{"id":2725,"date":"2009-07-02T14:30:57","date_gmt":"2009-07-02T21:30:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/?p=2725"},"modified":"2019-08-07T14:31:11","modified_gmt":"2019-08-07T21:31:11","slug":"problem-solving-and-shared-leadership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/?p=2725","title":{"rendered":"Problem Solving and Shared Leadership"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"birdIn the previous blog I described how the numbers of the Enneagram are the sequence in which humans would naturally solve problems.\u00a0 As an engineering manager, when I was challenged to address some large structural problems like the type I described in the first blog of this series, I looked to the Enneagram to provide a framework to guide the team to a solution. We followed the steps of the Enneagram to a successful conclusion. During the course of a problem-solving initiative, I would observe how the strengths of the team members contributed to successfully completing each step.\u00a0 I also observed how a given member\u2019s strengths might, at times, distract the team from making forward progress. Based on this understanding, I learned how to effectively hand off leadership during the course of the problem-solving process.<\/p>\n

There is a terrific book called First, Break All the Rules<\/span> by Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman.\u00a0 They talk about people having super-highways with certain abilities, and it is the job of the manager to identify those super-highways and align them with the jobs that need to get done.\u00a0 I have found this to be true in problem solving as well, and the Enneagram gives us clues as to who may have a super-highway in a given area of the problem-solving process.<\/p>\n

The first step in the problem-solving process is describing the problem itself.\u00a0 Do you know anyone who is good at this?\u00a0 Number 1 of the Enneagram describes a style often characterized as the \u201cPerfectionist.\u201d\u00a0 This type of person has a keen sense for how things \u201cshould\u201d be and knows with precision what is not right. This type will often keep lists of all the things that are not correct.\u00a0 What better resource for the problem-solving team than to have someone who can list off all the problems? This is a sure way to get the conversation with the team going to clearly describe the problem.<\/p>\n

In similar fashion, each style of the Enneagram contributes to a step in this problem-solving process: the 2 delivers the resources to help the team solve the problem; the 3 provides the creative, out-of-box solutions; the 4 and 5 provide the analysis of the ideas, both from an emotional and logical point of view; the 6 develops a plan for a risk-balanced solution; the 7 enthusiastically promotes the plan; the 8 drives the plan to completion; and, the 9 restores harmony after the changes are implemented.\u00a0\u00a0 The facilitator in possession of this framework can promote the team\u2019s adoption of each style during the process, and can look to those who are naturally gifted in a given style for leadership during that phase.<\/p>\n

Another Enneagram tidbit that I have picked up is that the hardest style for each of us to adopt is the style one number higher than our core style.\u00a0 The implication of this is that it is easy to get stuck in your area of strength and not move forward to the next step.\u00a0 There is a well known clich\u00e9 that describes one instance of this, \u201cParalysis by Analysis.\u201d\u00a0 Imagine that your team is particularly strong at analysis.\u00a0 The team may tend to play to this strength and be reluctant to move to the next step.\u00a0 It is important for the facilitator to acknowledge this and ensure that the analytical leaders pass the baton to the planning leaders to maintain progress during the initiative.<\/p>\n

After reading First, Break All the Rules<\/span>, I was left wondering how to identify the right people for the job. In other words, how do I figure out each person\u2019s super-highway? In facilitating problem-solving initiatives, I found an answer to that question in the framework of the Enneagram.\u00a0 Each of us brings a particular strength to a problem-solving initiative, and the strong team will embrace all the styles and allow each to provide leadership during the problem-solving process.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the previous blog I described how the numbers of the Enneagram are the sequence in which humans would naturally […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1485,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[610,1370,355,609],"class_list":["post-2725","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-miscellaneous","tag-enneagram","tag-leadership","tag-problem-solving","tag-shared-leadership"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2725","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1485"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2725"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2725\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14255,"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2725\/revisions\/14255"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2725"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2725"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2725"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}