subject: Business Problem Solving As A Management Skill [print this page] Business problems come in many varieties, and solving them is an essential skill for managers at all levels. But what many managers don't realize, particularly when they are new to management, is that there is a discipline, an order, a method --- in fact, many methods --- to solving problems.
Before you became a manager, problems just didn't seem to be your, well, problem! You either tried to solve the simpler ones on your own, or you went to your manager and dropped it on her or her desk. Well guess what --- now you are on the receiving end of other people's problems!
Cast your mind back for a moment to those days when you passed your problems along to your manager. Did he or she always come up with just the right solution, right away, without any apparent effort? My guess is, no.
So why do you think you have to solve problems that way? What makes you think you need to think for a couple of seconds, think of exactly the right solution and express it clearly so that the person who brought it to you can understand and put it into action?
If only it were that easy! In a perfect world, it might work that way. But the workplace is not a perfect world, and I have personally never met a perfect manager. Give yourself a break, and don't expect to be the first one in history!
Consider the types of problem that come to you at work. Who brings them to you? Are they problems that should have been solved by them instead of bringing them to you? That's called upward delegation, and it's a common way for people to get their managers to do their work for them! If you have people who do this, learn to put the ball right back in their court.
What circumstances cause these problems to happen? Are they the same circumstances causing the same problems over and over? Then you have a deeper problem that just the current one. You need to find a system to stop this from happening --- and that's the first solution you need to find.
What is the impact of these problems on the work of your department and even the company? Depending on your answer, you may need to consider bringing in other people and finding a solution together.
In summary, problem solving is not one skillset but several. Analyzing the problems you are regularly faced with, as I've described here, is a good first step.
