Problem Solving

Unlock Your Creativity

When you simply can’t come up with a solution for a nagging problem, remember these rules about creativity:

• Accept that creativity is a struggle. Often the solutions you find aren’t the ones you expected. Don’t automatically reject spontaneous solutions. Be receptive to off-the-wall ideas, even if it means discarding approaches you’re comfortable with.

• Set reasonable goals. Don’t expect the first idea you come up with to be the best one. Formulate reasonable goals, but do set them.

• Don’t panic. The creative process has a natural rhythm. Sometimes ideas gush, and sometimes they barely trickle. When the panic associated with creative block strikes, realize that it’s temporary and the creative process will begin to flow again.

Source: Les Stevens, Lodging Management Software, Harwich, MA.

What is Empathy and how do you put it into action?

Empathy is identifying with someone on the basis of feelings, thoughts, or attitudes. You don't give empathy to get something. However, when you empathize with someone else, you do connect with them and a connected team achieves desired action and change better than disconnected teams.

How do you get your ideas accepted?

You’ve come up with a great idea. Unfortunately, it’s not within your power to implement. So you decide to take it to the people who can make it happen. But before you do this, make sure you propose the idea properly.

Many a bright idea has been doomed because it was poorly presented. Follow these tips to get your ideas accepted:

• Put the purpose up front. Don’t wait until you’re 15 minutes or five pages into your message to let your bosses know what you’re after. The gist of your proposal should be the first item you cover.
• Be specific. Don’t cloud the issue with vague words and unnecessary background data.
• Compare, don’t knock. Remember, your audience may have a vested interest in the old method and may take negative comments personally.
• Stress the benefits. Your proposal is a marketing vehicle for selling your idea, not an opinion paper. Make your case using facts and figures that demonstrate savings or improved performance. • Acknowledge limitations. Every idea is going to have some drawbacks. If you can state those shortcomings up front and provide ways to work around them, you won’t give opponents ammunition.

Source: Robert Vels, Cellular Rent-A-Phone, New York.

What has the biggest impact on performance?

Leadership development has the biggest impact on performance...

In a great company, being a leader in your line of work and doing the next job before you get that job would certainly be a key to great performance.

However, in a bad company great performance usually follows the Peter Principle when peoples' careers advance to their level of incompetence because they were really good at their last job.

Which common expressions should you avoid?

Warning: Some common workplace expressions, you use with co-workers and customers, may be hurting your reputation. Here are two to avoid:

• “You’ll have to…” This phrase suggests your conversation partner has no choice. Instead of “You’ll have to give me your phone number” try, “Please give me your number and I’ll get back to you quickly.”

• “I’ll have to…” This expression communicates you don’t really want to help, but you will. Instead of “I’ll have to go find that information” try, “I’d be happy to look that up. Could you hold for a moment?”

Source: Wooing Customers Back, by Mark Holmes. Published by Advance Mark Publishing, 800-841-8540.

The Transition Game: What I didn't know...that cost me my job, marriage, and peace of mind. [Paperback]

In this provocative book, Greg Olney uncovers the movement between the Status Quo and Commitment to Change. Olney reveals his goal for each reader to move quickly, but surely, through transition to the desired change rather than linger in transition. He has created a five (5) step model to transition individuals and companies and uniquely explores common pitfalls while defining what will happen if the Status Quo continues.

The concepts brought up in this book generate strong provocation because the world tells the transition story differently. But the book doesn’t stop there. It takes risk into account so that even if you have huge, sweeping, volcano-sized change (that could even be loosely defined as great), it won’t destroy your business’s or family’s bottom line.

After reading this book, you will look at transition differently and be able to solve painful problems that you may have just been putting up with in your life and business.

Greg Olney is the founder of a consulting company called GONATELLE, pronounced “gonna tell”. Just like, “You’re ‘gonna tell’ everyone how happy you are after your business problems are fixed”. Olney is a business and management professional with over 20 years in management of Operations, Client Service, Project Management, and IT with companies ranging from multi-million dollars to multi-billion dollars. He lives out his purpose and has done presentations reaching people that extend from presidents to prisoners. His purpose is to affect change in others so that they can do great things.

Are You Letting Others Add to Your Workload?

Beware of the upward delegator. When others come to you with a problem, be careful not to make their responsibilities yours.

In an effort to end the conversation and get back to your already full agenda you may offer to “look into” the problem. The result: a new project for you.

Instead, turn the conversation around and offer to review the finished work.

Source: 365 Ways to Simplify Your Work Life, by Odette Pollar.

Do you keep your e-Mail inbox empty? If not, why not?

Your inbox should be empty on a regular basis. It’s an inbox not a keepbox.

What makes groups successful and what gets them stuck?

There was a gentleman in the 80's (Meredith Belbin) who discovered the Apollo Syndrome. His discovery was broken down into a couple of key concepts. Your group will be successful with the absence of highly dominant individuals and a leader that can hold their own, but not dominate. Also, the leader would need to be skeptical of anyone in the group who "had an agenda" because the "deadly embrace" would happen. "Deadly embrace" came from the computer world when computers with competing agendas in a network would stop each other from making progress.

Have you ever witnessed someone using empathy just to get something?

Empathy is identifying with someone on the basis of feelings, thoughts, or attitudes. You don't give empathy to get something. However, when you empathize with someone else, you do connect with them and a connected team achieves desired action (and Commitment to Change) better than disconnected teams.

What is the one thing that you’re NOT willing to do for business?

I would not lie and I would not do a job without fulfilling a client need. The money is not worth trading integrity.

How do you change or improve corporate culture?

You can not change or improve corporate culture until you hire and retain the people with the desired culture to begin with. Once the majority of people have the desired culture, they will work like antibodies encircling the infected area until it improves, changes, or ejects itself.

5 Keys to Building Trust

A recent survey concluded that trust has declined at three out of four workplaces over the past two years.

Here’s what you can do to help reverse that trend in your organizations:

• Start from a position of trust. You can approach trust in two ways: 1) trust people on the front end and withdraw it if they prove untrustworthy, or 2) withhold trust until you’re sure it’s warranted. Risk trying No. 1.

• Be consistent. Eliminate discrepancies between what you say and what you do. People can’t count on you if you react one way today and another way tomorrow.

• Listen with an open mind and respect others’ opinions. Attempt to understand and be open to what you hear. Every opinion is worth hearing, even if you don’t agree with it.

• Admit your mistakes. When you’ve erred, others probably know it. Own up to your mistakes and apologize when you’re wrong. Don’t pass the buck or blame others.

• Give credit where credit is due. If the team as a whole did something great, say so. There’s plenty of recognition to go around.

Source: Polish Your People Skills. Published by AMACOM, 1601 Broadway, NY 10019.

What is the best way to deal with difficult people?

The answer lies in Stephen Covey's Habit # 5 of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: "Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood".

Empathic listening to a difficult-to-deal-with-person is powerful because it gives you accurate data to work with. "Projection" happens when we project our own autobiography (through evaluation, probing, advising, or interpreting) on to others.

When we filter everything through our own paradigm, we miss empathic listening. Instead, rephrasing their content and reflecting their feeling offers a transformational opportunity for them to see themselves in a different light...and that may be the change you're seeking.

I witnessed this, personally, when I was voluntarily working with inmates in a correctional facility. We had a rather difficult-to work-with inmate that we saw transform before our eyes!

What is the difference between a group and a team?

Teams:

• are a group of people working towards a common goal
• clarify goals
• identify hurdles that prevent them from reaching their goals and remove them
• forge pathways to get to their goals
• set up performance measurements to get to their goals

Groups:

• have limited techniques to get to goals that may not be set up
• may not resolve relationship problems all that well
• can distract the people involved from achieving their individual goals
• can meander

Can conflict be a good thing?

Absolutely...conflict is essential to productivity. A sailboat cannot sail without some type of resistance. If there is fear of conflict, the organization or family is dysfunctional.

How do you encourage honest feedback?

Input from bosses, co-workers, or employees is the best tool you have to improve your performance.

But you may be unintentionally sending the message that any criticism – constructive or not – is unwelcome. Even a slightly negative cue can effectively cut off communication.

Here’s how to convey that you’re open to input from others:

 Remember, giving feedback is a risk. Offering constructive criticism is like walking through a minefield. Thank those who take that risk. This reassurance will encourage them to keep communication open and honest.

 Assume they want to help. People who offer feedback are most likely doing so because they want to improve their relationship with you. Those who just want to gripe rarely tell you what they’re thinking.

 Assume the feedback is accurate. Perception is reality. If others say your actions have a negative effect on them, that’s the truth – regardless of what you intended. Explaining your intentions can help, but it doesn’t solve the problem. You must change your behavior to make a positive impact.

 Think now, act later. Exposing a shortcoming almost always hits a nerve, so distance yourself from feedback before you decide what to do about it.

Source: Teaming Up: Making the Transition to a Self-Directed, Team-Based Organization. Published by McGraw-Hill, 800-722-4726.

What is The Essence of Leadership?

The essence of leadership is to Influence and also the ability to attract followers.

Is it better to relationalize or rationalize?

It depends if you’re talking business (truthful business) or personal life:

Rationalize = make (a company, process, or industry) more efficient by reorganizing it in such a way as to dispense with unnecessary personnel and/or equipment.

Relationalize = Building capabilities of an organization through relational databases, systems, and experiences.

As long as this is done truthfully (and not falling into the "Rational-lies" trap), why do you need to have one without the other? They're not mutually exclusive.

Should Facebook be blocked at work?

In a business sense, it should be blocked except for the Marketing Department where social networking is necessary. I haven't seen statistics on this, but I would imagine it far surpasses the hours wasted per week on fantasy football. I have seen statistics on that and it’s frightening!

What makes a great idea just go away?

Sometimes it happens before they’re even passed along? It could be an extraordinary idea that just fades. Why?

I would venture to say that the Status Quo is not painful enough. If the Status Quo were painful enough, the great idea would be sought after to move to a new Commitment to Change.

Would you rather have a family member administer your family’s goals or drive your family’s goals?

It depends on the size of the family goal and the role the family member takes. The difference will only be seen in larger or more complex goals. Drivers are the Leaders to a desired change. Administrators tweak self-inducing change.

Before You Dial…

Assume you’ll get voice mail every time you make a phone call. That way – even if someone picks up – you’ll be ready to deliver a brief, clear, and detailed message. Such clarity will prevent confusion – and increase your odds of getting what you need.

Source: Home Office Computing, Curtco Freedom Group.

What is constant in this world?

Making mistakes is constant...oh...and death

Should employers allow employees to date each other?

Interestingly, many companies have policies against employee dating because it can cause such problems (harassment, productivity issues) that would not otherwise have to be dealt with. However, these policies are difficult to enforce and could result in legal claims.

Does perfection take time or can instant gratification be experienced with perfection? Examples?

Wine is a good example of perfection over time. Salvation is very gratifying and can happen in an instant.

Does the law of diminishing returns apply to relationship?

This economic law states that we will get less and less extra output when we add additional doses of an input while holding other inputs fixed.

The answer to this question really depends on the environment that exists. Nothing exists in an environment that doesn't support it. A high-trust environment supports relationships and, therefore, employer-employee relationships do not have diminishing returns in a high-trust environment. Conversely, low-trust environments will have diminishing returns with any relationship.

Get rid of the word “but”

Any time you say “but”, you’re really saying you disagree and negating what was said right before. Instead, use “and” to pave the way toward agreement.

Example: Instead of “I see your point but I’d like to give it more thought,” use “I see your point and I’d like to give it more thought.”

How do you surprise a customer/client/spouse/family member (in a good way)?

I say do your best to exceed their expectations every time you deal with them.

What modern convenience(s) would you eliminate just for a week or two to simplify your life?

There are a lot of people in their 20's (and younger) that may not agree with me, but they consider video games a modern convenience and I just consider them a false sense of mastery.

How do you create accountability and ownership in a family or organization?

I've brought my teams through a program based on Patrick Lencioni’s Five Dysfunctions of a Team. This reveals the main dysfunction that needs to be dealt with in each organization: Absence of Trust; Fear of Conflict; Lack of Commitment; Avoidance of Accountability and; Inattention to Results. Ownership is lacking when there is a problem with any of these areas (dysfunctions), but especially Avoidance of Accountability. Only through involvement and buy-in of the entire group to eliminate these dysfunctions will ownership in the process, family, and organization be built.

Do little “white lies" hurt?

People have long-missed the fine art of keeping their mouth shut. The truth should only be said out loud if it is "in love". If the truth only tears everyone involved down, that "truth" is not good. The truth is meant to be edifying...so either tell the truth or keep your mouth shut. Telling a lie (even a little white lie) is not a good alternative.

Is it more important to be faithful or to be successful?

Being faithful IS being successful. You can be faithful to your goals and meet them. You cannot disconnect these two words. They are not mutually exclusive. You cannot be successful if you're not faithful and you must be faithful to be successful.

Other than real emergencies, do you reply to e-Mail after each alert or do you wait for some time to pass before responding?

One thing to think about is that if you respond too fast on business e-Mails, you may not be allowing other people in your organization to grow by answering the question themselves.

Is multi-tasking good or bad?

What about driving and talking on the cell phone? What about answering email while on a Webex meeting? What about using Blackberries at a dinner table? What about…?

Does this increase productivity levels? Can we train ourselves to be better at it?
There is something called cognitive reorientation cost. It was quoted in a CIO magazine article in 2007. Too much multi-tasking is bad. Every time your mind has to switch from one subject to another, there is a transition cost (reorientation cost) that hurts a family or an organization. The more multi-tasking, the more cost. Of course, some multi-tasking is necessary, but we do too much of it.

When do you know the risk is worth it?

Transitional times are the riskiest. “Risk” is defined as the exposure to the chance of injury or loss. Unfortunately (or fortunately), if there is no risk, there is seldom a reward. Nothing ventured - nothing gained. Friedrich Von Schiller said it best when he said, “He that is over-cautious will accomplish little”. Asking the question, “Are you getting to your goal more effectively” doesn’t deny risk. That question takes risk into account. God gave us a neck to stick it out. If we are to get to our goal more effectively, we have to stick our neck out and make things happen or things will happen to us instead.

Try driving in a car and avoiding intersections or having certain careers without flying in a plane. You would find that the avoidance of risk costs much more than taking the risk in the first place.

Are crisis situations just a test of knowledge, experience, skills, diligence, and/or worth?

It's just as the Navy Seals say, “people do not rise to the occasion. They sink to their level of training.” Training and experience can be tested if an individual has it. There may be particular crisis situations where an individual may have no prior knowledge. The good news is that more can be learned from failures than successes…so even with these situations, good can be gained from the experience….for the next test.

What is the difference between an aim and an objective?

An objective is the target while an aim is the direction to the target.

How do you regain focus and vision when you’re distracted by uncertainty?

This analogy is hard to follow, but here we go:

To answer this question, it might be helpful to discuss your vision, focus, and distractions from a different standpoint.

If you were analogize seeing through a pair of glasses and wanting to regain your focus and vision when a distraction (uncertainty) arises, (in some cases) you would remove the distraction (uncertainty) by taking off your glasses (strategic vision) and wiping the dust (small uncertainty caused by lack of education or need to seek wise counsel) off of them so you could see the landscape in front of you (business focus).

However, if the distraction (uncertainty) is caused by a catastrophic storm, which breaks the lenses to your glasses (strategic vision) and changes the landscape that you’re looking at (business focus), you may have to change your strategic vision and have a new business focus all together.

The Right Way to Handle Criticism:

How did you react the last time you were criticized by a teammate or your boss? Did you seethe in silence the rest of the day? Did you blame someone else for the problem – a teammate or a customer, for instance? What’s the right way to react to criticism?

Here are three tips:

 Don’t take it personally. If someone criticizes the way you handled a situation, don’t conclude that he or she is finding fault with you as a person. Separate your job performance from your personal self-image.

 Don’t let offhand criticism slide by. When someone directs offhand criticism at you, there’s probably a specific reason for it. Say, “It would help me to know exactly what I’m doing wrong so I can correct it.”

 Don’t tune out criticism you feel is unwarranted. You score points with people when you simply listen to what they say. Acknowledge you heard the criticism, thank the person for it and move on.

What is more important to be successful? A great team of players or a team of great players?

You might have a great team that has team-camaraderie, collaboration, determination, and the ability to achieve specific goals, but that is lacking in individual accolades, having experts, or having proven track records.

On the other side, you might have experts in their profession, proven track-records, and individual stars, but might be lacking team spirit, collaboration, and achieving team goals.

I would say a team of great players may not play great together, but playing great together is the key to building success…so a great team of players is more important.

Name the top 3 crucial contributions given to you by people or situations

Name the people or turning points in your life that have helped you become the person that you are today. What people changed your life? What incidents changed your life?

The three humans that changed my life: My dad who carried on a mentor/protégé relationship before it was mainstream; My mother for loving me for who I was rather than what I did; My ex-wife for teaching me patience.

The three turning points in my life: My business coach telling me I had a problem with transition; a person in my business life telling lies and my patient and ethical response; Setting my dad’s broken wrist on a racquetball court

Is Commitment to Change underway or even on the way?

Interestingly, transition is not change. We're still in a state of transition in the United States and won't leave the transition phase until we've committed to change. Of course, change needs to be defined as “of extraordinary quality, ability, or distinction” not “exceptional in degree or intensity”

I would love to hear the three “must have” qualities/traits that you would want in a leader

If you had the chance to hire your boss or your parent or any leader, what would the three most critical traits/qualities be?

I am looking forward to your thoughts.

My ideal leader would have the following traits. Someone who:

1. is a moral visionary
2. has the ability to influence others toward that vision
3. builds a high trust environment
4. has humor within limits

How is a successful project characterized?

Project success is characterized fully by how the client/customer defined the performance measurements before the project started. The client/customer may see if the project was finished within the scheduled timeframe, under budget, whether new opportunities were created, or if the company vision has been met. They may also ask if they’ve arrived at a new product/service penetration or if the company is more stable/solvent because of this project.

Regardless, the client/customer defines success.

When receiving feedback…

1. Be non-defensive
2. Listen quietly until the sender has completed the message
3. Seek clarification by testing for understanding, that is, restate the sender’s message using effective listening skills: “So what I hear you saying...” or "It seems like...Is that right?”
4. Acknowledge the sender’s intentions by saying, “I can see how important this is to you.”
5. Thank the sender and invite their help or continued support

What in the heck is Absorptive Capacity and how do you start increasing it?

Wikipedia defines Absorptive Capacity as the “ability to recognize the value of new information, assimilate it, and apply it to commercial ends”. Let me say from experience that the best indicator of future assimilation and application of information is past performance of how that new information has been assimilated and applied. You must spend a considerable amount of time/money on Research & Development to develop extensive KM (Knowledge Management) systems and build a database of easy-to-retrieve information. This includes all information...not just new information.

What you don’t recognize, you can’t assimilate (sounds like the Borg on Star Trek)…and what you don’t assimilate, you cannot apply

Does a leader, parent, boss motivate better with a carrot or a stick?

First of all, it's a little old-school to understand motivation in terms of a carrot, stick, or a combination of the two. Gallup has produced 12 questions, from their book "First Break All The Rules", that measure "engagement", which is a truer test of how to motivate to produce results. Improve "engagement" and improve results. The questions range from “I know what’s expected of me…” and “…I’ve received recognition or praise…” to “I have a best friend…”. This is a business book, but could be used in any leadership position to fully engage the people following.

Do socially responsible organizations have a greater possibility of creating conscientious employees?

This goes back to the “nature vs. nurture” debate. Socially responsible organizations do have a greater possibility of creating conscientious employees if you agree that conscientious employees are nurtured into that state by the organization. The other side of the argument says that employees are already conscientious and are only attracted and retained by socially responsible organizations. Regardless of which camp you’re in, socially responsible organizations have more conscientious employees because behaviors grow in environments that support that certain behavior.

What do you do when someone blatantly insults you?

"Be kind to your enemy and thereby heap burning coals upon their head". It came from an old Egyptian process where they would gain confessions from their enemies by placing a funnel-type device on top of their heads and telling them that they "better confess" or the coals would get poured. The saying now means that if you're kind to your enemy, they only have themselves to deal with and when deep self-evaluation causes their own problems to be brought to light, confession occurs.

You can be kind but firm, if someone insults you falsely in front of other people, by saying, "you know that's not true" with a smile. You may want to play your cards closer to the vest outside of your circle of friends and not admit when you're insulted. The pain of the insult will subside, but admitting that you've been insulted to an enemy allows them to see a weak point...and that never ends well.