| |
| |
|
Management Information |
|
|
|
Problem-Solving Success Tip: Use Your Time for Problems that are Truly Important
Use your time for problems that are truly important. 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. Jeanne Sawyer is an author, consultant, trainer and coach who helps her clients solve expensive, chronic problems, such as those that cause operational disruptions and cause customers to take their business elsewhere. These tips are excerpted from her book, When Stuff Happens: A Practical Guide to Solving Problems Permanently. Find out about it, and get more free information on problem solving at her web site: http://www.sawyerpartnership.com/.
MORE RESOURCES:
Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
A Leadership Screw Driver: The 90 Day Improvement Plan I was talking with first-line supervisors in a utility company about how to deal with poor performing employees."You've gotta put the screws to him!" suggested one supervisor to his colleague who was having trouble managing one particular poor performer. Mantra for Managers What do organizations look for in a prospective employee with special reference to fresh MBA graduates? The two key assets that an organization looks for is the potential of the individual and ability to pursue his goals in all situations. Every organization expects its team of fresh recruitees to grow into top quality Managers and therefore it is very important to evaluate the potential of the fresh graduate. Rethinking the CEO-Chairman Split Traditionally, in American businesses, the same person occupies the role of chairman of the board and chief executive officer, though this is gradually shifting to the European model. In most European, British, and Canadian businesses, the roles are usually split, in an effort to ensure better governance of the company, and in turn bring higher returns to investors. Managing Creativity - An Oxymoron! Not Interrogated on a beach in Barbados by friends insistent that there was little validity to my speciality, I have felt compelled to answer the most common objections in the field of Managing Creativity and Innovation.a) Managing Creativity and Innovation is an oxymoron!When ideas are required, leaders tend to herd people into a room with a flip chart and conduct (usually an ineffective) brainstorming session. If You Build It, Investors Will Come When you begin to write your business plan or a section within it, you probably ask yourself, "What should I talk about? What key points should I bring out that are important to potential investors?" The best way to answer these questions is to put your business plan trial. That's right. The Silent Assassin - What to Do When They Visit You? IntroductionThere are a group of people in the community that will some time in their career visit your business; the silent assassin.The silent assassin displays all the qualities of a serial killer as they silently wreck havoc in your business through unrest, sabotage, bullying and non-productivity. Employee Turnover: Seven Reasons Why People Quit Their Jobs There are many reasons why good employees quit and go to another company, perhaps even your competitor. Most of the reasons start with management and most are preventable. Creativity and Innovation Management: Incubation and Insight 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. Overcoming Perfectionism Perfectionism can get in the way of building or marketing a successful business. It can prevent us from moving ahead quickly or from taking advantage of business opportunities. Management to the Vision-Contribution and the Role of Compliance As a manager our role is to:1. Establish the vision, or our contribution to the vision. Innovation Management - does the idea fit with the firm? Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation whilst innovation can be defined as idea selection, development and commercialisation.There are distinct processes that enhance problem identification and idea generation and, similarly, distinct processes that enhance idea selection, development and commercialisation. Cultural Awareness - an HR Perspective The use of cultural awareness training has increased rapidly in the majority of global companies over the last decade.My experience working in global companies in which effective cross-cultural functioning was critical, involved the devotion of considerable time and energies to ensuring that cultural training needs were identified and accommodated as necessary. ISO 9001 Compliant Program: Steps to Build Implementing an ISO 9001 system represents a major effort. However, all of that effort can represent a significant shift for a business - from quantity to quality. Tales from the Corporate Frontlines: Finding The Perfect Balance This article relates to the Work/Life Balance competency, which investigates how your staff feels with regard to the balance between work and personal life. It explores issues such as priority of family and hours on the job, also covered in this competency. HRM: Contributing to Well-being or Ill-being at Work? If you were to take the people out of an organisation you would be left with some stock and machinery that would be of little value, and possibly some property. It is the people that make an organisation function, so having the people functioning to the best of their ability must surely be best for an organisation. The Communications Myth Living in the 21st Century is truly marvelous, isn't it? We live in a world of instant communications where everything we need to know is right at our fingertips. The moment anything of significance occurs it is instantly transferred around the globe making us the most well informed generation in the history of the world. How to Use an HR Consultant Bringing an HR consultant into your organisation can often be the only way to get a particular objective achieved. It may be a project that needs to be delivered such as a recruitment campaign, a compensation & benefits review or the implementation of an HR information system. Have You Fixed the Broken Window? Left alone it doesn't take long for a building with a single broken window to rapidly become a building with many broken windows. Fixing problems when they are small will prevent them from developing into larger problems. Sweet Parting Of Ways Why settle for bad feelings when your employee leaves the firm? Human resource managers can help to sweeten the occasion during the exit interview, and get valuable information to help the company in the new knowledge age.More often than not, human resource (HR) managers place more importance on job interviews than on exit interviews. Your Blueprint For Business Success Before you start your own business one of the first things you need to do is draw up your business plan. This is your blueprint for success.
|
| Article List | Index | Site Map |
|
All logos, trademarks and articles on this site are property and copyright of their respective owner(s).
The comments are property of their posters, all the rest is Copyright © 2006 CanadaSEEK.com - All Rights Reserved. |
