Ill Structured People

The other day we read about "ill-structured problems" and how someone who is self-authored should be better able to handle ill-structured problems.

An ill-structured problem is one that has no clear right or a wrong answer. The Middle East for instance would be an ill-structured problem. The war in Ukraine is … ill-structured problem. Politics is full of … ill-structured problems. 

I think the point is that humans in general like very clear problems. They like having a yes or no answer … right or wrong answers. It takes a self-authored mind to realize that not everything is black-and-white but there are lots of gray areas. It takes that next level of development to understand that not only are there lots of gray areas those gray areas are OK. In fact, those gray areas are not only OK but they're expected and should be reasoned with and dealt with as easily as anything else. They should be accepted. 

This makes sense to me and when I read about it … there was no real epiphany about learning about ill-structured problems.

Then I considered it in terms of people at work. In some ways, I could say "certain people" at work.

Once I thought about ill-structured problems as people it kind of did give me an epiphany. Instead of ill-structured problems, I thought about ill-structured people. 

I have trouble with one or two people at work. They work differently than I do. To put it simply … to put it into black-and-white terms … I am very much NOT a micromanager. I am the type of manager who says let's give it a try and see what happens … or I'm the type that says "oh no one's working on this … I'll do it." And if I don't do it well I adjust adapt and overcome.

Other people … well … many like the details … I don't like details … I don't DO details … I'm more of a big picture, throw everything you got at it, see where it goes, and let's keep moving type of manager. As you can imagine my managerial style could piss someone off quite easily.

Well, the reverse can also be true. There are some micromanagers who irritate me to no end. They love details and can't imagine why I can't. I was really getting myself into a tizzy something awful … Then I started to think about these types of people that piss me off as ill-structured people. All of a sudden it made sense … I understood that not only was it okay for me to be upset, but that there is no resolution or solution to my anger. I just am. There is no black and white with these "ill-structured" folks there's just a lot of gray area and that's OK. 

Will it help? Already has. Will it continue to help? Remains to be seen. Regardless, ill-structured problems and people are everywhere, might as well enjoy!