It used to drive me crazy, and not because I didn’t like math.
My mom ran our household with strict routine. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays were laundry days (including ironing!). Wednesday was cleaning downstairs, Thursday was cleaning upstairs. Tuesday was grocery day. Thursday the garbage collection came. Sundays we changed the sheets. Saturdays were pretty open, and morning cartoons were in order. In the summer, we woke up early to weed the garden and help with other housework, depending on the day of the week.
During the school year, it was about getting our homework done before anything else. As soon as we got home, we were asked what was due the next day (or within the next week), and then we had to sit down and do it. No TV, playing with friends, reading books, etc. until the homework was completed, reviewed and corrected as necessary.
After a long day at school, in a structured environment with little opportunity for flexibility, I was ready for a break. My mom knew (as I didn’t fully acknowledge at the time) that if I took a break, I may never get back to finishing what needed to be done.
So, we did our homework and she reviewed it. If everything was completed and correct, we had time before dinner to spend as we wished. With math, it was required to show our work. Once we got to long division, fractions and multiple-digit multiplication, it took longer to get this done. My goal was to finish quickly so I could get to the “fun stuff”.
I actually love math, and usually this was where I began. I’d work on it at my desk in my attic room, take a glance at my paper, and run everything downstairs to my mom. She’d go through each problem, and give the book and the paper back, telling me how many errors I had. What she didn’t do was tell me what the errors were.
I’d go back upstairs and calculate every problem again. Because I’d been in a hurry, I’d sometimes missed by one digit or decimal place, and made the corrections. Then she’d review again and I would be on my way.
I began to anticipate this part of the routine, and double-checked my calculations before taking my homework downstairs. I thought I’d save time, and as a bonus, impress my mom that I’d learned to take the time to do this review before she did. I was already planning what I’d do when she told me it was all correct.
Then the unexpected happened. She looked at all of it. She gave me everything back and told me there was one mistake.
I couldn’t believe it! I’d checked everything – sometimes twice. I figured the error had to be something she had done. I questioned her calculations. She very calmly told me that yes, there was one mistake on my homework, again without telling me what it was.
Begrudgingly, I took all of my stuff back upstairs. I reviewed every calculation yet again. Then I thought, “What if I start at the beginning – redo the entire assignment?” Then I would prove to her that I got the same results and I’d been right all along.
I opened the book and began to copy the problems on a fresh sheet of paper. And that’s when I found it. I had copied one of the problems wrong.
Such a simple thing, and I missed it from the beginning! My math was right, but I wasn’t solving the right problem.
As leaders, this happens to us all too often. In our haste to develop solutions and move forward, it can be tempting to rush into the first idea that seems to make sense. Not enough time is dedicated to fully understanding and articulating the problem we are trying to solve.
Additionally, when only one person is involved in the process, ideas and perspectives are limited, and potential is left on the table.
New eyes and good questions are a part of the design process known as the reframe.
Be curious and don’t be afraid to ask for help. Why is this a problem for us? How could this be an opportunity? Who is affected and how? How long has this been an issue? What contributes to this? Who should be part of the discussion? What resources do we need to effectively evaluate alternatives and implement solutions? How will we know if we’ve succeeded?
Even if the solution addresses the problem as initially defined, you may not be truly responding to the concern in a sustainable and impactful way for your organization. Because of this, re-work is inevitable and results in even greater costs in the long run.
You may be doing good work, but are you solving the right problem?
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As for my math homework, I added a step before taking it to my mom. Before even reviewing my calculations, I double-checked that I’d copied the problems correctly. Admittedly, I still make some careless errors, and was sent back to look for the “one mistake”. (I also discovered that she was putting a very tiny pencil mark beside the problem I’d missed, probably as a reminder to herself. Ironically, the way to the correction was actually right in front of me and I’d been missing it all along!)
While I didn’t fully appreciate it at the time, I am very grateful to my mom for taking this time to invest in me. She was patient in her approach, allowing me to figure this out rather than simply telling me what to correct.
Her intention wasn’t to prove me wrong; it was to enable me to leverage my potential and ability. She didn’t want to see me miss out simply because of a careless mistake, and I learned to look beyond the page in front of me. Her eyes helped me see things I wouldn’t have seen on my own.
These lessons from my math homework hold true with me today. I still make careless errors as I’m sometimes in a hurry to do more. I also know the value of extra eyes, and appreciate feedback that helps me improve, as this ultimately helps my clients and my community.
Thanks for being a part of the Esprit de Merci community! I’d love to hear more about your problem-solving approaches, and lessons you’ve learned along the way.