Problem Solving
We've been co-creating a culture here together.I understand culture as the joint ideas we embrace and act out in our community.You can read our valueshere. We've also recently added an emphasis on being welcoming and encouraging.I'd like to introduce another variable today that I think is important:problem solving.
We are building the emotional support system for the Internet. This is an incredibly challenging undertaking.I tell our team regularly that building 7 Cups is like putting a puzzle together with a million pieces. To be honest, it is actually even more challenging that that. A better metaphor might be that it is a giant maze of mazes. It is pitch black. We can't really see. We are feeling our way across the walls and every so often we find an opening and we walk through it. We shout to the others nearby that we found an opening. They join us, walk down the hallway,and then we spread out again trying to find the next opening. Each opening and hallway we go down brings us closer to building the global social safety net that is 7 Cups of Tea.
My goal is to empower those all around me to be problem solvers. The more problems we solve the more progress we make. The more progress we make the more people we help. The more people we help the greater our momentum. It is a virtuous circle.
What I'd like to do in our community is to invite you all to become problem solvers along with me. This maze of mazes that we are trying to figure out can't be done by one person, or even 10, it can only be accomplished by many people working together. We've already seen this work in our community. For example, when we started the forum I had no idea it was going to be as helpful as it has become (this was an opening in the maze that we walked down). Then, I didn't realize that you all would start making suggestions on how to make the site better (that was another door we walked down). We've incorporated - and will incorporate - much of what you share with us. This lets us walk down more and more openings and get closer to our goal.
There really isn't anything mysterious about problem solving. Let me briefly outline how it works:
1.Identify the problemas specifically as you can.
2.Create the goal- this is almost always the opposite of the problem.
3.Come up with a potential solutionto the problem.
4.Try the solution.Did it work? If yes, fantastic! Keep doing it. If it didn't work, try another solution. Did that work? If no, try another. Just keep trying solutions until you find one that works.
Here is an example from our recent past:
1.Problem: New Listeners do not feel welcome.
2.Goal:New Listeners feel welcome.
3.Potential Solutions:
-send genuine welcoming messages to new listeners
-welcome new listeners in the chat room
-welcome new listeners on the forum
4.Did it work?Yes, it is working, but we can do more here. We are adding new solutions to get better at this. We'll keep doing what works, but we'll also add more things to make it better.
I wasn't even aware that some new listeners were not feeling welcome before. This was really surprising to me, especially because we are such a warm community. It isn't that any of us were being purposefullyun-welcoming. We had just assumed that it was happening. Then, when we realized we were not, we took deliberate steps to be more welcoming, b/c that is the type of community we are; we are a welcoming community! With problem solving it really helps if you can clearly outline the problem and then outline specific ways you are going to try to solve the problem.
Let me share another a problem we haven't yet solved:
1.Problem:There are lots of people struggling around us. 30-40% of the people that we know struggle and don't really want anyone to know they are struggling. They need help. We, at 7 cups, can give them the help they need.
2.Goal:The 30-40% of people that are quietly struggling around us learn about 7 cupsand use the servicetofeel better.
3.Solution: We haven't really figured out a good solution to this quite yet. Let's work together to problem solve this.
4. After we get our potential solutions together. Let's test them and see if they work. We can probably come up with 4-5 things that really work well. We can then start doing those things deliberately to help more people.
You can see from the above outline and example that problem solving is fairly easy to implement, especially if we are working together. One last point: fear of failure.
>Failure- often times we are afraid to try things because we are afraid of failure. We somehow believe that successful people just come up with great ideas and then drop them into existence. This NEVER happens. Things that work work because someone has failed about a thousand times in figuring out how to make them work. We are no different. We are going to fail a lot. That is good! Failure is good, b/c it means we are trying and making progress. There is a famous Thomas Edison quote about not failing a 100x, but, rather, learning 100xhow to not do it. We need to have this same mindset.I fail all the time.I've failed or made 100's of mistakes with 7 cups alone. I keep failing and making mistakes. This is good though, because this is how I learn. Please hear me that I welcome failure, b/c that is going to be how we learn.
>>No permission needed- We want you all to feel free to experiment and problem solve as outlined above. If you see a problem, then post it here in this thread and share how you are going to try to solve it.
In closing, I'd like us to officially incorporate problem solving into our culture. We are already doing it - which is the main reason why we have grown so much - but we can do it in a more deliberate manner. Thank you to all of you for helping us walk through this maze. We are doing it by solving one problem at a time. Onward and upward!
Problem: How to reach more people
1 Solution: Advertisements displayed in Gmail
I did someGooglefuand determined almost half a billion people use Gmail. Google has recently started to implement low profile contextual ads in Gmail. For instance say youmade a recent search for "depression", "Loneliness" (the keywords can be defined by the advertiser), this will be contextually linked with your add and, depending on keyword bidding via your add campaign settings, a add to your site in gmail might get displayed to millions of people doing those kind of searches.
New Problem: Expense
This is going to be expensive.Asmost probably know, you pay per click onGoogle, and we have many people out there going through tough times.
Solution: Google add budget
One can decide on a certain monthly Gmail add budget and prepay that amount to Google,when that is exceeded the advertisement campaign pauses and the addstop appearing until you top it up. i.e. you can implement a fixed budged for your Google adds.
That is a great idea! I just wonder if people may over look it, because I go onto my gmail account about 3-4 times a day and the adverts just fly over my head, I dont even take note to them, but of course some people do! how about youtube or facebook? is that also super expensive?
Hi Eugene, unfortunately, we need to figure out other ways besides ads, b/c we don't charge. We are actually doing pretty good in this department already as we haven't had ads since early September!
1 AM here, just aquick thoughtbefore I sleep
1.Problem:There are lots of people struggling around us. 30-40% of the people that we know struggle and don't really want anyone to know they are struggling. They need help. We, at 7 cups, can give them the help they need.
2.Goal:The 30-40% of people that are quietly struggling around us learn about 7 cupsand use the servicetofeel better.
3.Solution(s):
To attract more people, I think it is all about going for channels we have yet to go for.
Others have mentioned Facebook, Tumblr, Google+, contacting colleges...YouTube
Personally I feel we should try Quora too. It has a very educated, influential community and 7 cups of tea, being 1 of the YC startups does have some attention there. You might even gain goodinsights by asking questions on growth strategies I feel.
I have never ever heard of quora! maybe I have been hiding under a rock to miss it! I will go check it out!
You will love it Kristey!
On a side note, When I want to know how does it feel like to have depression, bipolar.etc, the answers there can bereally enlightening.
https://www.quora.com/Depression/What-does-it-feel-like-to-have-depression
https://www.quora.com/Bipolar-Disorder/What-does-it-feel-like-to-have-bipolar-disorder
Really like this post! I think those are some great points!
Hey. Well one of the only problems I've had here is:
1.Problem: Not being able to remember whether I've talked to someone before and what their story is. I feel really bad sometimes when someone is just like "Oh we've talked before, and talking to you made me feel really better. So i just wanted to expand on that." (I'm just sitting there like, "Remember, remember, no you can't forget. Try to remember!)
2.Goal: To understand the speaker and if you're talking to them again, being able to empathize with them and being able tojust listen to them even if the chat is continued later.
3.Solution(s): Perhaps we could have a feature where we could look back at the chat that we've had before, I don't know, i know it seems kind of wrong to record whatever the person is telling us, but I just feel really bad when I can't remember the person I've talked to before. It sort of makes me feel terrible.
Thanks for your post! In the upcoming weeks, we will be launching a new messaging system. This will work similar to Facebook messaging and you will be able to read someof the messages you and your member have previously exchanged. I think this will help with the problem you have outlined.
Oh that sounds great. Thank you so much! That helps a lot. :)
Yeah, this would be great. I understand it's obviously problematic in some ways, as 7 Cups promises the messages are anonymous and deleted etc, so maybe also a section in the 'My Impact' bit where you can add brief notes about the member? Just a few facts/issues they'd had so you can refresh your memory when you reconnect.
1.Identify the problem: Listeners often don't complete the training or even realise that it's available. Also, I'd completed all the training that was initially available but had no idea that new ones had been made available until I randomly checked the page today.
2.Create the goal: Get more Listeners completing training and, more importantly, raisingawareness of the training opportunities, especially when new ones arise.
3.Come up with a potential solution:
I think if listeners were aware of the training, they would usually complete it - unless they're not that dedicated in the first place (in which case it's not such an issue) or if they have real life counselling qualifications or something (in which case they're probably okay without training anyway).
So it's really awareness that's key, especially when (like me) they may have done some of the training but then new ones become available. The banners at the top of the dashboard seem to work really wellin bringing awareness of pressing topics/things to do, so maybe we could have one of those banners (in a training-specific colourperhaps) reminding people to complete the training or notifying them that there's new training.
I agree, I have seen some profiles of listeners where they have done no training! training helps us grow as a listener and gives us great tips on what we can do! I think maybe training should be more inforced maybe? I think next time we must put a sticky note saying that new training guides are here!
Thanks all for this awesome feedback and analysis on how to solve problems. It feels like we are rolling now. For each new problem you have, let's post a new thread in the larger "problem solving" category so we can pool our resources and think about how to best solve them.
Problem: Long wait times for administration to get back to members regarding mutes, bans etc (Currently Community takes 3-5 days and Unmute requests take 7 days)
Goal: Reduce wait times from administration regarding mutes and bans.
Solutions: Offer choices to members regarding thier own behavior modification. 1) they can do self-help if they feel they can manage how they act within the chat rooms towards other members, listeners or mods. 2) Guided self-help could be implemented with listener check-ins to see how the member is progressing in changing behaviors (i.e. is the member reaching out for help to improve vs repeating same behavior that disrupts room interactions) or 3) Expanded Guided Self-Help which would include a listener and a moderator to ensure that the member stays on track and if questions regarding warnings/mutes do occur the rules could be re-explained in another fashion to better help explain them.
@GlenM
This method is exactly what i did when my computer decided not to work anymore ^^.
I had a panic attack at first but then i took a piece of paper, wrote down the problem, my goal and what i can do to fix the problem ^^.
This is a really good method !
@No715 glad it worked!
@GlenM
Glad to read this post. Absolute class