Love the Problem
This foundational phase emphasizes the importance of deeply understanding a social issue before proposing potential solutions. Learning to love the problem means being intentional in the effort to overcome biases, understand root causes, explore various solutions, and acknowledge the problem in its entirety. This requires significant research regarding culture, environmental factors, and contributing circumstances. Before a social problem can be solved, it must first be understood. The overarching intent of this beginning phase is to establish a foundation upon which a legitimate solution can be built.
The opposite of loving the problem is loving the solution. The social impact world has frequently seen well-intentioned charitable efforts yield poor results. This may occur for numerous reasons; however, insufficient knowledge regarding the problem and the surrounding forces that have perpetuated it is frequently a factor. Loving the problem urges those involved in social impact work to be as prepared as possible before moving forward with their interventions. It encourages a curious mind, a humble heart, and a realistic plan of action.
Explore the toolbox below for extra insights on how to love the problem.
Your Toolbox
Secondary Research
Familiarize yourself with existing research.
Conducting comprehensive secondary research is often the first step in loving the problem. This targeted research includes studying available academic findings as well as the methods, successes, and failures of other organizations working on the same issue. These resources explore contributing factors, highlight recurring complications, and prompt more insightful questions about the circumstances that have caused this problem. By compiling and studying the work already done to address an issue, you can reduce your likelihood of repeating others’ past mistakes and improve upon previously successful tactics.What areas of your problem do you need to further explore?
Scoping the Issue
Understand contributing factors and negative consequences.
Scoping the issue is a systematic approach that identifies all of the contributing factors and negative consequences related to a social issue. Contributing factors are defined as elements that play a role in a social problem. These factors, when occurring simultaneously with a social issue, increase its prevalence or severity.
To accurately identify contributing factors, you must be able to distinguish which existing elements simply correlate with your social problem and which generate a cause and effect. Complex networks of contributing factors can include economic disparity, institutional barriers, cultural norms, and environmental conditions.
Negative consequences are the adverse conditions that affect individuals, families, or communities because of a social issue. These consequences are often what draw attention to the issue and inspire individuals and organizations to take action. Understanding the scope of an issue requires an account of both contributing factors and negative consequences.
What are the three most prevalent contributing factors for your problem?
Avoid Monolithic Thinking
Be willing to challenge current groupthink.
Monolithic thinking happens when a social issue is treated as a single, unified problem that requires a single, unified solution. It reflects a mindset that ignores the underlying complexity of the issue and jumps to simple, overgeneralized interventions. This kind of thinking is particularly prominent among daunting large-scale issues.
Some social issues are especially vulnerable to monolithic thinking because they reinforce themselves in cycles. Poverty is frequently approached with this mindset because it often operates in a self-perpetuating cycle that seems unsolvable. Limited access to education, healthcare, and employment opportunities all contribute to and result from poverty, creating a feedback loop that’s difficult to break and can persist across generations. This self-reinforcing nature makes it feel like a single, immovable issue, even though it’s made up of many interrelated parts. Breaking down monolithic thinking can play a crucial role in learning to love the problem and developing practical solutions that address pieces of much larger issues.
Some methods to combat monolithic thinking include:
- Creating an issue triangle
- Define the issue, demographic, and geography
- Identifying contributing factors and negative consequences
- Breaking it into smaller parts, and then even smaller parts
- Focusing on one manageable piece where you can begin to make an impact
Stories of Love the Problem In Action
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Bridging The Gap Between Data And Policy
Professor Darren Hawkins is leveraging his connection with the Ballard Center to bridge the gap between high-quality evidence and effective public policy.
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Championing Social Impact In Word and In Deed
For many students, college learning looks like an hour-and-a-half stay in a lecture hall. For the students of Pamela Brubaker, Ph.D., learning is making marketing strategies for a real-world startup.
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Ballard Faculty Fellows Publish Research on Entrepreneurs' Growth Mindset in Tanzania
Ballard Center faculty fellows Chad Carlos and Shad Morris were recently published in the Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal for their research, which focuses on how to help Tanzanian entrepreneurs grow their businesses.
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