I've Got it Cracked - Its the Lentils

Working with organisations and complex problems on a day to day basis I notice that there is a mindset in many organisations that looks a little bit like this; the bigger or more important the problem is perceived to be, the bigger or more expensive the solution has to be.
 
So when I stumbled across a TED talk called Sweat The Small Stuff, from  Rory Sutherland, Vice-Chairman of Olgilvy, I was captivated. He explores the idea that there is a strange dislocation in the behaviour of many organisations when they are trying to solve big problems. He suggests that there is a tendency for organisations to go ‘head-down’ and deploy maximum blunt force when they are in problem solving mode. That in a great many instances there is a disconnect between the perception of what will get people to behave in a certain way compared to the things that actually do influence people. By adhering to this dysfunctional approach many organisations remain oblivious to the opportunity for targeted, effective and sometimes, if we’re lucky, simple solutions.
 
Perhaps an example of this is speed control on our roads – it has been found that those friendly little road side alerts that flash your car speed (occasionally adding a little smiley face or a frown) greatly influence speed and are significantly more effective at preventing road accidents than their big scary alternatives; speed cameras, with their menacing design and genuine threat of actual punishment – blunt force.
 
What is evident is that when you are seeking to solve a complex problem you really (really!) need to understand the fullest range of why things may or may not be working effectively. There is a benefit of understanding the motivations and experiences of individuals rather than just relying on the established wisdom of what ‘should’ work.
 
“It’s so much easier to suggest ‘solutions’ when you don’t know too much about the problem.”
- Malcolm Forbes

Esther Duflo, one of the leading experts in the eradication of poverty in the developing world, clearly demonstrates this approach – her understanding of human behaviour leads to powerful, yet simple, solutions. Drawing on the principles of behavioural economics, Duflo explains in her Ted Talk: Social Experiments to Fight Poverty that a truly effective way to encourage the inoculation of children in Africa is by making it a social event. She has thoroughly explored the complex issue of low inoculation rates from multiple perspectives. Through this she has identified that if you arrive at an inoculation centre with several other mothers, your sense of confidence and likelihood to complete the inoculation process is much greater than if you turn up alone.
 
In her example, the solution of creating a social event is supported by other simple solutions, for example, offering a kilo of lentils to everybody who participates, thus incentivising and rewarding positive behaviour.  These are relatively small actions.  Things which, in a business or a governmental context, could be viewed as very trivial, almost embarrassing in their simplicity. But they work.
 
Sutherland postulates that if you were a senior person at a UNESCO conference and someone asks, "So what are you doing to tackle world poverty?" that standing up and saying, "I've got it cracked; it's the lentils!" might not feel like a significant or large enough action. That big important problems can’t have simple solutions – they need to have big important and expensive solutions in order to work. 
 
What this example from Duffalo shows us is the absolute importance of understanding a problem from multiple perspectives.  Using this, we can uncover effective solutions that break the chain of causality – even if they are simple and inexpensive. These skills, and many others, are delivered in Sologic’s Root Cause Analysis (RCA) problem solving training. To learn more, click HERE.