We all do it. Many times a day without even thinking about it.
We see a problem and go straight to a solution. Sometimes the problem is obvious.
I cut my finger and it’s bleeding. I need a bandage.
Much of the time the problem isn’t that simple, and the solution we zero in on can become the problem.
My career is stalling. I need a promotion.
I need to exercise more. I’ll get a bike.
I need more space for my woodworking. I’m going to expand and remodel my garage.
What do these all have in common?
They’re anchor problems. So-named because we’ve anchored a solution into a problem statement. Then the solution becomes the problem to solve. Get a promotion. Get a bike. Redo the garage.
Most problems have multiple solutions. A career that feels stalled might be addressed by expanding an existing role, going back to school, changing professions, or starting a fun side gig.
Getting more exercise might have nothing to do with a bike. More woodworking space could just require some de-junking, or finding a cool co-woodworking space.
And, the more wicked — difficult, complex, hard to solve — the problem is, the more an anchor can keep us stuck.
First introduced in Designing Your Life (DYL), identifying and reframing anchor problems is a powerful tool.
Know thy problem
Steve Jobs famously said, “If you define the problem correctly, you almost have the solution.”
The DYL authors tell us to pause before solutioning and be a data scientist to our problem.
Your career is stalled. What does stalled actually mean to you? What are examples? If you track your activities and energy levels for a few weeks, what does that reveal? And, importantly, ask yourself “if this stalled career problem was solved, what would success look and feel like?”
Another tool for understanding the real problem is something called a “jobs to be done” framework explained in the example below.
In the mid-2000s, a condo development in Detroit aimed at downsizers was designed and built according to what buyers said they wanted. The units were priced to sell. And the marketing campaign brought tons of prospective buyers.
When the lookers didn’t turn into buyers, confounded, the developer hired an innovation consultant to do some detective work.
The consultant studied people who had actually purchased the condos.
His sleuthing revealed a clue. While prospective buyers repeatedly said they didn’t need a formal dining room, the actual buyers kept saying, “As soon as I figured out what to do with my dining room table, I was free to move.” The dining room table?
These weren’t valuable heirlooms. Many had seen better days. Yet they represented something much deeper — decades of nightly dinners, birthdays, holidays, graduation celebrations, homework and projects. If a relative didn’t want it, they couldn’t bear to part with it.
THAT stopped the purchase.
The consultant realized the problem wasn’t simply downsizing. People were in the psychological throes of a jarring transition. They were leaving a treasured life behind.
The condo developer reconfigured the units to allow for a dining room table. And to ease the transition, they arranged and paid for the move, offered two years of free storage, and a staging area where people could lay out their stuff, decide what to keep and what to get rid of over time.
That brought success. When the housing crisis hit and industry sales were off 49%, the developer's condo business was up 25%.
This jobs to be done framework can be a handy tool for seeing past anchor problems. “My career is stalled, I need a promotion” can be probed by asking: What jobs do I want my career to do for me? What’s the financial job? The emotional job? The social job? The physical job? The learning/skill building job? Similar for exercising and woodworking space.
Shots on goal
Design thinkers know not to go with the first solution that comes to mind and the more ideas we have to solve a problem the better our final solution will be.
After choosing a path from several ideas, prototype it — try your solution on before going all in.
Surprising things can happen when we take the time to think our problems through. One client a few years ago thought her problem was mostly her nightmare boss (and that was a truth!).
Yet after a little question-asking and some creative brainstorming, the underlying problem had been nowhere on her radar. She realized her heart wasn’t in working in manufacturing. She was drawn to the people side of the business.
When she got past her anchor problem and made the switch to the people function, she was right at home from the start and continues to thrive.
What anchors could use a little aweigh-ing in your life?
Sunday Morning: 180