“What could possibly go wrong?”—for a phrase that’s embedded in our consciousness, it often has surprisingly little impact on the way we manage our business. “Nothing can go wrong; nothing we can’t handle; no need to dwell on the negative; we can’t live our lives in fear.” But wishful thinking is a long way from…
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As described in problem analysis, the first steps in problem solving involve evaluating the problem, causes, current strategy or process, and the priority of the problem. When problem analysis is complete, problem solving is the next step. Most of the processes and approaches to problem solving focus on spending time on understanding the problem, then…
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Scott Adams, the creator of the Dilbert cartoons, worked for years at a bank and at Pacific Bell—at no time was he cited for his contribution to creative problem solving. Yet, he certainly had creativity and he certainly had an eye for problems. So why couldn’t his bosses make use of his talents? The…
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Problem analysis lets you discover if your problem is indeed a nail—you can then decide if the solution is a hammer. The purpose of problem analysis is to properly evaluate the problem, identify the cause of the problem, understand glitches or potential in your current process/strategy, prioritize the problem, and make sure you are avoiding…
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Effective leaders have developed their skills in thinking critically, aligning the organization or team, and taking appropriate action. Critical Thinking Critical thinking is what enables leaders to understand the impact of their leadership and to examine the relationship between their assumptions and conclusions, conclusions and actions, and actions and results. A critical thinker challenges…
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An environment of trust affects every part of change management, communications, decision making, problem solving, and team synergy; it is a fundamental part of an organization’s culture. Trust is not easy to build, especially with individuals and teams that are under stress and struggling to meet personal and professional goals. Moreover, building trust is not…
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Anyone can set a goal: “My team will make a billion dollars in sales.” The question is, can the goal be achieved? Achievable goals have several common characteristics. They are in line with the company’s mission, values, and strategy. They are specific and measurable. The needed resources are available (trained people, sales leads). They have…
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A basic step often overlooked in measurements of employee engagement is to define what engagement is: what are you measuring? Some companies define employee engagement as commitment to over-delivering on projects and enthusiastically devoting more time to the job—unfortunately, those same traits may lead to burnout. Others define engagement as job satisfaction, a positive relationship…
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A secretary was reprimanded because she read during lunch rather than socializing with the other secretaries. An overweight engineer was encouraged by his peers to eat a whole pizza (or two or three) while they bet on his abilities. An executive called a meeting to yell at the entire office that they were sending him…
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You cannot lead a crisis unless you are prepared for it. Crises may come from the natural environment, team dysfunction, competitive or economic threats, product failures, seemingly simple mistakes, miscommunications, security leaks, and many other sources. As a leader, you have many choices in how you prepare, respond to, recover from, and evaluate a crisis.…
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