Team’s and Manager’s Wellbeing
Posted: 2nd March 2026
Back in the 70’s someone came up with the term ‘Wicked Problem’, the third sector deals with wicked problems every day. They refer to the complex environments which we and those we serve live in, where sands are constantly shifting, where it feels like we are faced with contradictions and conundrums on a daily basis and all the clever books and theories which say ‘do this’ ‘do that’ never seem to go as planned when taking from paper to practice in the real world. Even more challenging is that often in trying to solve one wicked problem, another one arises!
At a time when budgets are squeezed, teams and managers are facing their own challenges perhaps outside as well as within work, then keeping morale high can be a real issue. I am not claiming to have all the answers by the way! This is just a wee suggestion.
Sometimes when we reframe what is in front of us and harness our imagination to see this as a quest the team are on, then we can move from feeling powerless to curious and accepting that we cannot do it all, but perhaps there is something we can do which makes it less ‘bad’. Unlike a car which we can take in, and fix, communities and people’s lives are a lot more complex and its not people are broken, it just may be they need to find ways to manage, mitigate or work round the systems which are broken. Like any quest you have different characters each with their own skills and insights, so to with the quest to address the wicked problems of poverty, inequality, diseases of despair, harness the skills, wisdom and experience of the team and communities you serve, to identify the wicked problems you are faced with and then explore what can be done to make it less bad.
The liberating structure ‘Wicked Questions’ is a tool which can help.
‘’What is made possible? You can spark innovative action while diminishing “yes, but…” and “either-or” thinking. Wicked Questions engage everyone in sharper strategic thinking by revealing entangled challenges and possibilities that are not intuitively obvious. They bring to light paradoxical-yet-complementary forces that are constantly influencing behaviours and that are particularly important during change efforts. Wicked Questions make it possible to expose safely the tension between espoused strategies and on-the-ground circumstances and to discover the valuable strategies that lie deeply hidden in paradoxical waters.’’
The link to facilitating a session is below and this video may also be of interest.
When things are challenging its totally understandable why we can become overwhelmed, however, that only leads us to feeling even more demoralised, finding ways to move forwards even if they are not perfect, but are less bad, counts for us all. Together we can join the quest to explore the wicked questions we need to consider finding ways to work around the wicked problems we and the people we serve face.
Thanks for reading
Hilda
Expires: 31/03/2026
More Information: https://www.liberatingstructures.com/4-wicked-questions/
Contact: hildac@copescotland.com