As an Action Learning Coach how would you handle the following situation:
When members of the team read their problem statement, what they read is clearly a solution. For instance – “Joe needs to hire me to do a team building activity with his team”.
I would ask: Is there agreement – yes, no or close? and proceed with the standard script. I would let the team learn in due course – it’s likely they would soon realize that problem needs to be redefined.
I would ask the individual to rephrase it into a question to ask of the group, or ask simply what is the problem they would like a solution to. If this was proving challenging, I would invite them to phrase the problem as “my problem is that……”. I would coach the individual until there was a clear problem emerging. If this did not work, I would let the team run with the outcome of this coaching, and intervene when appropriate to get consensus from the group on what the problem is.
I will say to the team:
I find what we state is a solution instead of a problem.
And I will explain them the difference and what a proper problem statement should be. Then I will tell them when stating a problem, what kind of elements should be covered.
Then I will clarify their understanding and ask them to write down the problem again.
If necessary, I will give them some examples of problem statement.
to prevent this situation from happening I would have a brief meeting with the problem presenter beforehand in preparation for the session. I would explain the importance of presenting a problem that is real, current, unresolved and have significant strategic importance for the organisation in order stimulate creativity from the group and achieve to great solutions.
During the AL session I would intervene and ask the presenter what is the problem they would like the group to discuss. I would then let the session start and at the first opportunity I would ask if there is agreement on the problem.
I would say “it sounds like we are shifting to solution” “have we come to a consensus on the problem?
I would intervene by observing that it seems that a solution has been offered, rather than a problem, and ask the problem presenter to elaborate whether this is the case or not. I would then perhaps follow up, by asking whether the problem presenter may wish to rephrase the problem, based on their responses to my previous question.