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. Driving of Work Trucks By Lance Winslow Each time you or one of your work crews cruises down the road, people see the vehicle. It is logo’ed and that advertising is there to be noticed. If you cut some one off, believe me they will know who did it. They’ll tell their friends and you’ll be sorry. If you see a lady trying to pull out into bumper-to-bumper traffic, let her cut in. If you see a mom in her minivan with kids at a traffic signal, be courteous. Signal her with a pleasant hand motion to ‘please go ahead of me.’ Mouth the wo… 2. Understand What Flows Through Your Business to Find Improvement By Chuck Yorke I remember once seeing a cartoon which showed two people working a counter. On the wall behind them was a sign which read, “Quality Work, Low Price, Fast Service – Pick Two.” In order to deliver all three, which is what customers expect, it’s important to understand the flows of your organization.The first flow is, of course, cash flow. This comes in two varieties, money coming into the organization, revenue, and money going out, expenses. Understanding cash flow is not as easy as it appears.… 3. Quick Tip - Effective Meetings Have SMART Goals By Steve Kaye The first step in planning an agenda is to identify the goals for the meeting. Properly done, goals have five S M A R T characteristics. They are:Specific. The goal must tell exactly what will be accomplished. For example: During the next hour we will find at least three ways to reduce defects on Unit #4 by 10%. This states exactly what the group will work on. Vague goals can cause you to lose control of the meeting.Measurable. A measurable criteria helps you determine if the goal has bee… 4. Employee Motivation - Get The Basics Right First* To motivate your people, it is vital that you start off with understanding that there are some things that need to be fixed first, before you can get on with the above the line actions which develop a strong and engaged culture.There are eight things you need to do.Building a team of motivated people in your business is vital to get the very best results, but so many managers focus on the 'ra-ra-ra', rather than the important things - the things that make people feel comfortable in their workin… |
||||
