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Problem-Solving Success Tip – Use Your Time for Problems That are Truly Important

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Use your time for problems that are truly important.

Hard as it may be to walk away once you’re aware of it, just because a problem is there doesn’t mean you have to solve it. Ask yourself and your colleagues, “What will happen if we don’t solve this problem?” If the answer is, “not much,” then turn your attention to something more important. If you don’t know what will happen, find out before you undertake a problem-solving project. It should be clear to you and everyone else involved that the problem is worth the effort-and expense-to fix it.

Quantify the cost of the problem quickly, but as realistically as you can. Include lost opportunity costs as well as real expenses such as staff time to deal with the problem, travel expenses, etc. Use actual costs where you can; estimate where you can’t. Then guesstimate what it will cost to analyze and fix it. Write your analysis down, stating all your assumptions explicitly. Get a colleague to verify that your assumptions and estimates are reasonable. Start with a rough “order of magnitude” estimate. That may be enough to answer the question of whether you should proceed. If it’s not clear, especially if the cost to solve it will be high, do a more careful analysis.

If it will cost more to fix than to live with the problem, or if the number is even close, perhaps your resources (time, people, money) are better spent on other projects. If you decide to proceed anyway, you can do so with a better understanding of what you’re undertaking. On the other hand, if you can demonstrate that the cost of the problem is much higher than the cost of solving it, using estimates based on reasonable assumptions, it will generally be much easier to get the resources you need. You can use your written analysis as a sales tool to help win support for your decision to proceed or not.

We have to learn to distinguish those things that are truly important from those that are merely urgent.
– Jerry D. Campbell

Copyright 2007. Jeanne Sawyer. All Rights Reserved.

Article Source:
http://www.bestmanagementarticles.com
http://crisis-management.bestmanagementarticles.com

About the Author:

Jeanne Sawyer helps her clients solve expensive, chronic problems, such as those that cause operational disruptions and cause customers to take their business elsewhere. These tips are excerpted from her book, When Stuff Happens: A Practical Guide to Solving Problems Permanently. Now also an ebook, find out about it and get more free information on problem solving at her web site: http://www.sawyerpartnership.com/.

Management Observation Program Best Practice 4 – Observation Quotas

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StrategyDriven Management Observation Program Best Practice ArticleManagement observation programs seek to reinforce desired behaviors while also capturing data to enable the identification of improvement opportunities. Both of these objectives require observation repetition in order to be effective; enough reinforcement points to alter or establish reflexive behaviors and an adequate number of data points collected to enable a statistically sound conclusion to be formed. Realizing the desired number of observations is most easily achieved through a quota system.

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Problem-Solving Success Tip: Define the Problem First

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It seems obvious, but how many times have we gone to a problem-solving meeting and the discussion started with either whose fault was it or an assertion about the proper solution?

Instead, start by explaining what the problem is – what went wrong, what the symptoms are, what the impact on your business and your customer’s business is. These are the things that someone knows at this point in the problem solving process. If the someone is not you, and you’re leading the problem-solving effort, you need to do some research to find out. No guesses or assumptions allowed: the problem description must give the facts clearly and accurately.

Write it down. Writing the problem down forces you to describe it carefully, completely and unambiguously. The statement is a valuable tool to help focus your team on the real problem and avoid wasting time on extraneous issues. Everyone who reads it should understand what the problem is and why it’s important. No jumping ahead, either: you don’t know yet what caused the problem much less what you will do to fix it.

The written statement can also be used as a “sales tool” to explain what problem you’re solving and why it’s important. Use it to make sure you have the support you’ll need from management, your customer and any other key players. This is especially important if the significance of the problem is not universally understood or accepted.

The problem is defined when everybody who reads your problem statement, including you, understands what will be different when the problem is solved and your team agrees that it describes the correct problem.

Copyright 2007. Jeanne Sawyer. All Rights Reserved.

Article Source:
http://www.bestmanagementarticles.com
http://crisis-management.bestmanagementarticles.com

About the Author:

Jeanne Sawyer helps her clients solve expensive, chronic problems, such as those that cause operational disruptions and cause customers to take their business elsewhere. These tips are excerpted from her book, When Stuff Happens: A Practical Guide to Solving Problems Permanently. Now also an ebook, find out about it and get more free information on problem solving at her web site: http://www.sawyerpartnership.com/.

Celebrating Our Second Year… Continuing a Trend of Innovation

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July 1, 2009 marked the second anniversary of the StrategyDriven website and we have experienced considerable growth and innovation! Since July 1, 2008, we have tripled our number of registered members and have grown to a peak of:

  • 1,035 registered members
  • 9,107 unique monthly visitors
  • 22,090 monthly site visits
  • 69,519 monthly page views

Our website has also grown, now offering insights on strategic business planning and tactical execution through:

  • 229 principle, best practice, and warning flag postings – covering 24 management and leadership categories
  • 27 episodes of the StrategyDriven Podcast – ranked in the top three of all business podcasts during the last 12 months and twice voted as the number one business podcast!
  • 20 Interviews
  • 5 whitepapers
  • 8 models and
  • the monthly edition of the StrategyDriven Newsletter – click here to sign up

As a community, we are fortunate to have had several of our members share their insights with us through posted comments including:

  • Mark Horstman, Manager Tools (www.Manager-Tools.com)
  • Todd Watkins, The Immigration Truth (www.TheImmigrationTruth.com)
  • John Bogard, Fountainhead (www.Fountainhead.org)
  • Kenneth Sawka, Outward Insights (www.OutwardInsights.com)
  • John Ringland, New Civilization Network (www.NewCiv.org)

Finally, we have been complimented by many reviewers and websites linking to us including:

Thank You!

The StrategyDriven family would like to thank you, our readers and listeners, for helping to make our second year even more successful than the first! We truly appreciate your time and your insights and we look forward to an exciting year to come.

All the Best,

Karen Juliano
Editor-in-Chief and
Director, Communications and Marketing
StrategyDriven

Leadership Inspirations – One Must Be Willing to Fail in Order to Succeed

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Some of life’s greatest lessons come through failure… and greatness is often born in the rising from the ashes.

Everyone experiences personal and professional disappointments and setbacks. Those taking the time to critically and objectively examine and learn from their mistakes, applying those learnings to future endeavors, will inevitably be more successful. This truth is embodied by those from all walks of life who in their respective fields have achieved great success.

“Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.”

Albert Einstein

Awarded the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics, named Time’s Man of the Century in 1999, and best known for his conception of the theories of special and general relativity

“You miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take.”

Wayne Gretzky

National Hockey League Hall of Famer and winner of:

  • four Stanley Cup Championships
  • nine Hart Trophies as the most valuable player
  • ten Art Ross Trophies for most points in a season
  • five Lady Byng Trophies for sportsmanship and performance
  • five Lester B. Pearson Awards and
  • and two Conn Smythe Trophies as playoff MVP

Michael Jordan

National Basketball Association Hall of Famer, winner of:

  • 6 NBA Championships
  • Rookie of the Year
  • 5 NBA MVP Awards
  • 6 NBA Finals MVP Awards
  • 10 All-NBA First Team
  • 9 NBA All-Defensive First Team
  • Defensive Player of the Year
  • 14 NBA All-Star Awards
  • 3 NBA All-Star MVP Awards
  • 50th Anniversary All-Time Team
  • 10 scoring titles — an NBA record and seven consecutive matching Wilt Chamberlain
  • Retired with the NBA’s highest scoring average of 30.1ppg

    • and

  • whose NBA website biography reads: “By acclamation, Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player of all time.“

StrategyDriven would like to extend a special thank you to Kelly Sonora, who introduced us to Online College’s (www.OnlineCollege.org) article 100 Incredibly Inspiring Videos for Leaders from which we found the above Michael Jordan video by Nike.