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. The Two Most Powerful Words in Business By Sandra Sims There’s a series of television commercials currently running for a bank rewards program. It features people who find an unusual way to get out of awkward situations.My favorite is the one where a man and woman are sitting in a fine restaurant when the lady brings up “the talk.” Ladies, you know the one, the “where is this relationship going” speech. The woman in the commercial comes right to the point, “When are we getting married?”The poor guy gets the “deer in the headlights” look on his fac… 2. Developing Your Mission By Heidi Richards "The best Leader is one who knows how to pick good people to do what he or she wants done and self-restraint enough to keep from meddling with them while they do it." - Heidi Richards -Mission statements describe the purpose of an organization or a sub-group of it. It is a general description of what it is that the team is there to do. It grows out of the Vision. It describes the organization's purpose. It tends to be general with objectives often accompanying it. The mission provides the "fra… 3. Work Life Balance - Getting It Right! I have previously covered the importance of business strategy, and achieving work life balance is an important factor in developing an ability to think and plan strategically.In recent years working practices and hours have become more flexible and it has become normal practice for employers to grant maternity and paternity leave. This has enabled many workers find a better balance between their work and personal lives.However, owner managers face a more taxing situation. Many think they have n… 4. Auditing Improves Effective Planning By Chris Anderson Speak of operations assessment, and we’ll hear its significant value. Speak of an audit, and we’ll run for the nearest emergency exit. There’s no difference between the two, yet that word audit chills us. But is an audit really designed to help us or hurt us?Improve Performance with AuditingProblems most often arise from poor planning. Sometimes we’re uncertain if we’re tackling the correct issues and dealing with them the right way. However, we can improve our assumptions about processes and … |
||||
