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 Fastest Way To Revenue The more you need the money, the more narrowly you have to focus on customer needs and agendas. I learned that the hard way, struggling for several years before finally seeing the light and making a permanent change. In 1983 my fledgling company was among several that were trying to market a sales training program to one of America's largest sales organizations. Back then, The Brooks Group consisted solely of a part-time secretary and me, though I was closely counseled by my mentor who had tuto… 2. Loyalty, Motivation And Work-Life Balance By Barry Maher Managers who aren't loyal to their people can't expect loyalty in return. Companies that complain about employee loyalty have usually done nothing to earn loyalty, often routinely lying to employees, demanding sacrifices that are never rewarded, shunting them aside and casting them off in the name of good business.I know of one organization that routinely takes top performing managers and sticks them in problem markets. Fair enough. What isn't fair is that these managers are paid on an inflexi… 3. The Boss Didn’t Understand Why His Staff Wasn’t Reading His Mind By Laurie Weiss, Ph.D Many people believe that everyone sees the world exactly the same way as they do. This is never true and was the source of much turmoil in Dr. Jacob’s office.When the Job Isn’t Getting Done“They never seem to get any work done on time, but they complain that they're being underutilized.”Dr. Jacob, a chiropractor, was talking about his office staff.“I have to do so many things myself that they could do for me, but they don't. They just don't seem care about what I want. I just don't understa… 4. Build Rapport Fast! - Eight Easy Steps By Martin Haworth Building rapport is all about creating a relationship, in the moment. And this is vital in business, education, friendships and many other areas of life. We need relationships to help us get the things we want for ourselves in our lives, like money, promotions, success, partners and above all to feel part of society. You see we are social animals, us humans and if we find it challenging to make relationships, then we feel excluded. And that ain't comfortable. So, let's build rapport quick… |
||||
