Leaders learn to love problems

Posted: July 11, 2014 | Categories: Leadership, Management, Team Building

We are paid to solve problems.  Selling is commonly defined as problem solving.  Management is problem solving.  A technician is a problem solver.  Here is the intriguing part:  If solving problems is what most of us are paid for, why does “We’ve got a problem” hit us like a sour note?

One discovery I have made in working with high-performing teams:  They have a great attitude about problems.  Does that mean they love problems or wish for setbacks and crises?  Of course not.  They also know that they must be in touch with reality, and they will get problems whether they want them or not.  Looking for problems and tackling them at the root with eagerness is a team mindset that will keep us ahead of the game.  They don’t point fingers.  They take ownership.   What can we do to develop this on our team?

1. Train our people to understand the importance of looking for problems and keeping small problems small.
2. Before they come us with a problem, take time to answer these four problem solving questions:

• What is the problem?  There should be no blame, and it would be a simple statement of the problem, not a symptom.  For example:  “We did not meet our 2nd quarter goal”
  
• What are the causes of the problem?  Without resorting to blame, list all the factors that contributed to the problem.  Forget the “who”.  What happened?  What didn’t happen?  Staying away from blame allows us to focus on the problem, not the personalities.
• What are the possible solutions?  Quantity is job #1 here.  That means we use the right side of the brain with no judgment.
• What is the best possible solution?  Now we use judgment.  Based on the boundary conditions and the time and resources we have available, what makes the most sense?

What do most teams do?  They jump right in to solutions.  We need to discipline ourselves to have a good attitude about problems and take the time to work through these questions.  The benefit is that we can actually solve the problem, rather than facing the same situation again.  Our business can grow!