The Right Kind of Optimism?

All organisations want to create a positive and optimistic workplace culture.  Every responsible CEO knows that a can-do mindset is fundamental to performance, engagement and workplace wellbeing.  But very few of us consider whether we are generating the right kind of optimism, and the implications if we’re not. 
 
In Prof. Steven Pinker’s best-selling polemic on rational thinking ‘Enlightenment Now,’ he quotes the Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Romer. When it comes to problem solving, Romer distinguishes between two very different forms of optimism; complacent optimism and conditional optimism. Imagine that complacent optimism is the hopeful feeling a child has while waiting for their presents to arrive on morning of their birthday.  Conditional optimism is quite different. It can best be understood as the feeling a child might have when he or she is desperate to have their own treehouse and they realise that if they can get parental permission, and if they get hold of some wood and nails, and if they can persuade the other kids in the neighbourhood to lend a hand, they can actually build one.


 
As problem solving professionals, my colleagues and I have a responsibility to create the ideal structures and systems for conditional optimism, both for the individuals we train, and for the organisations we advise.  Fortunately, we see that when effective problem solving teams are assembled, and they work to a proven structure, most stubborn problems can be solved, tough decisions made and challenging events understood. Particularly so, if that structure adheres to the core structure of Root Cause Analysis (RCA). Namely;
 

• Assemble a great team and systematically gather all the available data
• Understand the problem or challenge you want to tackle - including the impacts
• Champion evidence-based analysis (ideally visual) over narrative and opinion 
• Stress-test your potential solutions against key criteria
• Report clearly, to transform institutional learning and corporate memory