Leaders solve problems by wielding their decision-making power. We don’t like problems and we want them to go away fast – so we want to solve problems quickly. But too often we don’t make the right decision and have a sub-optimal solution.
Slow down. Problem-solving is 80% discovery and diagnostics. Ask questions and frame the problem correctly.
What caused the problem? What caused that? What caused that? Get more information. Look closer. Zoom in. Zoom out. Go to the front line and see it yourself.
Ask what the various solutions are and think about how permanent these decisions are, what the costs are, and what the unexpected consequences may be.
Once you know and understand the problem, fixing it will be far easier and clear.
The buzz phrase these days seems to be ‘focus on solutions’… I GET IT; but you can’t SOLVE the problem if you don’t UNDERSTAND the problem.
If you find solutions without understanding the problem, you will find the problem again.
Root cause analysis is CRITICAL to having a problem once…
I like your approach. I decided to decentralize problem solving. Although I am very good at it, I wanted to include everyone involved and see if I could teach others to do it, making me less critical to the process. Sharing the load with others, using their brains, “because mine is busy right now” makes a stronger team and empowers others to have the mystic skill. I also discovered that I was called in late in the crisis and was often making urgent unilateral decisions that were not good for the company. I call it the yellow flag (Similar to auto racing) it warns of trouble up ahead and gets everyone to slow down until the situation is dealt with. It is a form that gathers all the information and key players to make a decision based upon sound reasoning, it also forces us to communicate our decision with those who need to know and create a backup plan if plan A does not work. We file the forms and have a history now. The last part is that anyone can raise the yellow flag. Some have too much tolerance for chaos. I wanted to make sure that we create a consensus as to what is a situation worthy of the process.
Great advice and also excellent advice and technique from Joe Levitch above. Many times we’re asked to solve more problems than we really should because people tend to not want to take responsibility and make a decision that could come back on them. I try to turn those problems back on the people involved and encourage and coach them to find the solution. The problems won’t stop and the requests to me for a solution won’t slow down unless I teach those people how to solve problems themselves.
Hi Larry
I think I solved a very big problem that can help a lot of people stay safe when the power goes out that`s why I sent you an email about it on 4-4-2024. I would like to show it to you, let me know if you are interested.