Tag Archives: problem solving

Trouble

Leave a reply

“One, right after another,” Charlotte flatly stated.

“I’ll give, what?” I asked.

“We solve one problem, three more pop up. We solve one of those and three more pop up. It’s no wonder our department is so far behind goal, we’ll never catch up,” she said. “Trouble always seem to find us.”

“Trouble is mostly a mental state,” I replied. “If you are a victim of trouble, you are correct. It will always find you. Trouble either grabs you by the throat, or you grab trouble by the throat. It’s all in the way you see it.”

The Pain Inside the Problem

Leave a reply

“What do you mean?” Felipe wanted to know. “What do you mean, what is the problem trying to teach me?”

“Look, this is a problem that is difficult to solve. It is difficult, because what you are trying to do is difficult. You chose a difficult goal, you chose to aim high.”

“But, it is something that has to be done,” Felipe was firm.

“Yes, you determined this aim was necessary, something that must be accomplished. So, now there is a problem. If you had not set such a lofty aim, you would not have encountered such a difficult problem. People with small problems do not aim very high. Small problems are easy to solve, can even be dismissed without affecting the quest, because the quest is of little importance. But if your aim is high, and your quest is necessary, the problem will be extraordinary. The problem will come with pain.”

Felipe nodded. “Yes,” he said. “It’s painful.”

“What is the problem trying to teach you? You may not unlock the solution until you become a different person. What is the pain trying to teach you?”

The Purpose for Problems

1 Reply

“I’m stumped,” Felipe groaned. “And, the worst part, I feel bad.”

“How so?” I asked.

“I’ve been struggling with this problem for more than two weeks, without resolution. And, it’s painful. I should be able to figure it out, but the problem persists. At first, I thought it was just a bump in the road, something we could fix. Then, I thought perhaps it was a fundamental assumption that we just got wrong.”

“And, now?” I prodded.

Felipe took a deep breath. “And, now? Now I feel like a failure. That maybe it’s me. That I am not cut out for this work. I was proud to get this promotion. I felt important. I barked instructions and people paid attention. Now, I just don’t know. Maybe I am an imposter?”

“We all encounter problems,” I replied. “Sometimes those problems are to be solved. Some problems can be eliminated. But, the real purpose for problems is to learn something new. What is this problem trying to teach you?”

Practice Makes Perfect

Leave a reply

“That was a tough one,” Cooper breathed a sigh of relief.

“How so?” I asked.

“The team was struggling with this nasty defect in a critical area of production,” he started. “It took them a while just to collect the data on what was going on, where the failure point was. Then, what to do? That’s when they pulled me in.”

“And?”

“And, I figured it out. Some of their data was defective, which threw them off the trail. Then, I had the insight that solved the dilemma.”

“So, what did you just train them to do?” I was curious.

“I showed them how to solve the problem,” Cooper said.

“No, you showed them that whenever they have a hard problem, they should collect some data, even defective data and then bring the problem to you. That somehow, you will have a brilliant insight that saves the day, and they are off the hook. Not only have you crippled the team from solving their own problems, you have taught them to practice bringing problems to you.”

The Fix

Leave a reply

“I understand our biggest machine has been off-line for a day and a half?” I asked.

“Two days,” Camila replied. “It was down first thing yesterday morning, but we didn’t report it down until lunchtime.”

“And?”

“It’s fixed now,” she explained. “Someone made a mistake on the machine setup for a specific tool and over-torqued the main drive. The drive can handle the pressure, but the tool came apart and destroyed a bunch of stuff inside the cabinet, including the safety partition. No injuries.”

“And, the fix? What’s the corrective action?” I wanted to know.

“Yeah, we have to make sure the setting doesn’t exceed the tool tolerance,” Camila was quick to respond, hoping the conversation would be over, soon.

“The problem wasn’t a machine setting? The problem was that someone wasn’t paying attention, didn’t doublecheck, wasn’t thinking, wasn’t trained or didn’t have the capability. That’s what you have to fix first.”

Perfectly in Flow

Leave a reply

“My team struggled with this problem all last week,” Regina was almost giddy. “I took one look at it and knew exactly what to do. Like a pop up fly right into my glove. It’s really satisfying to solve a problem, almost by instinct.”

“You seem pleased,” I responded.

“Perfectly in flow,” she replied. “Athletes get like that sometimes, where the world slows down, they are one with the motion that perfectly connects.”

“And, your team? What of your team?”

“They were relieved. It was a really hard problem. They discovered the cause, and generated some alternative solutions. It was actually staring them in the face, but the real solution, the one that saved the day was the first part of one alternative connected with the back end of another. Honestly, I don’t know why they didn’t see it.”

“And, you, in flow, took their discovery away?”

Regina’s delight turned cold. “It’s not like I took candy from a baby,” she defended. “I solved a problem for them.”

“So, the next time your team struggles with a problem, what are they going to do? Who are they going to call on?”

Just a Parade

Leave a reply

“Why do they constantly make the wrong decision?” Deidra asked. “We have problems where the solution is counterintuitive. If the team follows the popular trend, they come up with a response that creates more damage than the original problem.”

“Why do you think that is?” I wanted to know.

“I don’t know. Instead of thinking through the problem, they wait and follow behind whoever has status in the group. And, of course, once that person has made a move, contributed the first idea, no one else is willing to question or challenge. Or add alternative solutions, or judge one idea more effective than another. After a while, that popular team member becomes a person of influence. One or two problems down the road and the team becomes incapable of wrestling with the root cause. And, I become the street sweeper in the elephant parade.”

“And?” I glanced sideways.

“And, what?” Deidra was frustrated. “You are looking at me like I’m the problem.”

“I just wanted to know what else?” I smiled. “Who taught them to follow someone else’s lead, instead of thinking for themselves? Who taught them to bring the problem to the street sweeper?”

Can’t or Won’t

Leave a reply

“My team seems to think there are some problems they face that will never be fixed,” Kari explained. “It’s always, here we go again. Same problem, different customer.”

“Do you think they can’t fix the problem or won’t fix the problem?” I asked.

“Can’t fix or won’t fix, what’s the difference? The problem still ends up on my desk, again,” Kari flatly stated.

“Often, people prefer a problem they can’t fix to a solution they don’t like.” **

Kari thought for a moment. “You’re right. To fix the problem, they have to stop production and figure out what’s going wrong. Instead, they would rather flare a few tempers and call for help.”

“This is where you have to decide if this is a matter of can’t or won’t. Often, someone who won’t solve a problem, or even try to solve the problem, feels like they don’t have the capability to solve the problem. They feel incompetent and give up. Your job, as a manager is not to solve a solveable problem, but to build the competence of the team to solve the problem.”
—
**Shades of Lee Thayer, Competent Organization

Your Contribution

1 Reply

The competent individual has a firm sense of the capability they possess and capability beyond. Periods of doubt creep in, but that leaves room for growth and maturity. Periods of doubt are painful, as the individual moves from an ordered world to one where there is doubt.

In this chasm, most of the problems we face are self-inflicted. Looking at any problem we encounter, there are the following characteristics. The problem. The problem’s impact. The cause of the problem. The context. And, then, there is you.

You (and we, because I have the same problems as you) are part of the problem. You have made contribution to the problem and its impact. You may be the cause of the problem. If you don’t face your contribution, any solution will leave lingering conditions for the problem to resurface, perhaps uglier than before.

It is always easier to deal with an external problem out there, than an internal problem closer to your heart.

Accountability and Authority

1 Reply

I made sly reference to these two concepts last week. Accountability and authority. These are inseparable.

To be accountable for an output, one must have the authority to determine the variables around that output. Do not hamstring a team member by handing them accountability without the authority to control variables. Bifurcating the two leads to well articulated excuses and blaming behavior.

Simultaneously, do not give someone the authority to control variables without the concomitant accountability. Government oversight committees are famous for wanting to have all the authority without accountability.

These two concepts go hand in glove, not either-or, but AND-and.