Jean on Problem Solving

June 2009 brought about the publication of Jean’s work on how trainers can understand and use statistics more effectively. Big thanks to editor Justin Brusino who was invaluable in helping this come about.

Interested in statistics? Contact us and we will send you a copy free of charge.

As children we learned to look both ways at railroad crossings; the school bus driver would sometimes wait for an eternity for us to be quiet. Making sure to do everything she could to keep us safe from an coming train, our leader looked carefully and listened intently for danger signals.

Your workplace may be sending danger signals to you, too. Sometimes coping problems come from personal situations and affect only one or two team members. When that’s the case you should coach the employees individually. But sometimes, thanks to a more widespread disturbance like a merger or industry meltdown, coping challenges saturate your whole work unit.

Here are twelve signs your workplace may face a coping crisis:

Fretting: In normal times, moaning, whining and moping are not appreciated or tolerated. If fretting behavior becomes so widespread that it begins to seem normal, it’s time to intervene. [Read the rest of this entry...]

Recently I ran across a letter I wrote but never sent. It was addressed to an industry acquaintance I worked with periodically. I wasn’t sure she would be able to “hear” what I was trying to say; I imagined that my letter might just make the situation worse. So I never sent the letter.

Here was the situation that caused me to write the woman I’ll call Janice. In my view, Janice really needed to get her act together. She had gone through a difficult personal time – all would agree on that. However, it was my belief that her publicizing of personal troubles in industry settings had gone on for far too long. [Read the rest of this entry...]

Georgia may be taking Tennessee to court. The goal? Move the state line 1.1 miles to the north, back to the 35th parallel that marked Georgia’s northernmost boundary when
Tennessee became a state in 1796. It turns out that a mapmaker, James Camak, incorrectly calculated the line and marked it with a stone boundary marker in 1818. Since no one has corrected the problem, about 51 square miles of Georgia have been treated as part of Tennessee ever since.

The reason it is coming up again is a simple one – Georgia wants water from the Tennessee River. But unraveling a boundary problem that is almost 200 years old will be tough. [Read the rest of this entry...]

Transmissions, pistons, and filters rarely get top billing on car commercials but everyone knows that a failure in one of these can quickly require a tow truck. Service departments organize their maintenance of your complicated vehicle by inspecting each of the important systems regularly. Just like your car’s systems work together, your work group harnesses individual skills, motivation and effort to a create results that are greater than the sum of its parts. Here are ten things to check to evaluate your group’s collaboration competence:

1. Proximity: Members of your team must have ready access to one another live, via phone and via email. While synchronous (real-time) team communication is best, even asynchronous can work as long as team members check and respond to messages promptly. [Read the rest of this entry...]

Did you know scientists have almost perfected cars that can drive themselves? What an exciting advance that will be when it finally happens. Think elders who no longer have to turn in their licenses as vision fades. Think fewer accidents caused by drivers trying to eat, shave or talk on the cell phone. Think no more drunk driving. A government-sponsored contest called The Great Robot Race prompted tech experts from all over to attempt what once seemed impossible. But how could a vehicle make all the complex decisions needed to navigate unfamiliar terrain? Specifically, how could a machine see?

Here’s how it’s done. First, lasers, cameras and radar units work together to graph the area. Then complex software analyzes the millions of data points and instantaneously directs the vehicle’s steering and speed. It turns out that robotic vehicles drive safely using the same thing you should be using to drive your business – measures. [Read the rest of this entry...]

While the term custodian often refers to the person who cleans and maintains a building, custodian can also mean one who safeguards and protects any company asset. For example, a custodian bank holds equities and bonds in safekeeping, all the while collecting and disseminating information about the condition of those assets to interested others. For years companies have trumpeted that “our employees are our most valuable asset.” If that is true, what should you be doing as a manager (or custodian) of that asset? [Read the rest of this entry...]

Every business, even the corner hamburger joint, faces a wide variety of risks. A recent SEC filing from Burger King itemized 27 important risk areas investors should understand. While your company may not be in the retail food business, many of these risk areas will apply in your situation as well. Below is a list of some of the risks Burger King monitors. Which of these should you be checking on? Should you create contingency plans or adjust your current projections? As you lead your organization, Burger King’s list can suggest questions you should ask as you conduct an annual risk factor roundup.

1. They may not win out over their competitors.
2. Because 90% of Burger King restaurants are franchises, any financial distress experienced by a majority of franchisees could affect the parent company.
3. They may be unsuccessful in implementing their international growth plans.
4. Their marketing and advertising programs may not be effective.
5. They may lose key management personnel and they may not be able to attract and retrain qualified new personnel.
6. There is a risk that food-borne illnesses or food tampering incidents could damage Burger King’s reputation and reduce sales.
7. Consumers could change their food preferences and/or their discretionary spending habits.
8. Franchise agreements may not be renewed.
9. Increases in input costs (food, paper products or energy) could harm profitability.
10. If distributors do not provide necessary products to stores quickly enough, stores will face supply shortages and business will be affected.
11. Labor shortages or increases in the labor costs could harm the business.
12. Foreign currency rates and interest rates could fluctuate and harm the business’s
    financial holdings and leases.
13. Restaurant locations may become unattractive.
14. They may not be able to protect their intellectual property (logos, brands, etc.)
15. They have substantial amounts of debt on the books and this could limit their ability to grow.
16. If they fail to comply with their loan covenants (restrictions) the debt could be placed into default status, harming their viability.
17. If they increase their debt even further, the debt-related risks would increase as well.
18. There is the risk of litigation, negative publicity, strikes and/or boycotts which would consume financial resources and divert attention from operations.
19. If they fail to comply with current or future government regulations or they become subject to additional regulations, business could be adversely affected.
20. Future regulations relating to genetically modified food products may force them to find other sources of supply.

Next time you enjoy a charbroiled burger in your neighborhood, give an extra smile to the manager behind the counter. After all, he or she is dealing with a very full plate – of risk factors.

Barack Obama is engaged in “damage control” these days as he seeks to distance himself from his pastor’s incendiary remarks. While Obama’s eloquence will probably carry his campaign well past this media event, the situation provides an excellent example of a particularly difficult tightrope leaders walk. On one hand, a leader works hard to motivate those in his or her surroundings, knowing that momentum can only be built if many people contribute their energy to the cause. On the other hand, the savvy leader realizes that, while his or her words certainly communicate a message, silence communicates just as loudly. In this case, Obama says now that he disagreed with his pastor’s comments. However, because he didn’t take a stand against the inflammatory remarks the moment they happened – because he remained silent – people now assume Obama was in agreement.

While you likely escape the intense media scrutiny Obama faces, its likely that employees in your organization are watching your reactions just as closely. A nonprofit executive I consulted with several years ago was oblivious to this fact. An intense high performer, he arrived at work each morning with the weight of the world (deadlines, budgets and a long task list) on his shoulders. Because he was focused on getting the most out of his day, he barreled toward his office, waving off the greetings offered by staff members. After we surveyed the staff members, he learned that his moodiness actually affected staff productivity. They were looking for some sort of positive confirmation that they were valued members of the team. By remaining silent he demotivated his team, suggesting (to them) that they were not valued contributors. Once this executive recognized that he was “on stage” at all times, he learned the power of speaking up immediately.

Here’s what to do to ensure that you speak up when you should:

1. Understand exactly where you stand on issues of interest to your constituency. The crux of the issue with Obama’s pastor’s comments is patriotism. Voters want to know that Obama believes in America, even with its problems. If there is any question in your mind about where you stand on a particular issue, make it a priority to work out your position carefully. As a leader your belief system can influence others. Consider all sides of the issue and make your choice – then prepare to defend it when necessary.
2. Recognize that you will not please everyone in your world. Once you get comfortable with that reality, you’ll find that many of those who are displeased with your position on a particular issue will stay in your world nonetheless. Often people respect you more if you know what you believe. If you try to please everyone you will never achieve the impact you could if you take a strong stand.
3. Recognize that you will not always be right. Sometimes your position won’t win the day and you’ll have a tough choice to make. Should you stick to your position and end the relationship with those who disagree or should you move forward with the group and change your position? There’s not lots of middle ground in some cases, like Barack Obama’s.
4. Gauge the climate of the situation as you decide if you should voice the specifics of your disagreement. If it is important that the person with the opposing position saves face, you could state that you “have some points of disagreement” with what he said without being specific. Then you could state that you will discuss specific points of difference with that person privately.
5. Express your position on issues of disagreement in a separate forum. Write an employee memo stating your reasoning or pepper upcoming presentations with examples that illustrate your point. If you truly believe something that differs from something a colleague has suggested in a public forum and if it is an important issue, you must make your position known. Part of leadership is taking a stand.

The rules may not change when you accept a position of leadership, but how you are perceived definitely does. Do not underestimate the importance of timing in revealing your position on vital issues. If it’s time for you to take a stand, do it now before someone assumes your agreement.

Dominic’s Day is an fabulous example of how problem-focused coping behaviors sometimes spread to create a greater good. My colleague, Bill Kovach, connected me with this website, pointing out that it explained a “worthy cause.” Only later did I connect the dots and realize that Bill is little Dominic’s grandfather.

As I’ve written before, when there is a cognitive disturbance (when something alters our environment in ways we interpret as negative) we humans work tirelessly to try to restore equilibrium. In the case of the Dominic and his family, a pediatrician’s diagnosis of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), placing the infant in the 97th percentile of severity, was quite a disturbance. (For Dominic, the ventricular septum of his heart muscle was already three times larger than it should have been. Though he might be expected to live up to five years with this heart, the only treatment for Dominic’s HCM is a heart transplant.)

The Dominic’s Day website chronicles how family members and friends rallied over the next weeks and months, all convinced that they just had to “do something.” Indeed, the site, which has been equipped to accept donations from the public into the 501(c)3 foundation that has been formed in Dominic’s name, explains, “We will NOT stand idly by, waiting for something to happen . . . WE ARE MAKING IT HAPPEN.”

This is exactly how problem-focused coping works. The reason it works is that taking action focused on the problem gives us back something the disturbance stole from us – our belief that we are in control. The very worst thing about experiencing a crisis is the possibility that we may not be able to control the outcome of the situation. Nothing takes away our motivation faster than thinking our actions may not make a difference.

But, if we can believe something we can do might make things better, we become energized and creative. So far, enthusiastic supporters of Dominic’s Day have raised more than $13,000 through various fundraising efforts. And they are just getting started.

If your organization is facing some sort of disturbance, you can help your people cope by leading the way to problem-focused coping behaviors. Here are some suggestions:

• Ask employees to list the pros and cons of the situation or to make schedules to show what might happen when.
• Set an example of problem focus by verbalizing the things you can do rather than those you can’t.
• Rally the troops by sharing the load. Pull together a team to focus on particular parts of solving the problem at hand. Being involved in crafting a response to the disturbance helps each person who contributes.
• Discuss the “bigger picture” impacts of the situation you face. Lead people to think about what happens in the longer-term and make plans to impact the future in the most positive way possible.
• Leave room for emotion-focused coping, too. Though this article describes the positive result of problem-focused coping skills, your people will eventually need to talk about their feelings too.

Former President Harry Truman is credited with saying, “It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.” In the case of Dominic’s Day, as in your situation, making the vision larger than just one person’s crisis situation is the key to lasting impact. As you lead and as you cope, miss no opportunity to enlarge the vision and express your confidence in those who are contributing. Only then you will make your cause theirs.