{"id":808,"date":"2014-06-17T10:00:51","date_gmt":"2014-06-17T08:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/?p=808"},"modified":"2023-11-16T10:27:41","modified_gmt":"2023-11-16T09:27:41","slug":"ask-the-right-question","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/ask-the-right-question\/","title":{"rendered":"Ask the right question"},"content":{"rendered":"

Every problem has a solution. What separates the people that find the solutions from those that get hopelessly stuck is simple: asking the right questions.<\/em><\/p>\n

Before rushing towards a solution\u2026 pause. Take a breath and ask yourself; what is it I have to solve? Every problem can be redefined and every problem should<\/em> be redefined. Look at what you\u2019re faced with. Can you rephrase your challenge?<\/p>\n

When you rephrase the problem, different solutions appear. Even the slightest change in the definition of your problem can lead to vastly different solutions. Compare the question \u2018How can I do all this work before next month?\u2019 to \u2018How can I get<\/em> all this work done<\/em> before next month?\u2019 The first question will steer you towards solutions like working longer hours, working weekends, cancelling time-consuming parties or simply working more efficiently. The second question, however, might lead you to involve other people to get the work done together<\/em>. Perhaps you need to outsource the non-essentials to India, perhaps you need to hire an assistant or maybe another department has to be involved.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s look at some real life examples of redefining a challenge:<\/p>\n

Follow the rain<\/strong>
\nIn 1954 the first commercial television network in the UK saw the light of day. The broadcasting rights per region were being auctioned. Many parties wanted in on the action and most of them employed analysts to find out what were the wealthiest regions. They understandably assumed that the wealthiest regions would generate the highest advertisement revenues. They asked themselves: \u2018How do we get the broadcasting rights for the wealthiest regions?<\/em>\u2019 One man had a different approach. Sidney Bernstein reasoned that he should probably focus on the regions where people spent the most time actually watching TV. Therefore, his question was: \u2018How do I get the broadcasting rights of the regions where people watch TV the most?<\/em>\u2019 This led him to a different approach. Instead of focussing on the wealthiest regions, he bid on the WETTEST regions. Broadcasting in the rainy North of the UK proved to be a good decision and Granada Television eventually became one of the most successful British production companies in history.<\/p>\n

Saving ink<\/strong>
\nWe all know that ink is costly. In many offices employees are strongly advised to cut down on their printing habits. The question many companies ask themselves is \u2018How can we bring back the number of printed pages?<\/em>\u2019 However, there are many ways of redefining this challenge. What if you would ask yourself \u2018How can we save ink?<\/em>\u2019 This is exactly the challenge that Alexander Kraaij took on. He developed \u2018Ecofont<\/a>\u2019, a font specially designed to save on printer ink. The font has minuscule holes in every character that are invisible to the naked eye. Yet remarkably, using this font saves up to 28% in ink consumption.<\/p>\n

Treat them like babies<\/strong>
\nThe last example I\u2019ll give you is the remarkable story\u00a0of the sheriff of Duval County, Florida. The police chief was faced with a troubling occurrence. During spring break, college students would visit the coast and get drunk. The students would cause all sorts of trouble, and traditional approach did not seem to stop them. Therefore the police asked themselves \u2018How can we punish these youngsters more severely?<\/em>\u2019 It was decided that the unruly students would be transferred to a county jail. Unfortunately, this made things even worse. When the students got out the next day, they went home and bragged to their friends about how tough they were. After all, they had done jail time. After noticing this, Sheriff Dale Carson decided to approach the problem differently. He redefined the challenge and asked himself \u2018How can we embarrass these students for breaking the law?<\/em>\u2019 His solution was as simple as it was effective. \u201cSince they were acting like babies, we treated them like babies,\u201d said the sheriff. Instead of feeding the inmates water and bread, the sheriff decided to feed them baby food. The news of the new policy spread fast and suddenly it was no longer \u2018cool\u2019 to tell your friends you had been jailed. One single day of serving baby food was enough to put a stop to the unrest.<\/p>\n

A similar approach<\/a> has been repeated in Colombia to battle traffic violations.<\/p>\n

What is your biggest challenge? And how might you rephrase it? Let me know in the comment box below.<\/span> Who knows what innovative approaches we can come up with together.<\/p>\n

If you enjoyed reading this article, feel free to share it with your network by hitting one of the\u00a0buttons below. This way other people can benefit from the article as well.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Every problem has a solution. 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