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How do You Know It’s a Problem?
By | November 30, 2008
Remember that famous line “
This was the tagline used in the movie about the Apollo 13 space flight. It’s a take off on the actually line said by the real Apollo crew. Pilot Lovell actually said: “
The point is that the problem was actually identified in the statement, which meant the ground crew could get to work on isolating the problem and making a decision about what to do.
As a woman in business leadership, you will need to understand how to identify a problem. Problems form the basis for good decision making. We talked last week about the need to be able to make a decision as woman in business leadership. As stated, a decision starts with the recognition of a problem.
A problem presents a situation, issue or condition that will exist in the future, and that is considered undesirable.
It might seem easy to find a problem. But a difficulty some business leaders have is to define a problem by its solution.
For example, someone might say, “The problem is that we don’t have enough staff working on the project to complete it in time.”
The problem however, is not that you don’t have enough staff.
The problem is that the project is behind schedule and not moving along according to the initial projections.
Getting more staff MIGHT be a solution, but until you identify the problem you don’t know that.
So first, identify the actual problem. When you provide a solution as a problem, it takes away the ability to make a good decision. How do you know that more staff is needed?
If the project is not getting done according to schedule, how do you know it’s not because of something else, like a lack of needed resources, or a gap in the knowledge base of those carrying out the task? Perhaps the time schedule was unrealistic and everything is actually on time?
If you go out and hire more staff before identifying the actual problem you will only make the problem worse, not better.
So in this example, a better statement would be: The problem is that the project is not moving according to the projected schedule.”
Now, you have the opportunity to explore various reasons why the project is behind schedule and to use more decision making steps to figure out a solution.
So first, practice identifying the actual problem. If you are having trouble reaching a decision about an undesirable situation, review how you are making a statement of the problem and be sure you are not suggestion a solution right up front.
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