Small steps are the only way to tackle problems that overwhelm us

[David Baxter PhD]

Small steps are often the only way to start tackling problems that nearly overwhelm us
by Coert Visser, Solution Focused Change
September 7, 2010

Solution-focused practitioners generally focus on one small step forward instead of a big leap. Intuitively you may think that taking small steps may only be useful for situation in which you have small problems but this is not the case. On the contrary, when problems are large, taking small steps may be even more powerful. In fact, we believe they are often the only way to start tackling problems that nearly overwhelm us. Why is this so? Here are four reasons:

1. Low threshold: when the step forward is as small as possible, the requirement of energy, motivation, and trust is minimal. The threshold is so low that the willingness to take the step will be maximal. The low threshold stimulates a high probability of change.
2. Low risk: when taking a big leap you may achieve a lot at once, providing the direction chosen turns out to be precisely right and providing, figuratively speaking, the landing turns out to be soft. But it the direction was not accurate, you may end up way off-track. And if the landing was hard you may break your ankle. Small steps don't have these disadvantages. Little precise knowledge and certainty is needed about the effectiveness of the step. The step can be seen as an experiment. If does not work not much will be lost. The change of damage and wasted energy will be minimal. In the unpredictability that characterizes many work situations this is a great advantage. The one small step approach makes it easy to respond flexibly to developments.
3. Positive message: saying that only drastic change will be sufficient can be rather demotivating. People may feel unacknowledged and unappreciated for their previous efforts ("if such big change is necessary, apparently, we have done everything wrong until now"). Aiming for a small step, however, implies something positive, namely that there is already a lot functioning well as it is. Changing no more than strictly necessary is really like saying: “There is already a lot going well and we do not want to risk of losing that by changing too much. It will not be necessary to drastically change our course. A subtle change will do.” A positive message like that reflects trust and works motivating.
4. Positive snowball effects: the one small step approach has a surprising side advantage: it may lead to a snowball effect. Edwin Olson and Glenda Eoyang, authors of Facilitating Organizational Change: Lessons from Complexity Science (2001) describe such a process as follows: “A small change in one part ripples through the organization and can have tremendous unintended consequences far from the site of the intervention”. Why is that so? The reason is that in a complex system, everything is linked to everything. Maybe you know the so-called butterfly effect from chaos theory? Scientist Edward Lorenz argued that a butterfly flapping its wings in Brazil might cause a tornado in Texas. Likewise, taking one step forward as an individual can eventually lead to system wide progress. The behavior of one person will affect the behavior of another person, which will affect yet another person, and so on. In this way, small-scale actions may lead to large-scale change.

A nice example of the amazing power of small steps is the case of Pat Riley. In the nineteen eighties, Pat Riley coached the Los Angeles Lakers. The Lakers had just lost the MBA championship final to the Boston Celtics. There was some panic within the Lakers group. They wondered how they could ever win the Championship against the seemingly unbeatable Celtics. They would have to get so much better and they chance to that seemed slim. But Riley, a great strategist, knew how to do this. He did not buy expensive new players. He did not double the amount of training hours and he did not put extra strict demands on his players. He only challenged them to improve every single aspect of their game with a mere 1%. The result was surprising. The Lakers won the championship. Not only in that year but also in the following year. Riley proved that many small steps, steps which may seem insignificant, can lead to great results.

My invitation to you is: think of one thing you'd like to improve in your life/in your work and take a few minutes to write down the smallest step forward you can think of. After you've done this take that small step. See what happens next