1. BES-t Practices Training Leadership Training Problem Solving & Decision Making Thinking Outside the Box

2. Inside The Box Represents … The sum total of all that you have learned over the course of your life or career, good or bad. The ideas, habits, perceptions, and prejudices you grew up learning. Your opinions that you hold tightly to. What feels completely natural or comfortable to you. Your view of the world and how things are, right or wrong, functional or dysfunctional. What you believe to be true in the world (apart from what really is).

3. Outside The Box Represents… Knowledge that you are yet to learn. Other peoples ideas opinions and prejudices that you may be able to learn from. Habits, tendencies and presuppositions that have never or rarely crossed your mind. The discipline of doing what is right or what needs to be done even when you would rather not. Your potential - The sum total of what you are capable of or could experience if you think outside the box. The truth of how things really are apart from your perception. "The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing." -- Socrates

4. 6 Steps to Problem Solving and Decision Making Self-Control - Respond rather than React with emotions or blame. Timing - Determine the best timing for addressing the problem. Results - Address the issue head on with the end in mind. Overcome adversity with perseverance. Educate yourself and others - Gather information before making premature assumptions. Use wisdom, teach others. Explore your options – Engage in creative, objective thinking. Tell yourself the truth– Don’t be a self-deceiver. ObstacleNo Obstacle

5. Self Control People often remove themselves from the equation of problem solving by disengaging themselves emotionally. By nature we react emotionally when we think “inside the box”. We let our feelings control how we respond because this is what we have always done. It comes naturally and requires no discipline to react emotionally. We become angry, anxious or stressed out because we don’t know what else to do. We feel trapped “inside the box” by a limited number of options. It may be the only way you know. We become our worse enemy when we lose self-control. We have a limited view of reality when our thinking is erratic. We panic or vent our frustrations because we don’t know any other way.

6. Timing There are many factors that determine the best time to address an issue. Sometimes problems need to be solved immediately. Sometimes they need to be scheduled. Sometimes they need to be in a group setting. Sometimes they need to be in private. Sometimes we need to gather more information before addressing. We can cause our problem to become a greater problem by reacting too quickly or waiting too long. Our reflexes kick in and we make rash decisions, or we become paralyzed by the decision and make no decision at all. “If you choose not to decide you still have made a choice” The great philosopher Geddy Lee (Rush)

7. Timing Determining how time affects your risk profile will help you narrow in on the best timing. If the risk factor is immediate, make the decision and go with it. If the risk is longer term, take some time and make the wisest well informed decision. There is a time to: …act and a time to plan,, …a time to fix it and a time to replace, …a time to hire and a time to consider other options, …a time to take a risk and a time to be cautious, …a time to encourage and a time to correct, …a time to ask for help and a time to figure it out, We can think inside the box and flip a coin for the results, or we can use discernment and think outside the box for the best solution.

8. Results Problems don’t solve themselves. Unsolved problems always lead to more and greater problems when left unsolved. They tend to spiral out of control easily. Our default position (inside the box) is to do nothing. It takes thinking “outside the box” to do something. Procrastination is the enemy of decision making. We cannot allow ourselves to be paralyzed by a decision. The only thing worse than making a mistake is choosing not to risk making one. When you are unsure of the best timing or paralyzed by procrastination, set a date to decide. Then…. Make a decision!

9. Results To live day to day, week to week without purpose, problems to solve, wrongs to right or goals to accomplish is the ultimate “in the box” experience. We are capable of so much more than we think we are. Our box keeps us in the dark and a slave to our familiar ways of doing things. Thinking “outside the box” opens up a new world of potential, vision and worthy causes to explore. You will never be free to succeed while “in your box”. To accomplish a new set of results, you may need to find a new way of thinking! “If there’s a problem, it’s mine to fix”

10. Educate yourself and others Find out the truth of the matter… Don’t jump to conclusions. The first person to present their case is believed until someone else challenges it. Pay attention to what we know to be true and don’t focus on opinions and hollow accusations. “Just the facts, ma’am, Just the facts” -- Dragnet Get a cross-view from several sources. Your conclusion will have more credibility and your odds of being right will be increased. When we believe we have all the knowledge we need “inside the box” to determine the solution, our results will always be “inside the box” results. Our box will never expand. When we explore as much knowledge we can from “outside the box” to determine the solution, our results will have results “outside the box”. Our box will automatically expand. This is called maturity.

11. Educate yourself and others Great problem solvers and decision makers make the majority of their decisions before the problem arises. Educating ourselves on the dangers or risks of a situation before it happens can help us anticipate our options and help us be ready with a solution when the need arises. Educate others of the risks and consequences of the situation so they are prepared to make the most responsible decision. This may eliminate the problem before it becomes one. Communicate clearly to others what is expected and the extent you are willing to go to get these results. Get others to help you with solutions rather than contribute to your problems.

12. Explore your options Always have options – The more options you have the easier your decision making process will be. Forecasting is looking at the past and present to get an idea of what to expect for future outcomes. We should try to anticipate a few of the most likely scenarios and determine a course of action for each using “If/Then” statements. If person A doesn’t work out, then do you have a person B? If we are busier or slower than expected, then what will we need to do? If we are wrong, then what? If _________, then _________?

13. Explore your options Options means leverage Options put you in control Options increase your chances Options never come about by mistake Option never come in a box Options don’t typically just come to you. You have to go out and find them.

14. Tell yourself the truth What do we do when there is an obstacle in the way?

15. Tell yourself the truth Sometimes it’s easiest just to come up with a reason not to deal with it. We bury our heads in the sand (our box). We ignore it and hope it goes away. We justify it and deny that it even is a problem. We pass the buck (this is different than delegation, it’s escapism) We run away as fast as we can. We wait… and do nothing. We give up. Self-deception is simply lying to yourself. People who lie to themselves cannot trust themselves, trust others or be fully trusted. If we cannot tell ourselves the truth, how are we going to solve any problems? We need to pull our heads out of our “box” and see the big picture the way it really is and not simply how we wish to see it or how it used to be.

16. Tell yourself the truth Often times we allow fear to keep us captive. Fear of failure Fear of success Fear of the unknown Fear of suffering Fear of losing what we think is important Fear of the truth “We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.” ― Plato

17. Expanding our Box

18. “We don’t know what we don’t know” How can we decrease what we don’t know? When you embrace a solution “outside the box”, your box expands, the problem will never be a mystery again. People who regularly think outside the box don’t continually have a problem thinking “the grass is always greener” as others do. They make their own grass whatever color they want. “If you want to be successful, find someone who has achieved the results you want and copy what they do and you'll achieve the same results.“ --Tony Robbins What we know What we don’t know

19. Remove your Barriers You will always stop at the base of a mountain, unless your destination is on the other side. Obstacles will always be a natural barrier that can keep you from moving forward. They can define you or, they can be a learning experience in your rear view mirror that make you stronger. We need to remove the obstacles and free ourselves up to be what we were made to be. “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the wrong-doing that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,” -- Unknown “Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize” Saul of Tarsus “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Saul of Tarsus

20. Questions: What areas in your job do you fall into the habit of “inside the box” thinking? What obstacles have you been avoiding? What steps are you willing to take to become a better problem solver?