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Columns
by Peter Economy
When
Hackers Attack
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Occasional Free Lunch
Emergency!
Making
Up Is Hard to Do
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No
Problemo
Your clients have problems. Serious problems. Which, after all,
is why they hired you in the first place. Whether it's organizing a
drawer full of receipts and calculating a business' tax bill for the
year, designing the cover of a company's next annual report (which,
oh my God!, needs to be proofed and to the printer by noon Friday),
or determining how many gigabytes of storage to add to the server that
keeps the corporate headquarters computers humming all day and night,
IPs
are at their best when solving problems for their clients.
Contrary to popular belief, problems are great. They are the bread
and butter, the meat and potatoes, the ham and cheese of most IP careers.
Why? Because a problem for your client is an opportunity for you
-- an opportunity to put your skill and expertise to work, to meet and
conquer an interesting new challenge, to have some fun, and to earn
a few bucks in the process.
We've all used the tried-and-true ways of solving problems, and often
they work just fine. But when we find ourselves really stymied, or groping
for an answer to an unusual situation -- and it does happen to
even the best of us -- it can pay off big time to change our perspective.
And one of the best ways of changing our perspective is to use distancing
techniques -- stepping outside of your usual self for just a bit, and
looking at the issues from a fresh and objective point of view.
Here are a few suggestions for doing just that:
- Turn your world upside down (or inside out). To get a fresh
perspective on a problem, there's nothing quite like literally turning
your world upside down. A graphic designer, for example, can get an
entirely different perspective on his or her work -- and perhaps unlock
a flood of creative energy -- by looking at a design in a mirror or
even upside down. A tax consultant can put him- or herself in the
shoes of an IRS auditor -- imagining the kinds of things that are
sure to raise red flags in a client's tax return, and then addressing
them. Or, if you're a record or video producer, you could play a recording
backwards to see what kinds of sounds and images emerge. It might
sound like a weird idea, but the very different-ness of these sounds
and images may spark fresh solutions to persistent problems.
- Get a second opinion. When you're not exactly sure which
approach to take for solving a problem, it's often best to bring in
a trusted friend or associate -- preferably someone who will give
you his or her honest and objective opinion -- to have a look. You
might even want to go so far as to bring in a DTP -- a disinterested
third party -- who has no vested interest in stroking your ego or
trying to soft-pedal your shortcomings. Ideally, the person will have
experience -- or at least strong opinions -- in the kinds of problems
you're trying to solve, or the kinds of solutions you've got under
consideration. I routinely bounce ideas off of my long-time best friend
(and fellow business author) Bob Nelson. Not only do I know that I
can rely on him to give me a fresh perspective on my problems, but
I know that he'll give me his honest opinion -- even if he
has to tell me that not only does my idea suck, but I must have been
completely nuts to have come up with it in the first place. If you
don't have a trusted advisor or disinterested third party handy, recruit
one. Perhaps a client or another IP with whom you have a good working
relationship would be willing to help you out. One thing is for sure:
you won't know unless you ask.
- Jump start your brain. When what you need is an industrial-strength
shot of creativity, one of the best books on the topic is Jump
Start Your Brain by former Procter & Gamble marketing whiz
kid Doug Hall. While his book presents hundreds of different approaches
for upping your creativity quotient, Doug is a big believer in clearing
out the creativity cobwebs by restoring the spirit and innocence of
your "once childlike mindset." He suggests that you buy a joy buzzer,
pepper gum, black soap, and fake dog poo, and learn how to use them
properly. But for my money, Hall's best advice is to break out your
kid's crayons and write a letter with them. Try drafting a Crayola-colored
memo (to yourself) detailing your client's problems and how you might
solve them.
The point is that sometimes you may have to scrape away years of the
kind of conditioning that has led you to narrow rather than expand your
creative options and your view of the world around you. What better
way than to go back to a time when, for each one of us, the world was
one great, big adventure, and nothing seemed impossible?
Coming up with the right solutions to your clients' problems isn't
always an easy task, but it's exactly the reason why your clients
have decided to stick your name and number in their Rolodex!
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