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. Employee Motivation through Recognition By R.G. Srinivasan Managers are often confronted with high employee attrition. For most managers the easiest solution when a valuable employee resigns his job is to offer more benefits in terms of money and perquisites. But rarely does it work. Exit interviews often point out low moral due to infrequent appreciation and recognition of the contribution of the employee leading to de-motivation and disenchantment with the job.Improving employee motivation and morale is the easiest method of improving organizatio… 2. Creativity and Innovation Management: Incubation and Insight By Kal Bishop Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation whilst innovation can be defined as idea selection, development and commercialisation.There are other useful definitions in this field, for example, creativity can be defined as consisting of a number of ideas, a number of diverse ideas and a number of novel ideas.There are distinct processes that enhance problem identification and idea generation and, similarly, distinct processes that enhance idea selection, development … 3. The Seven C's: Partnership Danger Signs - Conflict Becoming the Norm – Part 2 By Dorene Lehavi A series of articles exploring the seven critical areas that can indicate a partnership is in trouble.Conflict Becoming the Norm – Part 2In a previous article, I wrote about how unresolved conflict can create havoc in your business and can often end in a failed partnership. Today, I share with you a story about a pair of clients I recently worked with.Sue and Vicki were partners in a service organization that thrived on new membership and putting on events. Sue and Vicki had been coaching with… 4. Make Them GLAD You're Their Boss By Linda Henman Criticism has the power to do good when there is something that must be destroyed, dissolved or reduced, but it is capable only of harm when there is something to be built. --Carl JungPeople won’t leave if they’re glad you’re their boss. They will want to stay with a boss that does what it takes to create a culture that capitalizes on each individual’s strength. However, bosses often don’t know what they should do to contribute to organizational culture, or even to their small part of the c… |
||||
