there are two main philosophy that i always follow when i am into a discussion. they are:
1. always focus on the solution, not the problem.i learnt this from a good friend, named Yoga.
Case 1
When NASA began the launch of astronauts into space, they found out that the pens wouldn't work at zero gravity (ink won't flow down to the writing surface). To solve this problem, it took them one decade and $12 million. They developed a pen that worked at zero gravity, upside down, underwater,in practically any surface including crystal and in a temperature range from below freezing to over 300 degrees C.
And what did the Russians do? They used a pencil!
Case 2
One of the most memorable case studies on Japanese management was the Case of the empty soap box, which happened in one of Japan's biggest Cosmetics companies. The company received a complaint that a consumer had bought a soap box that was empty. Immediately the authorities isolated the problemto the assembly line, which transported all the packaged boxes of soap to the delivery department. For some reason, one soap box went through the assembly line empty. Management asked its engineers to solve the problem. Post-haste, the engineers worked hard to devise an X-ray machine with high-resolution monitors manned by two people to watch all the soap boxes that passed through the line to make sure they were not empty. No doubt, they worked hard and they worked fast but they spent a whopping amount to do so.
But when a rank-and-file employee in a small company was posed with the same problem, he did not get into complications of X-rays, etc., but instead came out with another solution. He bought a strong industrial electric fan and pointed it at the assembly line. He switched the fan on, and as each soap box passed the fan, it simply blew the empty boxes out of the line.
Case 3
A Lift manufacturing Giant had a complain from the customer that their lifts were very very slow, and that it took a long time to go up 60 stories. Otis Engineers were fired and asked to solve the problem at the earliest and replace all the liftss accordingly. Engineers started working on the chain mechanism, the puuley systems, the power drives, the weight to speed ratio, and other such hi tech parts. The problem had no solution, as in increasing speed, weight had to be reduced, or the safety was an issue, or other such thing. But, one newly appointed engineer solved the problem in 2 days. He fitted the mirror in the lifts. Suddenly the Complaints reduced drastically to 10%.
The director asked for he young engineer, and asked him about this solution. The young man said, The problem is not that the lifts are slow,but that People feel that our Lifts are slow.
2. you can attack the case, but don't attack your discucssion partner personallymostly when people disagree for quite a long time and they reach their frustration level, they will begin to attack their discussion partner personally, which, in most of cases, is just wrong. because mostly their personal life has nothing to do with the problem.
it's just like the "The Aprrentice" tv serial slogan, "it's just business. nothing personal"
of course there are also several minor discussion philosophy that i also follow, like:
1. listen to what they are going to say first
2. keep it simple
3. etc
but i think the first two are the most important factor for me.
how about you? :)
