Solving Problems
Everybody makes mistakes. Unfortunately, these mistakes may happen when you are attempting to solve a problem with a customer or a fellow employee. Generally, we make only two mistakes when solving problems.
We try to impose a solution on the wrong problem. In other words, we jump to conclusions and try to fix something that seems like the source or cause of the problem when it really isn't. Consider a customer service situation as an example: A customer calls, and says, "I want to talk to you about this product." You assume that the customer is not happy with the product and try to convince him that the product is a good one. In reality, the customer has called because he wants answers to some detailed questions about the product. In jumping to conclusions, you've ended up wasting your time and frustrating the customer. Instead, if you had taken a moment to identify the real problem, you immediately could have connected the customer with the appropriate person to answer his detailed questions.
We attempt to impose the wrong solution on the problem. In this situation, we may identify the cause of the problem but attempt a solution that doesn't work, is only a temporary fix (a "band-aid solution"), or might even make the situation worse. Consider an employee situation as an example. One of your most effective employees comes in 10 minutes late for the second time this week. You walk over to the her desk and say, "If you don't start coming in on time, you're going to have to take shorter lunches to make the time up." The employee gets defensive and tries to explain why she's been late, but you stop her and repeat that she will have to make up the time. The employee begins to take shorter lunches but is still late twice a week, so you let her know that you've noted the repeated tardiness in her file. This affects her performance and her attitude on the job. You find out later that the employee has been driving to work another employee, who has broken his leg. If instead, you would have said, "I noticed you were late again this morning. What is happening that is causing you to be late?" You would have identified the reason earlier and could have come up with a better solution to this temporary problem that would not affect the employee's performance or her attitude.
By taking the right steps and following a problem-solving method, problems will be solved properly and similar ones avoided in the future. Advantages of using an orderly problem-solving method; include:
- Preventing jumping to conclusions and taking the wrong steps
- Identifying the true root causes of a problem
- Avoiding creating "band-aid solutions"
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