Take time to “Find the Gap” first before proposing solutions.
(PS for non-Scots among my readers, as to the picture above, “Mind” in Scots means “Remember”!)
This week I was interviewed by a team sponsored to work full time for four weeks as a module related to their University degree. They are tasked with coming up with solutions to problems identified in the mentoring programmes of one of the largest and oldest organisations in the UK. I was interviewed because I had some experience with that organisation and so some understanding of it added to which they wanted my outside eye due to my experience as a mentor with many mentoring programmes over the years.
It was an inspiring conversation. I hope I was of value to them and their project. I certainly learned from them! In particular, towards the end of the interview, they asked a closing question “What else could we have asked you?”. It was such a good question, it inspired me to flip it and ask them “What else could you have asked me?”. The interviewer paused, then noted one key gap they saw in the existing mentoring programmes of the organisation, that they felt this was a key area they would propose solutions for. They then asked for my thoughts on that.
My knowledge of their organisation was sufficient that I could immediately agree that this felt like a significant finding, so I first acknowledged them for their insight, then added an instinctive idea, which was to target retired members of the organisation at that level who may well be very happy to be contacted and asked to “give back” as a mentor.
The key in this was that the team had taken time to do their research, including a series of interviews, such that they could “Find the Gap” before moving to seeking solutions to the stated problem. The particular gap they mentioned was not one that looked obvious when they began, but emerged through their research.
Find the Gap.