Solve Problems for Yourself AND for Others

When you are solving a problem, do you consider the impact your solution will have on other people?

I've seen leaders who impose solutions on their teams that make the job worse, not better. While some degree of resistance to any solution is natural, your problem has a much better chance of staying solved if the solution you pick is supported by your team.

Does your solution make the job easier?
Does your solution make your customers happier?
Is your solution elegant and simple and yet robust enough to solve the problem?

The purpose of problem solving is to make life better for you AND for others. Centered problem solvers consider the needs of everyone impacted by the problem AND by the solution. Don't let your solution damage your solution. Change management is part of your task. Centered problem solvers do the whole job.

Do the whole job.

-- doug smith

Leadership Call to Action:

Before implementing the next solution you come to, check with the people who will be impacted by that solution. You're checking for these things:

do they support the solution?
how will they be impacted by the solution?
does this solution makes things better for them, for their customers, for your team?

Comments

Facts and Feelings

How do you feel about data? About half of us really don't feel anything about data, because it's the data that matters. Let's focus on the facts. The half of us really does care about how we feel about data -- or anything else. How cold it is to leave our feelings out of the equation! As winning leaders we need to focus both on facts and on feelings. We need the flexibility and the focus. We need to include anyone and everyone who will be impacted by the results of our decisions. What do you think about that? How do you feel about that? Ask both questions, and then...listen. -- doug smith

Connect With Respect

It's the start of a better, deeper, more productive conversation. It's the small effort to make a big impression in establishing relationship. Connect with respect. You don't have to love the person you're interacting with (although, wouldn't that help?) but if you make the effort to demonstrate respect whatever you have to share will land with more credibility. It is a leadership strength. Connect with respect. Smile. Make eye contact. Listen. Honor customs, traditions, even organizational hierarchy. The choice of course is up to you. It's a very personal choice to connect with respect. If you make that choice, I think you will like the results. -- doug smith PS: I didn't expect to use a picture featuring a horse for this posting but when I saw it there was a deep feeling a respect showing. Action Step: Find a picture that represents respect for you and for a week, keep it close enough to look at it for a bit every day.

Serve With Love

Leaders must serve. We don't all like that. Sometimes, we'd prefer to be served. But, think about it. We serve our customers. We serve our boards. We serve (yes, we do) our team members. We even serve our peers and of course we serve our bosses. That gives us an important choice: we can serve gladly, or we can serve madly. The work is the same; the emotion is different. The difference between serving with resentment and serving with love is the difference between hardship and happiness. Doesn't happiness feel better? -- doug smith

What's Your Posture Check?

How often do you check-in on your development? How do you conduct that little audit? I remember regularly gaining adjustments from a wonderful chiropractor who had as part of their practice a regular posture check. We'd stand while the chiropractor carefully looked us over. It was amazing how much they could tell about our alignment, our health, our balance, our well-being. As treatments progressed, posture improved, and so did my health. When it comes to leadership development, what's your version of a posture check? Do you get feedback from your team? Do you talk with a mentor? Most leaders are held accountable on their metrics, but not everyone gets to check-in on their development. I'm curious, because if I could find a way to check-in on my leadership customers that helped them track their progress it would be a useful tool. We've all probably had enough surveys, so maybe something else. Something practical and easy. Maybe some way to check balance, feedback, team...

Serving with Joy

Serving without the expectation of reward provides its own reward. If you are familiar with that feeling that means you're doing it right. And, if you're not, it's never too late to start serving with joy, serving with compassion, serving with enthusiasm. -- doug smith

Who Defines Your Goals?

Maybe your goals are assigned to you from someone else. If you have a job, that's probably true about many of your goals. But in the end, isn't it really up to you? What you do, when you do it, how you do it, no matter how formalized the process you are still involved and deciding. You define your goals and you define when those goals are done. Finish what you started, or kiss that goal goodbye. -- doug smith

Procrastination

Procrastination increases stress. Do the thing and be done with it. -- doug smith

Never mind the Distractions

I'll keep this short. Distractions are expensive. No need to list them here because you already know, don't you? Some things and some people will try to distract you from your goals but it's up to you if you let them. Design your plan. Act relentlessly on that plan. Keep going until you hit that beautiful four letter word: done. -- doug smith

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