Problem-Solving Success Tip: Use Your Time for Problems that are Truly ImportantLearn Management Articles on management-info.biz. Problem-Solving Success Tip: Use Your Time for Problems that are Truly Important article will help answer your questions on Management Articles.We at management-info.biz specialize in Management Articles. Management Articles at management-info.biz provides the most up to date news and articles. If you have questions please do not hesitate to contact us.
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 2005. Jeanne Sawyer. All Rights Reserved. |
More Articles:1. Story Telling With a Purpose For a brief time, I tried to sell life insurance. And, the operative word was 'tried' I can assure you. Although I thought I did a good job on the presentations and scripts provided by trainers, I did not make a single sale. On the other hand, the veteran who trained me didn’t spend much time with presentations or scripts. He simply told stories about clients who spared their loved ones great pain by getting proper coverage. Just as importantly, he talked about the troubles suffered by people wh… 2. CEOs And Boards Are Locked In A Spiral Of Doom By Brent Filson American CEOs are dropping like flies. Boards, armed with new federal rules and stock exchange requirements coming in the wake of the corporate scandals of the past few years, are getting rid of underperforming CEOs at record rates. This trend is all the more notable because it's happening during an improving economy and stock market.However, the real reasons for the CEO bloodbath are being overlooked. Analysts pin the bloodbath on the CEOs. But it's not just the CEOs who are failing. Boa… 3. Sexual Harassment Policy Guidelines Part I By Al Link Sexual Harassment Policy Guidelines – Part IPermission is hereby granted to modify and use the information in this draft sexual harassment guideline, provided you include reference to the author as shown at the end.We shall take all reasonable steps to see that this sexual harassment policy is followed everyone in our organization who has contact with employees. This prevention plan will include training sessions, ongoing monitoring of the work site and a confidential employee survey to be con… 4. Blueprint for Leadership - How to Be a Better Leader If you were to build a house, you would begin with a blueprint. This blueprint proves useful because it contains more than directions on how to build a house. It also describes the finished house. So, what does this have to do with leadership?Last month I asked an audience of leaders to tell me the characteristics of an ideal leader. Their answers were (in the order collected):A good listener, enthusiasm, passion, shows appreciation, a visionary, role model, trusting, integrity, organized, knowl… |
||||
