What approach do you take to problem-solving? What if you could figure out the approach other people take and use that information to influence them?
Some people tend to stick with one way to address problems. Others gravitate toward new ways of tackling issues. Influencing language expert Shelle Rose Charvet explains how you can identify a person’s dominant problem-solving style and communicate with them in a language they understand.
Keep reading for Charvet’s tips along with some supplemental advice from workplace coach John Whitmore.
Problem-Solving Styles
What Charvet calls the “Reason” category describes how attached someone is to one specific way of solving a problem: Their problem-solving style is either reliable or innovative. Reliable people identify one way to solve a problem and strive to consistently repeat their successes in the same way, while innovative people are always on the lookout for new and better ways to solve the same problems.
You can tell someone is reliable if they describe their actions as if they were out of their control, writes Charvet. For example, a reliable person would tell you “I had to stay six hours overtime last week to finish up that urgent project.” Innovative people, on the other hand, will dissect the factors influencing every decision they make and highlight the other choices they could have made: “I could have left that project for Monday rather than putting in extra hours, but I wanted my boss to see how dedicated I am. Plus, I thought it’d be nice to grab an overtime bonus before the holidays.”
To communicate effectively, mirror the other person’s view of problem-solving: Emphasize either the one right way to do something or the variety of options they have when approaching it.
| How to Inspire Disempowered Workers Sometimes, people who describe everything in their lives as if they lack control don’t prefer to solve problems in a consistent way; rather, they may believe that they lack the power to pursue new ways of solving problems. In the workplace, this belief can prevent employees from taking action in situations where they’d be more effective than anyone else, limiting innovation and hurting the organization. In Coaching for Performance, John Whitmore argues that to make employees feel empowered, leaders need to push them to set and complete their own goals. Additionally, whereas Charvet might recommend mirroring someone’s language, Whitmore suggests intentionally asking questions that lead them to answer with language that emphasizes how passionate and engaged they feel about their work. Getting an employee excited will help them take ownership of the work, which in turn will help them realize that they have the power (and responsibility) to accomplish something. According to Whitmore, this often involves following broad questions about the work with more specific leading questions. For example, if you’re a mentor who asks your mentee a question like “What do you want to accomplish with this project?”, you can then prompt them to take ownership with the more detailed question “What more do you want to accomplish with this project?” It makes sense that once an employee feels empowered, they’ll feel capable enough to pursue new ways to solve problems—if they’re a naturally innovative person at work, that is. Or they may be naturally reliable and still choose to solve problems in the same way. Either way, empowering them with decision-making agency will likely help them be themselves in the workplace. |
