In one of my favorite “Peanuts” comic strips, Linus says to Charlie Brown, “There’s no problem too big we can’t run away from it.”
I chuckle every time I think about it because it sounds like such a simple solution to a problem. And I’ll admit I’ve been tempted to run away from a few problems, but that really doesn’t work. Problem solving is not easy. It’s not surprising that many people struggle with it.
I recently received some great advice in an e-mail from a loyal reader of my column, which I am pleased to pass along. Years ago while working for Xerox, there was a management cutback, while at the same time the sales force doubled. Her manager was used to being hands-on, but that had to change. She told her team that she would do her best to support every team member, but she needed something in return to make that possible.
She said: “If anything is bothering you or keeping you from doing your job properly, I plan to support you in finding a solution … but before you come to me with your problems or concerns, I want you to give the issue some thought and come up with some reasonable solutions on your own. Once you’ve done that, come to me with your issue and your ideas for resolution instead of just handing me the problem.”
What an empowering concept! That should change your thought process completely. Can you imagine never again bringing up a problem without thinking through it and coming up with a workable solution? What a great way to encourage creative solutions, not to mention that managers would not have to handle so many problems.
The Simple Life
Sometimes solutions are remarkably simple. For example, a big city museum which was visited by millions of visitors each year was about to hire an expensive management consulting firm to determine which of its many exhibits were the most popular with visitors. But just before a contract was signed for the study, someone suggested asking the janitor where he had to mop up the most.
Likewise, a 10-year-old child was riding his bike when he spotted a truck stuck under a bridge, causing a huge traffic jam. The little boy watched as firemen worked with their crowbars trying to free the truck when he asked, “Why don’t you just let the air out of the tires?” And that’s exactly what they did.
Usually, however, experience helps in solving problems. For example, consider how a logger clears a logjam. The pro climbs a tree and locates the key log, blows it up with an explosive, and lets the stream do the rest. An amateur would start at the edge of the jam and move all the logs, eventually moving the key log. Both approaches work, but the “essence” concept saves time and effort. Almost all problems have a “key” log if we learn to find it.
Copy This
Anne Mulcahy, chairman and CEO of Xerox in Stamford, shares a story that could easily be called “Problem Solving for Dummies.” She received this advice from a business leader at a breakfast meeting in Dallas: “When everything gets really complicated and you feel overwhelmed, think about it this way. You gotta do three things: First, get the cow out of the ditch. Second, find out how the cow got in the ditch. Third, make sure you do whatever it takes so the cow doesn’t go into the ditch again.”
Charles Steinmetz was a German-born electrical engineer whose genius and inventions played a major role in making General Electric the industrial power it is today. Once, after he had retired, GE called him in to help in locating a malfunction in a system of complex machinery. All of GE’s experts were at a loss to find the problem.
After testing different components of the machinery, Steinmetz took a piece of chalk and marked an “X” at a specific location on one of the machines. The machine was quickly disassembled, and the GE experts somewhat sheepishly found a defect exactly where Steinmetz had made his chalk mark. Everyone was much relieved.
However, when GE later received a bill from Steinmetz for $10,000, company officials questioned the amount and asked for an itemized bill. Steinmetz readily sent an itemized bill that read as follows: “Making one chalk mark….$1. Knowing where to place it….$9,999.”
Mackay’s Moral: Problems can be expensive; solutions are priceless.
Harvey Mackay is president of Mackay Envelope Corp. and a nationally syndicated columnist.
