Can standing on your head help find solutions to a problem? Don’t laugh as it may just be what you need to do! But what I really mean is that a very effective way to generate ideas and possible solutions to a problem is to reverse it.
By looking at your problem from the opposite angle you get another perspective to it. Sometimes, generating ideas that are opposite to what you want works better because it surprises you and gets your creativity flowing in different ways.
If you think about it, much of what we see, feel, hear and understand works on opposites. We learn as children there are opposites all around us – light and dark, salt and pepper, black and white, hot and cold… you get the drift.
And so it is for our business problems. Using problem reversal allows us to see things backwards, inside out and upside down. It gives us a new perspective on any problem.
That being said, the best times to use the problem reversal technique is when you want to:
- solve a particular problem that could be made worse (and then reversing the solutions)
- identify areas where changes need to be made
- find solutions to common problems you considered before but haven’t be able to solve to your satisfaction
Let’s say you want to improve your customer service because that’s one of your key selling points and makes your business stand out. Instead of asking ‘how can we make sure our customers are delighted with our service?’, reverse the question and ask ‘how can we make sure our customers are really UNHAPPY with our service?’.
Then start brainstorming some answers. You will be surprised at how creative you can be, especially when looking at the negative aspects. For example solutions could be:
- making customer forms long and difficult to fill out
- have any documentation in really small print so they need a magnifying glass to read it
- making customers wait a long time before you get back to them
- leaving customers on hold on the phone and then forget all about them
- being rude to customers
Once you’ve exhausted your list, then reverse them back to solve the original question: ‘How can we delight our customers with our service?’ Answers could be:
- by asking only the most necessary questions to get the job done on the form
- make sure all documentation is in a larger and easy to read font
- offer discounts to customers if they have to wait longer than x amount of time for your product or service – think pizza with 30 minutes or it’s free
- answer phones within 2 rings
- identifying the time of day when most customers usually call and make sure you or someone else is available to answer the phone
- make it a policy to put a smile on your face before you pick up the phone. This automatically makes you feel happy and your customer will be able to hear it in your voice.
So next time you have a problem you’ve been wrestling with, try looking at it from the opposite angle. Maybe standing on your head will be the answer to your problem!
Photo credit: 
photo credit: frerieke
