Marcus

Instead of looking at the surface of things, systems thinking asks that you look deeper into how these structures are created and how they interact with one another.

Fourth, to harness the energies of a system, you must get to know how feedback loops work. Top-down styles of thinking and of management no longer respond nimbly and successfully to challenges: if the communication is only going in one direction, then the system gets bogged down in routines, misinformation, and mistrust. Feedback loops can occasionally work against us, as in a reinforcing loop. This is like a recording getting stuck, repeating the same line over and over again. If we are only telling ourselves one story, then it becomes dominant, and the system gets out of balance.

James Webb Young (1960) identified a five-step creative process to develop new ideas.
1. Gather materials
2. Digest the information
3. Ignore the information – let it incubate (e.g., go for a walk, go to a movie)
4. An idea will appear out of nowhere
5. Apply the idea to the real world
Graham Wallas (2014) identified a similar process.
1. Preparation
2. Incubation
3. Illumination
4. Verification

The model we are discussing is the IDEA model. The name is an acronym that stands for the following:
I: Identify the problem
D: Develop solutions to the problem
E: Execute the plan
A: Assess the outcome

Step 1: Identify the Problem
Identifying the problem is the first and most important step when you are facing an uncomfortable situation of any kind. The goal of this step is to help you clearly define the issue.
Whenever you face any issue, the first thing you need to do is ask yourself a simple question: “What is the problem?”
It is useful to write down or type out your problems. Let us use the example of Matt and assume that the problem you are facing is that of organization. In this case, you would type/write.
“What is the problem?”
You would then think about it deeply and perhaps come back with an answer such as the one below:
“I have so much to do and very little time. I feel hurried and stressed.”
Now that you have stated the problem clearly, where do you go from here? Do you create solutions right

away? Creating solutions immediately is what most people do, and unfortunately, this approach is usually inefficient. Attempting to solve problems without having enough information leads to partial solutions that do not solve the problem completely.
Solving problems is like treating a sickness. If a doctor only treats the symptoms of an illness like malaria, the fever may go away, but the illness persists. The same applies to problems: you have to diagnose and treat the root of the problem.
Getting to the root of a problem involves probing and digging deeper into the underlying issue. To help you do this, the nature of the question changes from that of “What” to that of “Why?”
Asking yourself “why” questions and answering them as clearly as possible will bring the underlying issues to the surface. These underlying issues are the primary target and the very things you need to solve in order to overcome a problem situation.

nce you have answers to the ‘what’ question, you continue the self-querying by typing/writing the following questions:
“Why is this a problem for me?”
“Why do I feel hurried and stressed?”
“Why do I have very little time?”
Once you think through these questions, you may develop answers such as:
“Because I have to balance work and study.”
“Because I have no plan.”
“Because the material looks like too much to cover so rapidly in very little time.”
As you can see, why-related questions help bring the underlying issues to the forefront. If you decide to start coming up with potential solutions at this point, your solutions will not be premature. Nevertheless, prodding a bit more could serve you well.
Prodding further involves asking more “why” questions. The idea is to keep questioning the answers you uncover until you arrive at the root

that, you start working out potential solutions to effectively address each root cause of the issue. You then repeat this process for each of your root causes.

at others. Some people are great at generating ideas but struggle implementing them. Other people have great execution skills but can’t make decisions on which solutions to use. Knowing the different problem solving steps allows you to work on your weak areas, or team-up with someone whose strengths complement yours.

cause of the problem. We call the process the Root Cause Analysis, a process frequently used by many top executives to solve problems in business. If it yields results for them, it will work for you as well.
If we continue using our example, we would continue asking questions:
“Why do I have to balance work and study?”
The answer to this would probably be:
“Because the business world is moving fast, and my knowledge can easily become obsolete.”
The answer to the question,
Why don’t I have any plan in place?
Could be:
“Because I haven’t sat down to create one.”
Asking,
“Why does the material look like too much?”
Might yield:
“Because I have not set priorities on what to study first.”
If you approach the issue in this manner, you will clearly identify the