Managing Your Problem Solvers

As you look around your organization, do you have people who are problem solvers? They enjoy looking at something that isn’t right and figuring out a way to make it better.

Not everyone has the temperament for this kind of work. Consider a knot or a tangled phone cord. A lot of employees will tolerate the problem and not do anything to fix it.

Either they feel it’s not a good use of their time or solving the problem produces anxiety. And some may go for a quick fix that doesn’t produce lasting change.

Problem solvers:

Take the time to untangle the mess.
They like bringing order to chaos.
They are irresistibly engaged in improving the situation and don’t mind if it’s a dull process.

It’s important to know who are your go-to people when a problem needs solving. You want and need their strengths. As they may think differently, compared to other employees, consider these tips for maximizing their talents:

Create Boundaries

Make sure the search for a solution does not become an endless quest. While enthusiasm is great, it can produce unlimited discussion, where every inch of a white board is filled with ideas.

Have the problem clearly defined, the desired outcome, and timelines for the process. While these may change, you don’t want the situation to monopolize time with no sunset date.

Establish Buy-In

Everyone needs to understand the importance of finding a solution to the issue. Many problem solvers already have that motivation and may assume everyone else does too.

That may not be the case, as some may prefer to spend their time on more engaging tasks. You don’t want the highly motivated people in the group to be pulled back by those who don’t like problem solving but need to be on the solution committee. So establish the urgency.

Have the Problem Solver Take the Next Step

Ideally, you want to solve a problem so that it never happens again or happens rarely. Make your problem solvers know you want a permanent solution, because some may simply stop when the immediate issue is addressed.

Consider the tangled phone cord. Its knots make it harder to use the phone and can increase the likelihood of the phone getting dragged off a desk and falling to the floor.

A problem solver may be happy to untangle the phone cord knots every time they becomes an issue. This takes a lot of repeated time for the same task.

In a perfect world, you want the solution to go one step further, where these kinds of knots become a thing of the past.

For the phone, the group may discover there are devices that keep the cord from being tangled. Investing in them can provide a permanent solution.