Half my driveway is filled with rocks. I hauled them (with three strong guys) from an excavated site a few miles away to my house. It’s all part of my re-landscaping project.

At one point, the truck, laden with 3 tons of rock, got stuck in the loose dirt around the excavated site. I didn’t know if we were going to make it out. The back wheels were spinning, throwing up clouds of dust.

Sometimes problem solving is like that.
You’ve got a heavy problem. You want to move forward. But, all your efforts just seem to be spinning your mental wheels. When you’re spinning your mind without making progress, it’s frustrating.

Your mind starts to kick up a lot of emotional dust.
Feelings of frustration, doubt, anger, overwhelm can cloud your thinking. Spending more time and energy in the same pattern – won’t help. It will just burn you out.

So, how can you proceed?
There are two directions to follow when you’re trying to get out of a mental rut: up and down. Psychologists and cognitive scientists call this mental process “chunking” – as in chunk up or chunk down.

What is chunking up?
It’s stepping back, taking a broader perspective, and considering how the problem fits into a bigger picture.

When you chunk up, you’re expanding the horizon of your awareness.
Instead of looking at the tree, you’re taking in the forest. This is an important move to make when you find yourself spinning mentally and emotionally. Chunking up allows you to step back and consider how the challenge you’re facing is part of a larger pattern.

Here’s an example: Edward Deming, the father of the quality movement, famously emphasized that 96% of problems were the result of systemic imbalances not individual misbehavior.

By shifting attention from the action of the individual to the impact of the system – Deming was encouraging leaders to chunk up their problem analysis.
Rather than consider the individual’s actions as the source of the problem, Deming chunked up and focused on how system design governs and drives individual action.

When a nurse gives a patient the wrong medicine, where does the organization and the nurse’s leader focus?
On the nurse? On the system? Deming says to start with the system rather than assume individual negligence or incompetence. By tuning up the bigger chunk (the system) the smaller chunk (the individual behavior) will improve.

So, how do you chunk up?
Chunk up asking questions that expand the horizon of awareness.
Here are some chunking up questions to ask when you want to stop spinning your own wheels:

• What am I really trying to accomplish here?
• What makes this problem so important to me?
• What’s the pattern here – how is this problem an example of something that occurs regularly?

If you’re leading a team and people spinning their wheels and kicking up dust, here are some chunking up questions to ask:

• Let’s look at the bigger picture…
• How does that relate to our mission/vision/purpose?
• What are we trying to achieve here?
• Who is this for? What do they really want?
• What’s the pattern here – how is this problem an example of something that occurs regularly?

Another way to get un-stuck is to chunk down.
Chunking down is about becoming more specific, drilling down into the details, and breaking the problem down into smaller, more discrete pieces (or chunks).

In the book The Talent Code, author Dan Coyle describes how chunking problems down into bite-sized pieces allows musicians, athletes, scientists, and teachers to master really difficult and complex skills.

Chunking down works best when the overarching goal or purpose of the problem is clear.
Once you know why you care about solving the problem (which happens when you chunk up), then you can start to break it down into discrete pieces. And to work on mastering those smaller chunks step-by-step.

Continuing the example of the nurse and the medicine: chunking down would mean examing of all the steps/actions/decisions that go into “giving the right medication”. Each discrete element in the process would need to be identified, refined, and mastered. Then, the sum of those small chunks can integrate into a coherent pattern of competence.

Here are some questions to chunk-down a problem you are struggling with:

• What specifically did I do?
• What were the steps in my process?
• How can I break my behavior/thinking down into smaller chunks?
• What’s one aspect of this whole thing that I can start to improve?
• What’s the smallest action I can take that would move this forward?

Of course, chunking is a relative process.
You can chunk up or down from any problem.
It’s like a set of those Russian dolls that nest one inside the other. Each doll (other than the smallest and the largest) is both big and little – relative to another doll.

That is, each doll is a “chunk up” (bigger) relative to other dolls. And also a “chunk down” (smaller) relative to others.

It’s the same with the problem you’re dealing with.
Your problem is part of a bigger system. It’s a symptom of some larger imbalance; the outcome of a more encompassing pattern. It’s a small chunk inside a bigger context.

But, your problem also contains, within it, smaller sub-issues. It’s a system itself with discrete sub-components that may need attention. It’s a doll with other smaller dolls (issues) nested inside.

So, for any problem it’s helpful to both chunk up and chunk down.
Here’s how:

• Start by chunking up to define the larger context and reasons why the problem needs to be addressed.
• Define the issue at a high level (chunk up)
• Then chunk down to identify project goals, milestones, or bench marks.
• As you move through time – keep chunking back up to make sure that what you’re doing is aligned with your purpose and the larger context.
• Chunk up to find problems in the bigger system that need attention.
• Chunk down to refine your specific actions, time line, deliverables.

Some people like to chunk up and dwell in the big picture.
Others prefer to chunk down and get into the nitty-gritty. Both – up and down – are needed if you’re going to solve problems so they stay solved.

Otherwise you’ll just end up spinning your wheels, polluting the atmosphere with dirt and dust, and never get those rocks off your truck.

Questions for Reflection & Action:

1. What is a problem that you keep running into?
2. Chunk it up:
   • How is this problem a symptom of a larger pattern or systemic imbalance?
   • How does resolving this problem support your larger purpose or vision?
3. Chunk it down:
   • What’s the smallest action that you can take to start to improve this situation?
   • What is one thing you can do today to address the problem?

Related posts:

1. How to stop swatting flies and start developing leaders
2. Why some problems aren’t meant to be solved