked about today we go into a lot more

27:52

of this in detail and that solve

27:54

problems creatively Workshop so I

27:55

encourage folks that are out there get

27:57

in touch with Damon Ray we'll get you

27:58

set up with that Workshop yeah

28:00

absolutely the link will be in the show

28:02

notes I also encourage you to check out

28:04

my book The learn itall leader because I

28:06

talk a lot about you know possibility

28:08

spotting getting creative on solving

28:10

problems and everything like that and

28:12

also please do me a favor do Mickey and

28:14

I a favor rate and review and share this

28:17

episode and our podcast with uh with

28:20

your friends because the more we get it

28:21

out there hopefully the more we can help

28:23

people and uh I want to say thank you

28:26

Mickey you're awesome connect with

28:28

Mickey on LinkedIn and until next time

28:30

everybody stay curious keep learning and

28:32

have a great day helping people have

28:35

that little bit of course correction

28:37

feedback and if you think about a

28:38

steering wheel right that little bit of

28:40

movement that we do in a steering wheel

28:42

dramatically moves the vehicle that

28:44

we're in it's the same type of thing

28:46

like everybody needs to have that

28:47

feedback to allow us to know am I doing

28:50

the right thing am I not am I kind of

28:52

there but I need a little bit of course

28:54

correction it's super important and and

28:56

that goes for both that positive

28:58

feedback as well as that constructive

28:59

feedback

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