Provision #673: Constraints Matter

by Bob Tschannen-Moran

Laser Provision

What is your relationship to the constraints of life and work? Do you chafe at the bit or do you embrace them fully? Great leaders are not complainers. We do not view constraints as problems, nuisances, or inconveniences. We see them, rather, as projects, opportunities, and mandates. That's because great leaders also do not view constraints as inevitabilities. They are the stuff that life and work are made from. Without constraints our creativity and confidence would not be called upon. Want to capture more of that juice for yourself? Read on.

LifeTrek Provision

• Who wish they had more than 24 hours in a day.
• Who wish they didn't need so much sleep.
• Who wish their spouses or partners would accept their crazy work schedules.
• Who wish troublesome employees would resign.
• Who wish they didn't weigh so much or have a chronic medical condition.
• Who wish the economy wasn't so bad.
• Who wish they had more capital.
• Who wish the Internet was more secure or reliable or fast.
• Who wish consumers weren't so stupid.

"A second way to think about the overlapping spaces of innovation is in terms of boundaries. To an artist in pursuit of beauty or a scientist in search of truth, the bounds of a project may appear as unwelcome constraints. But the mark of a designer, as the legendary Charles Eames said often, is a willing embrace of constraints."

"Without constraints design cannot happen, and the best design – a precision medical device or emergency shelter for disaster victims – is often carried out within quite severe constraints. For less extreme cases we need only look at Target's success in bringing design within the reach of a broader population for significantly less cost than had previously been achieved. It is actually much more difficult for an accomplished designer such as Michael Graves to create a collection of low-cost kitchen implements or Isaac Mizrahi a line of ready-to-wear clothing than it is to design a teakettle that will sell in a museum store for hundreds of dollars or a dress that will sell in a boutique for thousands."

"The willing and even enthusiastic acceptance of competing constraints is the foundation of design thinking. The first stage of the design process is often about discovering which constraints are important and establishing a framework for evaluating them."

"Constraints can be visualized in terms of three overlapping criteria for successful ideas: feasibility (what is functionally possible within the foreseeable future); viability (what is likely to become part of a sustainable business model); and desirability (what makes sense to people and for people)."

"A competent designer will resolve each of these three constraints, but a design thinker will bring them into a harmonious balance.... (This is not to say) that all constraints are created equal; a given project may be driven disproportionately by technology, budget, or a volatile mix of human factors. Different types of organizations may push one or another of them to the fore. Nor is it a simple linear process. Design teams will cycle back throughout the life of a project, but the emphasis on fundamental human needs – as distinct from fleeting or artificially manipulated desires – is what drives design thinking to depart from the status quo."

"Designers, then, have learned to excel at resolving one or another or even all three of these constraints. Design thinkers, by contrast, are learning to navigate between and among them in creative ways. They do so because they have shifted their thinking from problem to project."

Leaders, then, have learned to excel at resolving one or another or even all three of these constraints. Great leaders, by contrast, are learning to navigate between and among them in creative ways. They do so because they have shifted their thinking from problem to project.

That's the shift leaders make to become great leaders. We come to view constraints differently. They are not problems, nuisances, or inevitabilities. They are projects, opportunities, and invitations.

• Do you have 24 hours in a day?
• Do you need more sleep?
• Do you want more understanding from your spouse or partner?
• Do you want a troublesome employees to resign?
• Do you want to lose weight or better manage a chronic medical condition?
• Do you want prosper in a bad economy?
• Do you want to leverage more capital?
• Do you want a secure, reliable, and fast Internet?
• Do you want to educate your consumers