Part of building a culture of inquiry is teaching people to defer judgement while exploring new ideas and big questions. This is necessary because many of us are conditioned to react to questions by trying to answer them too quickly or by countering them "devil's advocate" style.

→ Warren Berger, A More Beautiful Question

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Sometimes gut instincts & first reactions are worth following. Sometimes too much deliberation leads to the proverbial "analysis paralysis." Sometimes thinking deeply about a problem is just a form of procrastination.

But not always.

For sticky problems, in challenging times, & at some regular interval, we need to distrust our knee-jerk reactions enough to engage our creativity.

When we find ourselves faced with that need, there's a three-step process we can lean on to ensure we dive as deep as we need to get to the bottom.

That process is:

Step 1: Brainstorm with What-If

What if we're looking at this wrong? What if there might be a better way? What if this is an opportunity? What if our assumptions have been wrong this whole time? What if we asked them what they would do in our situation?

Step 2: Explore with Can-If

We can if we cut the amount of space we rent in half. We can if we earn more trust earlier in the process. We can if we rely less on this & put more emphasis on that. We can if dedicate the resources to it.

Step 3: Build with Yes-And

Yes, and if we did that, it might open up the opportunity to engage with new customers. Yes, and if we reconsider our core offering, our main problem might no longer be a problem. Yes, and if we give them the freedom to develop it themselves, they will likely have more buy-in.

The first step is all about possibility & options. It's about recognizing that we need to give ourselves the space to examine what we haven't looked at yet.

The second step is all about testing & reviewing the viability of the options we create in the first step. It's about recognizing that our brains seem naturally to want to cast aside any idea that doesn't appear immediately viable - whether they are or not.

The final step is all about ensuring we don't kill our can-if ideas before we give them a chance to breathe. It's about building on top of an idea instead of cutting its legs out from underneath it.

Like bumpers at a bowling alley, asking ourselves & our teammates these questions as we navigate difficult decisions & challenging times can help keep us from getting out of the game too early. They can help ensure we don't let our guts make all the decisions.

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Functional Branding exists to help change-makers make change. If I can ever be of service to you, just hit reply.