Leadership Developement – The Secret To Quick Problem Solving
Leadership Developement – The Secret To Quick Problem Solving
The entire team had been wrestling with same problem for years. When we came in and evaluated the situation we found the solution was extremely obvious. So why had they missed it?
You often have a hard time solving a problem because you become to enmeshed in the problem. Thus you get lost in what is fact versus what is fiction. In order to over come this try these simple steps with your team:
1. State the problem clearly. This allows you to truly examine the nature of the problem so you can then see how it might be solved. For example, I often found it hard to stick to an exercise program. When I really stated the problem it came out as “I hate exercising because I hate knowing that I have to exercise and that feeling that it is something I have to do drags at me all day.”
As I looked at it, I realized it isn’t exercising I hate but rather the thought all day long that I have to do it. So I started doing my exercising first thing in the morning and guess what…I happen to eat better during the day as well because I figure since I did exercise I might as well stay on that path.
2. Once your group has clearly stated the problem look for SIMPLE solutions. I find that the best solutions are simple ones that are easy to put in place. In our Outcome Leadership Program we have an exercise the group does to problem solve a real life problem. The solutions usually take care of a symptom of the problem but they don’t get to the root of the problem. The ironic thing is the long-term solution that fixes the problem ends up being simple to do, takes no extra resources and costs ZERO money. It blows leaders away when they realize their “solutions” would have caused more problems and still never addressed the real problem.
Take action by taking a problem your group faces and really articulate what the problem is and see if the right solution pops up for you.
Learn more about the Outcome Focus® Leadership Development Training by contacting Paul Cummings at 952-921-9421