Agile Business Navigator

A client of mine is dealing with a problem I see over and over and it all stems from a lack of communication.

The employees spend most of their time dealing with who did what, when they did it, why they did it incorrectly and worst of all, who is responsible for the whole mess. During the three week period of dealing with this issue, not once was the actual problem addressed.

The actual incident that started the whole chain of events, a customer complaint, was ignored. "Has the customer complaint been resolved", I asked as they were in the middle of yet another finger pointing match.

We spend so much time being angry at one another of who did what instead of actually dealing with the problem at hand.

The other night my 9 year old son forgot his math book he needed in order to complete his homework. My husband steamed about his constant forgetting and I started to as well. But then I thought about it. What does that accomplish? He still didn't have his book. We called one of his classmates - drove up the street and borrowed the book. An hour later, homework done, book returned, problem solved.

Don't get me wrong. There is the underlying problem of my son forgetting to bring home his book. There is the underlying issue of my client's staff not being able to communicate.

You have to solve the underlying issues that cause the problem in the first place. But not at the expense of the immediate issue.

Do you have an issue facing you or your staff?

Stop a moment and identify the real problem. What needs solving? Stop the arguing, stop the bickering about who did what. What needs to be solved immediately. Once that's solved you can move deeper.

Stop the blame. Don't blame the person - blame the situation and the lack of a system or method to solve the issue. Don't make someone responsble for the problem - make them responsible for the solution.

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