SOLVING PEOPLE PROBLEMS

In last month's issue I focused on the first of four People Skills all leaders need to have, Building Trust, because it is a prerequisite for the skill we are focusing on this month, Solving People Problems.

Are you a problem solver or a blame assigner? When a problem arises at work, what is the first thing you do? I'm not referring to analytical problem solving techniques; rather, I want you to think about how you deal with your team members when problems arise. Do you immediately ask who caused it and look for the person or persons to blame? If you do, the time you spend on blame assigning, focusing on whom rather than what or how, is time not spent on solving the problem. Have you ever worked for a manager who was a blame assigner rather than a problem solver? If you have, you know the kind of fear and anxiety that can create.

My first manager was a fellow named Alan who was perhaps the best manager to introduce me to the world of work. Alan was friendly, made an effort to get to know me, and told me his door was always open if I had any questions. Most important for me was that Alan meant this, which made me respect him immensely.

I was working for a large insurance company in Brisbane, Australia, at the time and I was the numbers-cruncher who calculated how much commission each salesperson made on the policies he or she sold. This was in 1965, so the calculation was done manually because we did not have computers. One day I made the mistake of significantly over- compensating a salesperson on a sale he made. The mistake was not caught for some time, but when it was, I was called into my manager's office. I trembled as I entered, worried that I would be at least yelled at and contemplating whether I would have my job when he was finished talking to me.

When Alan told me of the error I made, he neither yelled at me nor took my job away. Instead, he pulled out the worksheets for that sale, calmly and rationally showed me the paperwork, and helped me discover where I made the mistake. There were no recriminations, just a focus on making sure I understood where in the process I went wrong so I would not repeat the mistake. What could have been a really bad experience turned into a very positive one. I refocused on my work from then on, making sure everything was perfect, not because I was afraid of making mistakes, but because I wanted to do my best for Alan. I had no plans of letting him down again.

Focus on the Process not the Person When Alan became aware that I had made an error in calculating the sales commission, he gathered together the information he needed to solve the problem and ensure that I learned from the mistake. When someone makes a mistake, your goal is to determine what needs to be changed to ensure the problem is solved and will not arise again. If the problem was caused by someone being irresponsible, make sure they understand the consequences of their actions, and again focus on the process: what is wrong with the processes that allows an employee to think they can be irresponsible?

Have you ever had a situation where nobody seems to know anything about the problem, but your gut feeling tells you they know more than they are letting on? It reminds me of Sergeant Schultz on the TV series Hogan's Heroes, who frequently said, 'I know nuttink!' when in fact, he knew exactly what was going on. To successfully gather the information you need, people have to be open and straightforward with you. That is why the skill of building trust must come first; the higher the trust you have with your team members, the more quickly problems are disclosed, the sooner you can get to work on identifying what the real problem is and coming up with the best solution.

Assigning blame achieves the opposite. Witch hunts don't work. They put people on the defensive and they become more self-protective by keeping valuable information to themselves. In the future, any information that could incriminate themselves or their co-workers will be withheld. If your employees believe their mistakes will be treated as if they had committed a crime, they not only try to cover them up, they also stop using any creativity or initiative that might result in mistakes.

What is the trust level in your team? The more people problems you have to deal with, the lower the trust level is likely to be. If you are interested in measuring the trust level in your team and identifying the specific people problems preventing trust from developing, click on the link below for more information on the Team Alignment Questionnaire.

To be an effective people problem solver take the following steps when a problem arises:

1. Don't overreact' respond calmly.
2. Ask questions, focusing on the steps that led to the problem occurring, not who did what.
3. Listen and check for confirmation that you heard correctly.
4. Get input from team members to arrive at the best solution.
5. Believe in people. They will learn from their mistakes when treated with respect, and irresponsible people can learn to be responsible.