I once attended a meeting that was scheduled to address why the organization to which I belonged was becoming less effective.  We had begun to react to unfavorable situations and incidents rather than anticipating, responding promptly or avoiding them.  The meeting included the head of the organization, a corporate vice president, and his staff of which I was a member.  We talked and we talked about what was happening.  Several staff members had ideas on what to do.  However, we continued to have circular discussions.  We would make comments, but the discussions keep leading back to a repeat of the same comments.  We just could not get out of the loop of endless discussion.  I had learned a problem solving technique from training that I had received while working for a previous employer.  I realized the importance of timing so I waited until the moment of silence came when the meeting participants had grown weary from being in the loop of endless discussion.  I used the technique by starting with a question that caught the attention of the meeting participants, especially the vice president.  The question was: