Reflecting on my own experiences and observations, it’s become evident to me that there's often a rush to provide solutions in team environments. Sure, there are instances when such prompt problem-solving is highly valued, and people readily accept your solutions. However, the scope of problem-solving shouldn't be narrowed down to just offering solutions without exploring the breadth and depth of the issue at hand.
One area that we sometimes overlook is the importance of developing a clear and comprehensive context. Whether it's understanding the prevailing global trends, grasping the current issues at stake, or acknowledging the hot topics of conversation, all these facets contribute to forming a rich context. It's a comprehensive backdrop against which we can identify significant problems and subsequently, propose potential solutions.
A common pitfall we face when jumping to a solution right away is losing the engagement of our team. Imagine having a fantastic solution, something that could be a game-changer, yet as soon as someone stumbles on a tiny aspect of it, the room goes silent, and you lose their interest. It's not because your solution wasn't good. Rather, it's often because you didn't pave the way for it. You didn't offer the team a chance to understand the context in which the solution was formed. They may even assume your solution is subpar just because they didn't get to witness its genesis and development.
To ensure both the acceptance and the effectiveness of your solution, it's important to lay out a comprehensive context. It's about showing your thought process, explaining how the context influenced your solution. In doing so, you provide others the chance to come up with their own solutions or to contribute their insights. You might find that after understanding your context, your colleagues concede that your solution is the best one possible.
The other crucial benefit of providing context is that it's open for scrutiny and expansion. It's not unusual to have an incomplete or slightly skewed context. When you offer the context to the team, you're creating an opportunity for it to be challenged, to be improved. There might be crucial pieces of information that you missed, and by welcoming others to contribute, you enable the collective construction of a more robust context. Ultimately, this enhanced context might lead to an even better solution than initially proposed. This is why taking the time to build and share context can be so rewarding and impactful.