Looking for the Perfect Solution?

Procrastination is a powerful thing.  If you find yourself faced with a problem and you do nothing, you know that the problem with not go away.  In fact it may continue to grow.

Problems can take on a life of their own.  Have you ever had a problem start to multiple?  What was one problem is now two, three or more.  Everywhere you turn this seemingly little problem is present in some form or another.

As an example, take an employee  that is missing work or in some other way not following the rules of engagement.  You let the actions of the person go because you feel the problem will right itself.  It doesn’t – instead you begin to see other people missing work, deadlines or doing faulty work.  The original employee may still be just missing work but now you have other problems with more employees.

You could ask yourself the question “why” and that may be an option.  But as you are asking yourself that question the problem continues to grow. What is a better way to handle the problem? Have a plan and stick to the plan.

When we do nothing we are also causing undue stress to ourselves. (add that to the growing problems list).  When we make up a plan and then stick to it we reduce the stress and allow not only ourselves but others to see that we are in motion to find a solution.  Your plan does not have to be perfect and many times you will need to make adjustments based on circumstances.   However, you are taking the steps to find the solution and that is powerful.

Critical Thinking Can Make You a Better Manager/Leader

Many of you know that I teach critical thinking skills at the undergraduate level.   There is nothing like taking students through syllogisms, inductive and deductive reasoning.

Critical thinking skills are an attribute that every manager and leader should possess.  They should be developed and fine tuned.  Without  even the basic skills, how can any problems ever be solved?   As a manager/leader the problems that you encounter daily are more than  profit based.

Problems that many business leaders are facing now are those of staff.  How to motivate current staff to gain the best out of their skills, knowledge and abilities.  How to handle rapidly changing work environments as the focus shifts on strategic plans.  Where are the talent pools within your work force that you may have overlooked before?

Remember some of those critical thinking skills you learned in your college courses and put them to use.  Break down your problems to bit size pieces and determine if the problem is really valid or invalid at this particular time.  Don’t waste your time on a problem that isn’t really there.  Use your inductive and deductive reasoning skills.

If you can’t remember the basic of critical thinking, it may be time to take a brush up course!  When we don’t use a skill we lose it!