We have all heard it, and some of us may have said it: Don’t bring me problems, bring me solutions. There is an old saying – be careful what you ask for, you may get it.

Problem identification is easy; problem resolution is more complex, and done too quickly, often results in the wrong, or temporary at best, fix.

In one of our healthcare clients, there was a strong concern expressed by one of the clinical department directors that members of his department were leaving for more money. The director’s recommendation was to increase the salary of department members so they would not leave.

When we looked into the situation and did a root cause analysis, we found that in fact people were leaving. But they were not leaving because other hospitals paid more, they were leaving because the new department director was inconsistent in his decision making, failed to build a meaningful relationship with his new staff, and disregarded the culture that made the department successful.

The problem resolution was not to give the staff members a raise (although we do believe they would have liked that); it was to provide better training, guidance and coaching to the new manager, so he could be a good boss.

It is easy to look at what’s obvious and on the surface – to look at the symptoms. It is more difficult and time consuming to look at the root cause of a problem. It involves patience, honesty and exploration.

Demanding that your direct reports bring only solutions can backfire, as it would have with our client. You own the responsibility to be certain that:

• There is in fact a problem that needs addressing
• The problem has been analyzed and the root cause has been identified
• Recommendations are made that are consistent with the root cause analysis
• Recommendations are defensible

As the manager / leader your role is not to repeat trite and misunderstood management-speak, but to think through and understand what you want to accomplish and how it should be accomplished.

If everyone of your direct reports only brought solutions to symptoms, your budget would run out of control, you would not address the real problems confronting the organization, and your successor will have to “pick up the pieces”

Copyright 2009 Kubica and LaForest

This entry was posted on Monday, December 21st, 2009 at 3:53 am and is filed under Management & Management Transitions, Professional Growth & Development. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.