“If I asked people what they wanted, they would say they wanted a better horse” -Henry Ford
Last month I was meeting with a client who had a big problem: His business was growing too fast. He had built his success by giving excellent service and managing relationships well. Now all that was at risk. Things were slipping through the cracks, important details were getting overlooked, and his team was “dropping the ball” far too often.
When a situation like this occurs, it is important to define the problem so that we come up with the right solution. There is an old saying, “The wrong solution to the right problem is better than the right solution to the wrong problem”.
As Tom looked deeper into his situation, he concluded that it wasn’t a staffing problem. He had enough manpower to handle it. It also wasn’t a “people” problem. Even though stressed, his team liked working for him and had good attitudes and a strong work ethic. As we went through the problem solving process, he came to the conclusion that his team was frazzled and fragmented, and he needed a system to pull things together – just like McDonald’s and Portillo’s. He developed a new model that was designed to solve the problem. It worked. His team efficiency has gone up by 40%.
I will leave you with this thought: When we get to a point where we are working hard and doing our best, and we aren’t keeping our “head above water”, take a time out. Ask the famous four problem-solving questions:
