Momentum towards useful change

How to Think Differently to Drive Results Innovation Training and Development 

Michael Cardus

Imagine a solved version of the problematic situation by:

• making exceptions into the rule,
• changing the location of the complaint pattern,
• changing who is involved in the complaint pattern,
• changing the order of the steps involved,
• adding a new element or step to the complaint pattern,
• increasing the duration of the pattern,
• introducing arbitrary starting and stopping,
• increasing the frequency of the pattern,
• changing the modality of the problematic behavior.

– Steve de Shazer – Clues pp 99

Each of the above suggestions for change that is different are useful as a skeleton-key to break a pattern and cause you to take notice of what is different and what difference that makes.

I am cautious about the work ‘imagine’  because it may lead us to believe that we are creating a utopian end point.

I’ve argued before that utopian end points ignore the past, create self-imposed stress, and increase resistance due to the fact that they are generally achievable.  In this context imagine is used to hold and slightly vary a pattern of thinking that we currently have in the face of the problem.

Leadership, change, problem solving is contextual interaction. There is an example of something that is a problem and it is worth improving. Knowing the context and observing the interactional difference within the suggestions above may be a skeleton-key that is close enough to open the door to cooperation, then create some momentum towards useful change.