Dealing with Problems by Ignoring Them—Part I
Problem Metaphors
Introduction
Obviously, it matters how we think about problems. But it matters not only how we think about the specific problems we are currently addressing, but equally how we understand the nature of problems in general. This week we begin this two-part article by considering some alternative, plausible metaphors for thinking about what exactly a “problem” is in the first place, and land on one of them as being the most useful.
—Ellen and James
Dealing with Problems by Ignoring Them—Part I: Problem Metaphors
Problems as Opportunities
A few years back there was a brief vogue in management for studiously referring to problems, in all seriousness, as “opportunities”— which by now has degenerated into merely jocular usage. Nonetheless, there is a grain of truth in thinking of any particular problem as representing “a good chance for advancement or progress,” as the dictionary defines “opportunity.”
A problem is certainly an opportunity for devising a useful and valuable solution, and so an opportunity for improvement (necessity being the mother of invention, and all that).
In what follows this week and next, we will see just how problems do indeed function as opportunities, though not quite in the way people typically imagine.
Problems as Calamities
Oftentimes people, and especially journalists fishing for clicks, tend to think of a problem as a calamity—a cause for handwringing, wailing and gnashing of teeth, something to have a panic about, and tears before bedtime. Need I aver, this is “human, all too human,” but far from the most constructive way to view a problem. Panicking is dangerous, for one thing, in ways we cannot yet see, and it doesn’t get us any nearer to avoiding the danger that we can see all too clearly.
Problems as Issues
The currently fashionable euphemism “issue” (meaning “problem”) is relatively neutral and perfectly okay, just so long as we don’t assume we ever know what the issue actually is, or rather is best taken to be, and so long as we are careful not to assume that the issue is or need be the same for everyone involved and from all points of view—far from it!
If something is still an issue, we can’t address it because we don’t even know yet where it lives, and we cannot set about resolving it because we cannot yet know what it is that needs resolving.
Figuring out what—if anything—is “really” at issue in the first place is the biggest challenge to be met when faced with any problem. I’m more inclined to say that if we knew what the issue really was it wouldn’t be an issue for us any more.
Problems as Puzzles
There may be some merit at times in thinking of a problem as a puzzle to be teased apart and figured out.
However, the puzzle metaphor only gives the problem far more attention than is its due. People who enjoy solving puzzles for entertainment tend to find solving puzzles enjoyable and entertaining—and we all do, to some extent, hence the temptation to be strenuously resisted.
For in practical affairs, solving puzzles is a time-consuming diversion in both senses of the word—an idle pastime and a regrettable detour—and in any case a distraction to be avoided.
Problems as Challenges
Again, there was a one-time vogue for referring to problems euphemistically as “challenges”—a use of language that has not entirely died out.
We can happily refer to problems as “challenges” as far as I am concerned —no problem!—but only so long as we are thinking of these not as challenges to be met, let alone addressed with great effort and persistence, so much as challenges to be declined or shied away from, as when we refrain from picking up the gauntlet when dared to fight a duel we need not fight and cannot win, or decide not to gatecrash the party after all, when we are challenged at the door by an overwhelmingly large and unfriendly bouncer who clearly has taken an instant dislike to us.
Problems as Obstacles
Rather than conceiving of a problem as an opportunity to be exploited, an issue to be addressed or resolved, a calamity to be rued, a puzzle to be solved or a challenge to be met, it may be better instead to think of a problem as a merely irritating obstacle in our way, too heavy to remove, which we must therefore, somehow, deftly skirt ‘round. Which is, as you may have gleaned from the title, nearer to the way I like to think about problems.
Problems as Blind Alleys
Better still, however, a problem might best be thought of as a dead end. That is, a problem might best be thought of as an invitation to turn around, retreat and retrace our steps—an opportunity, that is, to rethink.
For when confronted by a problem it is usually best to turn back and find another way to our intended destination.
While a problem with a ready and wholly workable solution is not any longer a problem at all but just a clear way forward, by contrast, a problem without a solution is a blind alley, a failed attempt to proceed a certain way. That’s what makes it problematic—our selected expedients have proved to be unfit for, or unequal to the task.
When you are at an impasse you need to turn around and go back and try a different avenue. There is no other way to find a path through any labyrinth. When confronted by a problem (as opposed to an easily negotiated difficulty), we should never just press on—rather, we should beat a hasty retreat.
It is a pity, then, that rather than viewing stubbornly persistent problems as blind alleys, wrong turnings prompting us to retrace our steps and start again, most people tend to approach a problem—particularly a seemingly intractable problem—as if it were a challenge to be overcome, an opportunity for a fresh triumph, a heroic resumption of the struggle against the perverse elements and against daunting odds, a provocation to a romantic adventure—with yet another dragon to be slain.
In short, too often people tend to see a problem as one more instance of the universal challenge to noble man’s indomitable will, or some such nonsense.
But again, we ought instead to see a problem for what it is: merely a particular, curious, local, temporary setback inviting a quiet retreat and rethink. The problem we encounter should merely be an indication that we’re going about this wrong.
Okay, so we have a quiet retreat and a rethink. Now what? This is the question we will pick up next week, in Part II of this article: “The Futility of Problem Solving”…
© Copyright 2010, 2023 Dr James Wilk
The moral right of the author has been asserted