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. Christmas and Business Gifts for Your Clients and Employees! By Keith Thompson Tis' the season for business and corporate gift-giving! If you believe in the law of reciprocity, and if your business is the least bit successful you must; you know that giving back is not only the right thing to do, but it's very smart business as well. Let's look at some of the benefits and mechanics of Christmas and holiday gift-giving.* WHY DO IT AT ALL?Gift giving is an excellent way to not only say thank you for all the business and continued loyalty your clients and customers have show… 2. Effective Meetings by Phone - Part 1, How to Plan a Teleconference By Steve Kaye Teleconferences can be a boon or a bust. On the positive side, they allow people at different locations to attend meetings without having to travel. On the negative side, they can degenerate into frustrating struggles with uncontrolled babble. This occurs because people lack visual contact, which hinders effective communication and provides opportunities to misbehave.Here's how to set up an effective meeting by phone.1) Plan a simple meeting. Ideally, the meeting should last less than 30 t… 3. How to Reduce the Potential for Employee Discrimination Employment discrimination laws seek to prevent discrimination based on race, sex, religion, national origin, physical disability, and age by employers. Discriminatory practices include exhibiting a bias in hiring, promotion, job assignment, termination, compensation, and various forms of harassment. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission reported 72,302 individual discrimination charge filings in 1992. By 2004, the number had grown to 79,432. As a Human Resource Manager or business own… 4. Company/Employee Handbook as Organisational Improvement Tool Article Title: Company/Employee Handbook as Organisational Improvement ToolAuthor: Stephan SzugatContact Email: info@abenetis.comWord Count: 802Article URL: http://www.abenetis.com/encyclopedia.htmlFormat: 65 Characters per Line Category: Business, Business Management, Organisation------------------ ARTICLE START ------------------Company/Employee Handbook as Organisational Improvement ToolA business is only able to grow as fast as the internal organisation is able to process higher volumes of … |
||||
