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. Allowing Employees Responsibility By Andrew E. Schwartz Merely assigning a task with detailed instructions is not effective delegation. An employee cannot grow without the freedom to make decisions on how the job should be done. Managers must also be aware that only through the conjunction of responsibility and authority can the desired results be achieved. Additionally, a delegate must be held accountable for his or her actions.After a manager has delegated a task to a subordinate, he or she must not take it back, make changes in the assignment, o… 2. 9 Strategies for Writing Accounts Payable Procedures By Chris Anderson The Cash to Cash Cycle Part Four of SeriesNext: Complete Cash to Cash CycleThe white flag is just a nose away…toward the Million dollar prize in cash savings for your business…So far, in Inventory and Accounts Receivable, we've found $250,000 each in cash savings. Then we found another 250K in Sales and Marketing. And so, now, Accounts Payable is the final process within the Cash to cash Cycle - and also the final $250,000.The cash cycle is undoubtedly the single most important process to op… 3. Micro-Management Has a Negative Growth Effect on Business By Don Monteith MICRO = too close for comfortWhen you stifle the creativity of your associates through micro-management practices then your company pays in lost profits.Nothing kills the spirit of your associates quicker than a boss or supervisor standing over every move that needs to be made each day.Give some space. Everyone needs breathing room. Don’t spend your day trying to see who you can catch goofing off at the water cooler. Statistics indicate that all of us need a break from the "grind".LACK O… 4. 5 Reasons Why SEO Is The Best Investment For Any CEO By Carmen Jackson As an experienced management consultant to senior management of private and public companies, I have found that search engine optimization is the single most powerful marketing tool that every CEO should be aware of and eventually implement. Below are 5 of the endless reasons why search engine optimization must be implemented into your marketing strategy before you are left in the dust of your competition.Absence of risk. In many cases, paid advertising is subject to click fraud risk and comp… |
||||
