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Problem-Solving Integrity: Integrity Stimulus Plan Key #5

The Three Problem-Solving Strategies

There are only three types of problem-solving strategies: coercion, compromise and collaboration (also known as synergy).

• Coercion means trying to make someone else conform to what you think is right at the cost of long term good will and collaboration. Coercion is the preferred strategy of the power-hungry, obsessed crusaders, fanatics and terrorists.

• Compromise means all sides give up parts of what they think is right in order to meet in a mediocre middle that almost never solves issues at a root cause level. Compromise is the strategy that reasonable people use because they don't know a better strategy exists.

• Synergy is co-creating solutions that are better than what any one person or group can generate on their own.

Compromise and coercion are inferior problem-solving strategies because they prevent truly sustainable root cause solutions from emerging. Synergy is the only problem-solving strategy capable of generating sustainable solutions that repair the root causes of our problems. It is also the only problem-solving strategy that can shift us from ideological fanaticism to collaborative coexistence.

Synergy is Jigsaw Puzzle Problem-Solving

When solutions grow from seeing less than the entire big picture, as is true of coercion and compromise, they never solve the problem. Synergy approaches problem-solving like assembling a jigsaw puzzle in which all the pieces are initially face down, and you don’t know beforehand what the picture will look like when you're done. Synergy requires humility because no one person or group accurately sees the big picture all by themselves. Synergy requires two important skills:

1. Discovering Core Intentions: This is like turning upside down jigsaw pieces right-side up. Discovering core intentions requires looking beneath surface positions to discover what people really want underneath the surface positions people take or the ideologies they espouse. This strategy opens the door to far more useful solutions than can be created through engineering compromises between rigid surface positions.
2. Connecting the Dots Between Core Intentions: This is like connecting jigsaw pieces to one another to discover the picture they create together. As with a group of people assembling a jigsaw puzzle, each person tends to focus on one part of the puzzle while others focus on other parts. Only when everyone has joined together to connect all of the jigsaw pieces is the complete picture revealed to everyone. Synergy recognizes that only by combining everyone’s core intentions in a shared commitment to serve the common good will an accurate picture emerge. Since sustainable solutions only emerge after a complete picture has been assembled, synergy is the only problem-solving strategy capable of creating sustainable solutions.

Arrogance Squashes Synergy: When people insist that their perspective is the superior one, or the only legitimate one, they are essentially saying one of two things. They are either saying that only the part of the puzzle they see is real or they are saying that the part of the puzzle they see is the entire puzzle. These positions reflect arrogance not wisdom. This prevents jigsaw puzzles from being assembled so that the actual big picture is revealed. This arrogance is precisely what has been preventing us from co-creating the solutions we need. Synergy creates pragmatic solutions on behalf of the common good. Synergy honors the solid core of ethical standards permeating all of the world's major religions and does not damage individual, societal, or planetary health. Because of this, synergy transcends moral relativism.

Synergy is the First Choice: All over the world, the most widely used problem-solving strategy is coercion. Compromise is used only as a fall-back strategy when coercion doesn't work. And synergy is rarely used at all. This is the reverse of what developing sustainable solutions requires. Partisan coercion destroys long-term good will and collaboration. Bipartisan compromise creates watered down agreements that solve nothing in the long run. This is why synergy must become our first choice problem-solving strategy. Compromise should only the backup plan if all attempts at synergy fail. And coercion should only be used as a last resort in emergency situations.

What Will You Include in Your Integrity Pledge About Problem-Solving Integrity?

1. Becoming the Change

Which of the three primary problem-solving strategies (coercion, compromise, synergy) do you use first, second and third? Are you willing to master the art of synergy? Are you willing to use compromise only as a backup plan if all attempts at synergy fail, and to use coercion only as a last resort in emergency situations? Synergy only fails when problem-solvers are insufficiently trained, or insufficiently motive, to use it. What specific commitment will you make to upgrade your synergy skills?

2. Impacting Your World

Select a specific action you will take to help promote a societal shift to synergy-centered problem solving. Here are some possibilities:

• Family: I will teach my children the art of synergy and will encourage them to make synergy their first choice problem-solving strategy. I will also teach them how and when to use compromise and coercion when synergy is not an option.
• Media: I will lobby the media to bluntly report which of the three problem-solving strategies are being used in the negotiations and interventions they cover. (Specify which media you will contact and how you will do this, such as writing letters to the editor, contacting show producers, calling in to talk shows, etc.).
• Schools: I will lobby schools in my community (from elementary through graduate school), or that I work or am otherwise connected with, to incorporate synergy training into their curriculum.
• Places of Worship: I will get mine to sponsor synergy training programs.
• Service Organizations: I will encourage the ones I am affiliated with adopt synergy strategies and to teach them with the groups with which they interface.
• Businesses: In a business where I am an owner, executive, employee, vendor, stakeholder or customer I will educate them about the benefits of making synergy their first choice problem-solving strategy.
• Government: I will vote first and foremost for candidates most devoted to bringing synergy-centered problem-solving strategies to government.
• Internet: I will use the internet to increase people’s understanding of the three problem-solving styles, the importance of mastering synergy, and how to do that. (You can do this by e-mailing people you know, providing information on your website, blogging on other websites, and/or posting information on social networking sites to which you belong).
• Other: You specify.

Decide who you will contact, what you will say or do, how this will happen, and when you will do this. Then do it.

Revisit your commitments every six months to decide whether it’s time to modify them.

Click on this link when you are ready to look at resources for going further with the material in this Integrity Stimulus Plan.