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. Take Action with PMS - Productivity Management SystemTM “Success is about deciding what’s important versus what’s irrelevant in your life; it’s about self-motivation, self-discovery, self-confidence and enjoying the rewards of achieving your goals.” Heidi Richards This is part three in the PMS - Productivity Management System™. This is your to-do list of processes and steps you must take in order to fully realize your goals. Once you have crystallized exactly what it is you wish to accomplish, it is important to know which steps you must take and in… 2. MBA Dissertation: Managing Creativity and Innovation By Kal Bishop There are a number of critical issues to master in the art of creativity and innovation management:• What are the critical differences between creativity and innovation? Are different competencies required?• Do "creative people" have common characteristics and, if so, what are they? Are they stable across situations?• Can creativity be learned and developed or is it a special gift? Why is it that some people just are more creative?• Why is motivation more important than nature or nurture? How … 3. The Paradox of Job Enrichment By Azriel Winnett Ellen was a clerk working for a large insurance company. One day, she spotted a glaring discrepancy in a form she was typing. Through a simple error, two figures had been transposed in a store owner's policy. In consequence, his store was insured for $165,000 against vandalism but only for $5 000 against fire. Her first instinct was to reach for the phone to inform her supervisor of the error, for the sake of the unfortunate store owner. "But wait a minute," she then thought to herself.… 4. Tales from the Corporate Frontlines: A New Manager's Tale By Josh Greenberg This article relates to the Manager/Supervisor competency, commonly evaluated in employee satisfaction surveys. This competency evaluates an employee's feelings regarding their direct manager or supervisor. The manager/supervisor competency covers topics like clarity of goals, manager support, coaching and feedback, and regular reviews of performance. The old adage that "people leave their managers, not organizations" is often true. Of all the workplace stressors, a bad immediate manager is on… |
||||
