Businesses are growing and evolving at a quick rate. The ones who can keep up with the pace end up flourishing and the others perish. One might think, to keep surviving businesses must keep solving problems; both, theirs’ and the societies’. But as companies have evolved, so have their problems. There are no straightforward solutions to their problems. Gone are the days when mere surface level tactics were seen as solutions.
Things like focus on innovation and change in organisational structures have shown us that problems today are more complex than they ever were. In early times a product was brought to the market, and hard selling techniques were used to force people into buying the products. Now, there are several steps in the business process. It starts before the product is even out with market research to see if there’s demand and goes beyond sales with a lot of money invested in after-sales services.
The evolution has shown us that the old method of making a product and creating a need is replaced by finding a need and creating a product. Businesses have now become problem solvers. They are dealing with a mass level of customers who like to be treated well on an individual level. Personalisation is becoming a trend. If the saying, ‘every human is different’ is true, it means that dealing with humans makes business problems very complicated as there can’t be one approach for millions of different people.
How can businesses solve these increasingly tricky problems? To solve these issues, companies need to be flexible and have an open mind. That’s why there are teams in place to handle crises and not individuals. Change in perspective is one great way to solve complex problems in business and life in general. Change in perspective means looking at these problems from many different angles. What this does is it gives you multiple solutions, and then you can choose the best solution. Also, it’s more likely to provide you with the exact cause of a problem which is very crucial when finding a solution to it. There’s a 3-step approach to help inculcate this mindset. The steps are thinking of an exception, shifting position and priming yourself.
- Thinking of an exception – The first step is to tell yourself that you are not the only one who is going through this problem. It has happened to someone in the past, and it will happen to someone in the future. This notion helps you prepare your mind-set to solve the problem. Instead of worrying about the problem, you’ll start thinking about a solution.
- Shifting position– The next step is to shift focus. You have to start thinking about the problems from different mind-sets. It is essential to do this, especially if you are dealing with a problem that involves humans. You have to think from your point of view, the customer’s point of view, the suppliers’ point of view and so on. The more perspectives you can look at the problem from the better. Shifting position has an added benefit other than give you multiple solutions. It also may make you see future issues that you didn’t consider before and make you better prepared for them. Most importantly, it helps you make an informed decision based on evaluating the consequences of various alternatives.
- Priming yourself– The last thing to remember is that there is always a solution. Never give up on a problem. It’s just that some problems take longer to solve than others. If one perspective doesn’t work, then look for another one. If it’s tough, then think about the real people in your life and how they would look at it. You could also ask them for their take on it, and maybe they’ll help you see another side of it and possibly the solution to it.
Problem-solving is an art, and especially in modern-day business, it is a necessary skill. Using perspective change leads to getting to more win-win solutions that are beneficial to not just you but others too. This, in turn, it helps foster better relationships in business and life also. Just remember there’s always a solution to a problem, you just have to look at the problem in many different ways.