Moving Words – Problem Solving
Timothy Brady
“As the world we live in is so unpredictable, the ability to learn and to adapt to change is imperative, alongside creativity, problem-solving, and communication skills.” – Alain Dehaze
Moving companies can reap valuable results from using Big Business problem-solving techniques on the everyday difficulties occurring while operating their company.
At times solutions will seem so numerous and overwhelming that it’s the well-known ‘forest for the trees’ idiom operating. This is when it’s best to get out the ax and start taking out some of the trees to open up the view a tad.
To accomplish this, develop a Crisis Resolution Journal that presents the entire problem along with the solution with which you’ll attempt to resolve it. Even if the solution doesn’t provide the desired results, it becomes an important stepping stone for future problem-solving and remembering what not to do down the line. It also becomes a valuable reference and training tool as your operation grows and more people are placed in management positions. It’s a training manual of what doesn’t work, but more importantly, what does work in different situations. Then it becomes a solutions reference that you and your management team can use to research whether the company has faced a similar challenge in the past, and what worked or didn’t work. Repeated mistakes are avoided.
For the smaller moving company, this may be no more than a loose-leaf, three-ring binder with an index page and tabs on corresponding pages so any problem and its possible solutions can easily be located. As the company grows, you might opt for placing this in a computer database for easy reference for more personnel.
Keep in mind it’s not usually a single problem that drives a moving company and its owner(s) into the ground; it’s repeating the same mistakes over and over that take the greatest toll. Making a mistake the first time is no more than a valuable learning experience, but do it twice and it becomes a real mistake.
Here’s a list of pointers to assist you in your next problem-solving session:
- Identify the core problem. Many times, what we think is the problem is only window dressing for the actual, real problem. Not looking behind or not removing the window dressing will only complicate the situation.
- Engage anyone who is impacted by the problem to be a part of the team that comes up with the list of possible solutions.
- Where and when necessary, if it’s beyond your current knowledge level, find an expert or experts to help you solve it. Intelligence is measured not by what we don’t know, but how we handle it when it’s discovered some knowledge, education or research is missing.
- If a partner or employee comes to you with a problem, they have two responsibilities. One, they must have a solution figured out which they think will solve it. Two, they’re immediately placed on the solutions team. This ensures they’ll have thought the problem through because they’re required to present a solution, even if it’s not a workable one. And they know they’ll be tapped to find the final resolution to the problem.
- Complete any problem-solving session with your solutions team using the following questions for all team members:
What did you think of the meeting?
Was the time invested of value?
What’s your commitment to the team and the solution at which we’ve arrived?
Personal commitment to working on the solution for the problem is extremely important in successfully solving the challenges your carrier will face.
Make sure your problem-solving sessions don’t become battlegrounds where decisions are made based on seniority or company position rather than facts and intelligence. Determine if your solutions are well thought out. Problems solved through a power grab just become larger problems.
In other words, don’t chop down all the trees; just enough to see through the forest.
“I’m not afraid of problem-solving. There is always a way.”. – Hanneli Mustaparta
