{"id":35863,"date":"2024-02-15T10:42:33","date_gmt":"2024-02-15T18:42:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=35863"},"modified":"2024-02-15T10:42:33","modified_gmt":"2024-02-15T18:42:33","slug":"digging-up-the-roots-of-problems-for-greater-clarity-and-care","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/digging-up-the-roots-of-problems-for-greater-clarity-and-care\/","title":{"rendered":"Digging up the Roots of Problems for Greater Clarity and Care"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cIn order to find what the problems are one must drill down to the level of individual cases: people who are sexually assaulted and those who do the assaulting both have problems, an unemployed person does have a problem, a binge-drinker who cannot stay sober through a weekend has a problem. But when you collapse all the individual cases into a category, what you have is a mess. Messes are ongoing, interrelated, dynamic, fuzzy, complicated, confusing complex, chaotic situations. . . they are the incubators of wicked problems.\u201d\u00a0 [1]<\/span><\/p>\n

Authors of the book <\/span>Exploring Wicked Problems:\u00a0 What They Are and Why They Are Important,<\/span><\/i> Joseph Bentley and Michael Toth, invite the reader on a journey of identifying messes, and problems, as well as engaging in a problem-solving approach developed by Rittel and Webber.\u00a0 [2] The author defines \u201cmess\u201d\u00a0 to describe the complexities that are found in organizations and social systems, families, and relationships. [3]\u00a0 The text points out the fruitlessness of trying to get through a mess, noting that doing so without a greater understanding of the underlying issues resident within the mess potentially leads to endless, hurtful arguments, not to mention hurt feelings, damaged relationships, and the risk of being canceled.\u00a0 The author compares and contrasts the mess as smoke, with the ability to identify a problem as light, noting that what is needed is a common, shared problem, offering people the ability to come together and figure out what is going on and what people can collaborate on to make it better.\u00a0 [4]<\/span><\/p>\n

The book emphasizes that until we fully understand the complexities to deal with, there is no way to know what we can do that will truly help. [5] In my mind, this connects to the tool for moral dialogue, from Petrusek\u2019s book, <\/span>Evangelization and Ideology: How to Understand and Respond to the Political Culture<\/span><\/i> .\u00a0 The map for moral dialogue contained a conceptual hierarchy, including questions in each domain of inquiry. The visual may be a tool for understand deeper layers into the \u201cmess\u201d or problem. [6] \u00a0 Tools, like these, may assist leaders in understanding what a person brings to the table when engaging in a discourse.\u00a0 The high, hard ground not only has a will but also makes a way to understand a person\u2019s point of view and perspective, communicating care and building rapport and trust.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There are many reasons why the ability to trust has been challenged in our culture.\u00a0 As Lukianoff stated in his book, \u201cCancel culture has devastated the trust we have in the very institution we rely on to produce knowledge and to educate future generations of Americans\u201d. [7]\u00a0 I can\u2019t help but think that the trust factor, or lack thereof, not only applies to educational institutions but to relationships in general, presenting problems or messes for pastors, leaders, teachers\/professors, and even neighbors, friends and colleagues.\u00a0 In other words, on so many levels (or venues of relationships) we have lost the art of engaging in loving dialogue to uncover what Bentley and Toth refer to in the book as<\/span> \u201c<\/span><\/i>the problem\u201d, not the mess.\u00a0 The authors state, \u201cWe need to resist the siren song that promises easy, quit, simple fixes and instead make the effort to dig down into a complexity that inevitably lines beneath the surface of the situation, so we can make sense of what is actually going on and find our way through to the other side of the issue. [8]<\/span><\/p>\n

The first step in managing the mess is to find a potential problem within the mass that concerns you and then turn that into a real problem that can be worked on. [9]\u00a0 So if we, as leaders, are going to find the potential problem within the mess what are the characteristics of a problem?<\/span><\/p>\n

The authors extrapolate a few characteristics of problems:<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Problems are abstractions; beginning as worries, concerns, and fears about specific issues, events, or situations.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. Problems are created by people.<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. Problems represent gaps in a current reality that is unsatisfactory and a desired future state.<\/span><\/li>\n
  4. Problems display the emergence of emotion within the gap.<\/span><\/li>\n
  5. Problems often are compounded, presenting other problems that bring about the complexity of getting from current reality to the desired state.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    When I think about these descriptions of problems, I think about weeds.\u00a0 Anyone else a \u201cweeder\u201d?\u00a0 A weeder is defined as a person who finds great pleasure in getting dirty in the yard, while on a mission to pull out weeds, by the roots.\u00a0 Maybe the process of gardening and weeding could be applied to getting to the root of the problem, to pull out the roots (uncover the gaps, emotions, fears, etc), in order to not choke out the other plants, giving overall health to the garden)?\u00a0 So how can problems propel people to a point of harmony and productivity? The authors suggest that productive work can commence only after individuals reach a consensus on the nature of the problem, clearly identifying and defining the gaps between the current state and the desired outcome.\u00a0 When I think about some of the best problem solving strategies, I think about a master problem-solver, a peacemaker named Jesus.\u00a0 In Pam Lau\u2019s Blog Post titled, <\/span>Creative Minority Groups: Taming Wicked Problems Jesus-Style<\/span><\/i>, she states, \u201c<\/span>In the Beatitudes, Jesus declares that the good life belongs to peacemakers. Yet making peace or solving problems Jesus-style will mean conflict, pain, difficulty, and even persecution.\u201d [10] As we consider the ways of the master peacemaker, Jesus, how might his model of problem solving inspire us as we get to the roots of problems, engage in discourse, listen actively to others and respond and react in truth and love?\u00a0 Pairing Jesus’ model of problem solving with tools for digging deeper into the roots of messes to uncover the problem, brings greater clarity into the lives of the people I lead and through prayerful consideration, I am better equipped to care for them in more profound ways.<\/span><\/p>\n

    [1]\u00a0 <\/span>Joseph Bentley PhD, and Michael Toth, PhD. Exploring Wicked Problems: What They Are and Why They Are Important. Archway Publishing, 2020, 63.<\/span><\/p>\n

    [2]\u00a0 Ibid, xiv.<\/span><\/p>\n

    [3] Ibid, 63.<\/span><\/p>\n

    [4] Ibid, 66.<\/span><\/p>\n

    [5] Ibid, 69.<\/span><\/p>\n

    [6] Matthew R. Petrusek, <\/span>Evangelization and Ideology: How to Understand and Respond to the Political Culture<\/span><\/i> (Park Ridge, IL: Word on Fire Institute, 2023), 59.<\/span><\/p>\n

    [7]<\/span> Greg Lukianoff and Rikki Schlott, <\/span>The Canceling of the American Mind, <\/span><\/i>(New York NY: Simon\u00a0<\/span>& Schuster, 2023), 72.<\/span><\/p>\n

    [8] Joseph Bentley PhD, and Michael Toth, PhD. Exploring Wicked Problems: What They Are and Why They Are Important. Archway Publishing, 2020, 70.<\/span><\/p>\n

    [9] Ibid, 76.<\/span><\/p>\n

    [10]Pam Lau, <\/span>Creative Minority Groups: Taming Wicked Problems Jesus-Style<\/span><\/i>, she states, \u201c<\/span>In the Beatitudes,<\/span> February 13, 2024; accessed February 14, 2024, <\/span>https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/creative-minority-groups-taming-wicked-problems-jesus-style\/<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    \u201cIn order to find what the problems are one must drill down to the level of individual cases: people who are sexually assaulted and those who do the assaulting both have problems, an unemployed person does have a problem, a binge-drinker who cannot stay sober through a weekend has a problem. But when you collapse […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":168,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2310],"tags":[2994,2489],"class_list":["post-35863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-doctor-of-leadership-3","tag-bentley","tag-dlgp02","cohort-dlgp02"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35863","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/168"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35863"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35863\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35865,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35863\/revisions\/35865"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}