May 31, 2016
While some wicked problems involve one person struggling with a personal decision or crisis (“Should I go to medical school or join the Marines?” “Should I marry Fred or Robert?” “Should I travel the world for a year before beginning my Freshman term?”), most wicked problems involve other people: partners or companions, team members, colleagues in an organization, or citizens of a society. And what is required when people work on wicked problem is to talk, either to themselves, or to another person or a group of people. Conversation is the sine qua non for effective work with wicked problems. What do they talk about? There is a helpful agenda, one that begins with identifying the problem, extracting it from the “mess,” naming and defining it, figuring out what would be the best actions to take, coming to agreement on an action plan, deciding who is to do what and when, and finally moving forward to implement the plan.
Talking about wicked problems is neither simple, quick nor easy. If the process of finding, naming, defining and planning is to be constructive – people actively participating by sharing their preferences, values, and ideas – it is a given that along the way there will be conflict: misunderstandings, disagreements and arguments. In the best case, conflict can lead to greater understanding and better decisions; in the worst case, to misunderstanding, frustration and resistance. If not managed well, emotional exchanges can lead some people become so angry or alienated that they may become defensive, attack, refuse to participate or walk out. We all are familiar with this story. And suddenly the problem owner, the team leader, and the group itself, are facing two problems instead of one: the original one they started with, and a new one that has emerged as a result of non-productive work.
The key to managing the tensions generated by working with wicked problems is to be always talking about them. Talking about problems is a skill, one that can be learned, and, if success is expected, must be learned.
Leadership Challenges
When working on wicked problems in social or organization settings, effective leadership is required. There are times when formal leadership is most important, and other times when informal leadership is most effective. Either way, the first challenge for leaders working successfully with wicked problems is to be able to present a clear and compelling explanation of what the problem is and why it is important. The second challenge is to invite key people to join the cause, and then persuade them to sign on as part of the team.
John Chen Was Not Prepared
John Chen is admired in business circles as the man who answered the call to save Blackberry. Known as the “turnaround guy,” Chen is a big deal in American business. He sits on two of the nation’s most prestigious boards of directors: The Walt Disney Co. and Wells Fargo. He is best known in Silicon Valley for reinvigorating an ailing company called Sybase and turning it into financial juggernaut. With Chen in charge, Sybase achieved 55 consecutive quarters of profitability and an increase in market cap from $362 million to 5.8 billion. In 2010, Sybase was acquired by SAP.
Things were not always so rosy for Chen. Early in his career, while working as an engineer for Burroughs, he noticed that other people were being promoted who were, he believed, less qualified that he was.
When he went to his section chief to ask why, he was told that while he was very good at engineering, math and science, he “was not very presentable.”
Thinking that what his boss meant was that he lacked presentation skills, he hired a local TV producer and his wife who ran a communication skills class. They videotaped him speaking and, when he saw himself on the screen, he was shocked. “It was horrible,” he said. “Everything that could go wrong, went wrong…I got dizzy watching myself… I wasn’t communicating. That’s what I learned. It’s not about English. Not about the pronunciation or the diction. It was about not being able to communicate.”
Joshua Chamberlain Was
On May 24, 1863, Colonel Joshua Chamberlain got word that he was receiving reinforcements. Chamberlain had been in command of the 20th Regiment of Infantry, Maine Volunteers, for all of four days, and he was acutely aware that at its present strength the regiment could not continue to be an effective fighting force for the Union in the Civil War. A year earlier, when the 20th Maine had been commissioned, it mustered a thousand troops. Now, due to the cumulative attrition of injuries, death, desertion and straggling that resulted from having fought in five major engagements including the disasters at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, it could count on only 358 men.
Joshua Chamberlain was an unlikely person to be the colonel of an infantry regiment. After graduating from Bowdoin College in Maine, he had moved on to a three-year course of study at the Bangor Theological Seminary, then returned to Bowdoin as a professor, teaching rhetoric, oratory, and modern languages. When the Civil War began in April of 1861, he decided that he wanted to serve his country and so asked for a leave of absence to join the army. His request was turned down by the faculty at Bowdoin. To discourage him even further, they sent a message to the governor that Chamberlain “is no fighter, but only a mild-manner common student.” They had no idea that Chamberlain would go on to become among the most decorated and beloved of all the Union generals. At end of the war, he was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his bravery at Little Round Top during the battle of Gettysburg.
But in 1862, Chamberlain had a problem. He had been denied permission to leave Bowdoin and become a soldier. Demonstrating the adaptability and creativity that he was to show in battle throughout the war, he applied instead for a two-year leave to travel to Europe to further his studies, and once it was granted, he headed straight for Augusta, the state capital, and volunteered his services. The governor, impressed with his demeanor, offered to make him a colonel and give him a regiment, but Chamberlain said no, that since he knew nothing about being a soldier, he would start a little lower and learn the business first. His promotion to colonel came a year later when the current colonel of the 20th was promoted to Brigadier General.
On May 24, 1863, Chamberlain should have been pleased about the news that 120 men were being sent to him from another Maine regiment, the 2nd. But he was shocked to learn that the men had mutinied and refused to serve and so were being sent to Chamberlain not as reinforcements but as mutineers to be disciplined. Rather than being sent support to strengthen the regiment, the military commanders had sent him a huge, difficult and what seemed to be an insurmountable problem.
The mutineers arrived under armed guard and in a sorry state – tired, dirty, dispirited, angry, and very hungry. The army had tried to break their will by withholding food for three days. They also came with orders from the commander of the Fifth Corps, General George G. Meade, soon to be named commander of all of the Union troops at Gettysburg, that Chamberlain was to “make them do their duty or shoot them down the moment they refused.” Mutiny during wartime was a capital offense and Chamberlain was expected either to make them fight or shoot them.
Chamberlain knew at once that he was not going to shoot them. “These are Maine men” he said, and he knew that if they were shot he could never live in Maine again. He had to do something, but what? The army was getting ready to move on. He was left with two choices: convince them to join with the soldiers of the 20th Maine and return to the war, or take them with him under armed guard, something that would have only compounded his problems.
The first thing he did was to feed them. Then he had the guards removed, sending them a powerful signal that they were no longer prisoners, but free men who had a serious problem, as did he. And then he did what he knew best how to do: He spoke to them. He was, after all, a professor of rhetoric.
Chamberlain’s words on that day were not recorded. What follows is the recreation of his message to the men taken from the movie Gettysburg:
“I don’t know what I can do [about your concerns.] I’ll do what I can. I’ll look into it as soon as possible. But there’s nothing I can do today. We’re moving out in a few minutes and we’ll be marching all day and we may be in a big fight…
I’ve been told that if you don’t come I can shoot you. Well, you know I won’t do that. Not Maine men…
Here’s the situation. I’ve been ordered to take you along, and that’s what I’m going to do. Under guard if necessary. But you can have your rifles if you want them. The whole Reb army is up the road a ways waiting for us and this is no time for an argument like this: We sure can use you. We’re down below half strength and we need you, there’s no doubt about that…
This Regiment was formed last fall, back in Maine…Some of us volunteered to fight for the Union. Some came in mainly because we were bored at home and this looked like it might be fun. Some came because we were ashamed not to. Many of us came…because it was the right thing to do…
This is a different kind of war. If you look at history you’ll see that men fight for pay, or women, or some other kind of loot. They fight for land, or because a king makes them, or just because they happen to like killing. But we’re here for something new…This hasn’t happened much in the history of the world. We’re an army going out to set other men free…
Here you can be something. Here’s a place to build a home. It isn’t the land – there’s always more land. It’s the idea that we all have value, you and me, we’re worth something more than the dirt…What we’re fighting for is each other…
I think if we lose this fight the war will be over. So, if you choose to come with us I’ll be personally grateful.”
While don’t really know what Chamberlain actually said, what we do know is that when he finished 114 of the 120 men picked up their rifles and joined Chamberlain as the 20th Maine marched toward Gettysburg.
And in one of those incredible coincidences that no fiction writer would ever dare to invent, the 2oth Maine, now reinforced by the 116 men from the 2nd, was placed on the very end of the Union line, just below a small hill that was known as Little Round Top. And it was the defense of that position by the 20th Maine against tremendous odds that, according to many of the most reputable historians of the Civil War, disaster at Gettysburg was narrowly averted. And, again according to these historians, if the Union Army had lost the battle of Gettysburg, the road to Washington was open for Robert E. Lee to attack. And if he would have captured Washington, it was likely that the North would have lost the war. Unbelievable as it may seem, a strong case can be made that because Chamberlain was able to persuade those 116 men to join with him, thereby making the 20th Maine just barely strong enough to withstand the repeated assaults from the Confederate troops, the North went on to win the war.
And John Chen?
And what about John Chen? He worked and worked at improving his communication skills. When the company realized that he was doing this on his own, and paying for it out of his pocket, they were not only impressed but noticed that he was becoming more skillful in communicating with others. They reimbursed him for his expenses and promoted him. Eventually, after two or three years, he ended up as plant manager. And, as they say, the rest is history.