How Can You Create a New Perspective on a Problem?

This is Johanna Rothman’s March 2026 Create an Adaptable Life Newsletter. The Unsubscribe link is at the bottom of this newsletter.

I’ve been drinking green tea in the morning since 1998, when a fellow workshop participant introduced me to it. It’s now part of my delightful morning tradition.

Before then, I drank coffee or black tea. While I liked them, I didn’t love them in the morning. The original green tea was just so-so, but better than what I drank at the time.

Then, I discovered this Tazo green tea. That checked all my boxes. Voila! I had a new perspective on my morning hot drink.

However, Tazo dramatically increased the cost of its tea several years ago. It’s a little cheaper when I buy the larger boxes and when I buy several at a time. But these larger boxes are different. They have a different aspect ratio (the height in relationship to the width) from the original boxes.

That new aspect ratio changed how the tea bags sit in the box. The tea bags fell over, not staying in soldier-like formation. This is not a huge problem, but it became more of an irritant the more tea I used from a given box.

I had no apparent alternatives, so I ignored the problem. Instead of considering a change, I did nothing. I managed the problem, staying in Old Status Quo. I did not change my perspective. (For more detail on the Satir Change Model, see Where Are You in Your Changes?)

Then came a Foreign Element, an outside event.

Outside Events Changed My Perspective

This year, I escaped from the Boston weather to the relative warmth of Florida for most of January and February. But I did not count my teabags carefully enough—I was going to run out of tea before I returned home. Oh, the horror!

Mark came to my rescue, bringing two teabags with him when he arrived in Florida for our last weekend.

When I returned home, I realized he had opened the tea box differently. Instead of removing the tape on the side, he opened the box from the top. Now, the teabags stay put in their relative columns in the box. Mark solved this problem by being a Foreign Element and allowing me to create a new perspective. What did it mean to open the box? What was the “right” way to open it?

I happen to prefer “his” way of opening the box, so the tea bags stay in their nice columns and don’t fall over. But I would never have considered that option without an outside event/Foreign Element changing my perspective.

That’s the problem with being in Old Status Quo. We are comfortable enough to manage the problem. That managing allows us to stay comfortable.

Managing a problem might be enough for us. But how do we recognize when we need something else? That’s when a foreign element, or even “just” a change in perspective, can help us create an even better outcome.

I’m all for better outcomes. And they go fine with my green tea.

Announcements…

If you are part of the agile community, consider checking out The Enterprise Agility Network. I still have a discount code for the various membership options: ROTHMANPMC33 to get 33% OFF all memberships. This month, I’m talking about adaptability and resilience.

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Till next time,
Johanna

© 2026 Johanna Rothman