“What would be the benefit of drawing a flow chart of this system?” I asked. Valerie had solved the problem, but I wanted her to transform the solution into a system that could be used again.

“For starters, drawing a picture of the system helps me get it straight in my own mind, and makes it easier to explain it to someone else,” she replied.

“And what if one of your team members has a suggestion for improvement?”

“They can go right to the spot on the picture and we can talk about it.” Valerie was already pulling a piece of paper to the table.

“Valerie, what’s different about your supervisor solving this problem yesterday and the work you are about to do now, as a manager?”

“Well, my supervisor solved the problem to get us out of a jam, yesterday. I am working on a system to prevent the jam from happening again. My supervisor was working for one day. I am working on the future.”