Welcome to the Intentional Leaders Podcast with Cyndi Wentland. Where we’re all about creating confident, successful, and focused leaders who manage with purpose and impact. I’m Cyndi Wentland, the founder of Intentionaleaders. And I’m passionate about learning, teaching, and coaching on all things leadership related. My purpose is to equip leaders like you with the tools, resources, and support to accomplish your goals. To learn when you want, how you want. So, if you’re an aspiring leader, first-time manager, experienced executive, or you just want to make a bigger impact in your role as an individual contributor—this podcast is for you. Because each week we’ll focus on relevant, applicable, and easy to implement skills and practices—to create focus and a deliberate path to employee engagement and business results. I know that leadership has its challenges but learning to lead shouldn’t be one of them.
Problem solving might be the most underrated leadership skill – one we use daily but rarely examine critically. How much time do you spend tackling problems each week? And more importantly, how many of those "problems" are actually legitimate issues versus complaints, venting, or whining?
This episode challenges leaders to distinguish between genuine problems (those with measurable gaps and consequences) and vague complaints that lack substance. A real problem sounds like "Our turnover is 20% above industry standard" rather than "Our morale sucks." Without this crucial distinction, we waste valuable time and energy on issues that can't be meaningfully addressed.
The 1-3-1 model offers a streamlined approach to problem solving: identify the specific problem, generate creative solutions that break from conventional thinking, and implement effectively. But the most surprising insight might be how our brains form problem-solving patterns early in our careers that become automatic – meaning we solve problems the same way for decades without evaluating whether our approach still works. Even worse, by positioning yourself as the ultimate problem-solver, you might unwittingly create "learned helplessness" in your team, undermining their growth while overwhelming yourself.
Critical thinking emerges as the foundation of effective problem solving – focusing on logic rather than emotion, eliminating biases, and recognizing that decision-making is its own discipline with various approaches suited to different situations. Are you using the right decision-making style for each challenge? Ready to transform your approach?
Take our new course in Intentional Problem Solving available now: https://www.intentionaleaders.com/intentional-problem-solving-leaders-course
Be the Best Leader You Know
Perform with Power, Lead with Impact, Inspire Growth
Welcome to the Intentional Leaders Podcast. I'm your host, cindy Wettlund, and today we're talking problems, your problems specifically. I have a lot, but we don't have to bring that up in this episode, and I want you to think about your problems. But also, how much time do you think you spend on problem solving per day or per week? And I would be all all inclusive, not just things that come up for you, but things that people bring to you. And now let's think bigger Problems challenges, complaints, venting, whining oh, do you hear any of that?
Speaker 1:
Well, all of those negative issues aren't created equal. And that is the most important part of good problem solving. And I think this is a really cool area to explore, because many years ago I was asked to teach a class about tactical management and I thought, yeah, tactical management, like I can do that. And then I got into the course and it was all about problem solving, critical thinking and continuous improvement and I was like ew, yuck, I don't even want to take this course, teach it. But then I realized like this is really cool. This is really a discipline that so many of us are not exposed to. A lot of people just go through life solving problems. They're like I'm a good problem solver or I'm not a good problem solver or I'm not a good decision maker, or whatever it is, without thinking about how to be both efficient at it, how to be effective at it, how to solve problems in a way that's sustainable, and also how to get rid of all the complaints and negativity and the whining. Can you do it? Yes, yes, you can, and today we're going to talk a little bit about that.
Speaker 1:
So, first things first, when we think about problems and problem solving, we have to make sure we're actually solving a problem, because you probably hear a lot, and I bet if you wrote down now all the things that are in your head that are really bugging you about well, about work, and let's limit it to three to five and if you picked out three to five things that are really stressing you out or keeping you awake at night or whatever, or keeping you awake at night or whatever what would those three to five things be? And when we look at those things, we have to define are they a legitimate problem? And problems, by definitions, are deviations or gap. If you have something that's very general and very emotional, like our morale sucks, our communication stinks, our turnover is horrific. If you have things that are written down you probably don't, but other people might that are just generalizations or emotional reactions, that don't really have any meat to them, meaning any facts, any evidence, any consequences to not solving the problem, then you might be veering towards the complaint category. But a problem is a definite gap. Our turnover is this percentage, industry standard is this percentage, and there's a gap and we're trending in the wrong direction. And we're trending in the wrong direction. Or our productivity is X it needs to be Y and there's a clear gap. Or our sales goals are X, we're at Y, and it's a clear gap.
Speaker 1:
That is a problem and it's only then that you can do great problem solving. And I came across a process and this was a few years ago. It's called the 1-3-1 model of problem solving and it's a great strategy for simplifying and being more rapid in problem solving. But you need a good problem first before you're doing it, before applying it or using it. But one the first step is identifying the problem and what you're really trying to accomplish. Two is generating good solutions and being creative around your thinking and innovative, getting people unstuck from the way we've always done it or oversimplifying the solutions and then the third step is deciding on the best solution and implementing it effectively. So there is so much to good problem solving and I think sometimes we don't step back to intentionally recognize what it takes to solve good problems. And we do.
Speaker 1:
Problem solving in a certain it's going to pay attention to is how you solve problems, the approach you utilize, the information that you typically consider. Do you go with logic? Do you go with your gut? How do you approach it? How do you approach problems and deciding? And then it's going to try to replicate that for you. So next time you don't have to think about it, but 10 years later or 15 years later or 20 years later, 30 years later, you're solving problems and making decisions in a similar way and you're not even stepping back to consider what is working about that and what is not working.
Speaker 1:
So I think job one in being a good problem solver is recognizing that it is one of the most complex cognitive skills. It's what differentiates us from other creatures on the planet. But when we don't explore how we're doing it and we don't get a little reality check about what are we doing well and what's actually working, about our style and practices and skills and strategies and what is not, it's very difficult to get better at it. And then for all of you who tell me almost every day I want to be a leader who leads by example, what example are you setting around problem solving and decision making? And if you don't know the example that you're setting, how can other people model it? Or if you just think I'm really good at it and I want people to bring me the problem because that's what I think my job is, then you become part of the problem, right, because you're solving problems and you're really and I say this with love and affection you might be contributing to learned helplessness, right? People think, well, I gotta go to Cindy because she's a great problem solver, obviously. And then they come to me, and so then they rely on me rather than relying on their own confidence, their own competence, to get it done.
Speaker 1:
So when we break down problem solving and make it actionable, make it disciplined, make it purposeful and intentional, we can then help other people to do it better. But it starts with being able to clarify what is a legitimate problem. It also is enhanced by using a problem-solving process that really creates a strong link to good critical thinking. It also is important to recognize that decision-making is its own practice and process. There's lots of different styles to decide, and are you using the one that is most appropriate for the situation? So maybe you're great at problem identification and even solutioning to that problem. How are you deciding? And are you deciding, again, with a deliberate style in mind and a deliberate strategy in mind?
Speaker 1:
So when I look back at the Cindy a few years ago, many I look at that class and I kind of wish I could teach that again. You know why? Because I would have a lot more passion than I did that very first semester where I was like what are we doing, what are we doing here and why are we doing it? And why do I have to learn all of these continuous improvement and ways of measuring stuff? I did not like that part, but that's the problem solving process too. Right Is analyzing data, looking for patterns and trends, looking at how to improve things, and now I see the light, but it was a long time coming.
Speaker 1:
So the good news is you can start any time to think about your practices. You can think about how to really define problems more crisply and in a more structured way. You can also utilize a process as a way to help guide your team, provide some direction and focus. You can also encourage good critical thinking, which means we're focusing on logic, not on emotion. We're trying to eliminate biases. We're not just thinking longer and harder, we're thinking with higher quality. You can start all those things today.
Speaker 1:
With that said, you might think, cindy, you just said this is the most complex thing we could be doing. I need some help. Well, the good news is I'm creating a course for this very thing. News is I'm creating a course for this very thing, and ironically, it's called intentional problem solving, and it is breaking down all of these steps that I just mentioned, plus a lot more. So it's going to be focused on providing the tools, the skills, the strategy to make this vision come true for you.
Speaker 1:
And here's the vision, here's the painting of the picture. It's going to be you going into work and there are going to be people coming to you, but they're coming to you not with all their problems and all their whining and complaining Not that a complaint is not important but they're going to come to you with well thought out ideas or solutions or actions, rather than relying on you, and that is going to be. I tell you what, in classes, when I saw students learning these skills and doing this better, there was so much excitement in me personally and joy to watch the evolution of them getting better at this very complex skill. So if you want a learning experience to learn how to do this, it's coming soon. So check out our newsletter, our website. There'll be more details to come and this will help, maybe inspire you, maybe dust off some things that you've learned in the past that you want to refocus on, or maybe it's a jumping off point for you to get really good at this and learn some great disciplines right from the get-go.
Speaker 1:
Maybe you're a new leader, maybe you're an experienced one, it does not matter. This will be a course designed for you, and I am so excited about it I was actually excited to teach it too. All right, if you are. If you enjoyed this Intentional Leaders podcast episode, please share it with others, if you like it, if you review it, if you share it, if you subscribe. All of that helps to get the message out to more people, which is my number one goal. So, and, of course, please leave me a note or a message I would love to hear from you as well with other topics that you want to explore, or what you think about effective problem solving and your personal journey with learning to be deliberate and intentional, with being a good leader around problem solving. So, until next episode, be intentional and I hope you have a good rest of your week.
