Friday, July 30, 2010

Don't bring me problems, bring me solutions


Who hasn't heard at one time during their career, from a boss, 'don't bring me problems, bring me a solution?'

How silly is this? If all your boss does is ratify a solution, what good is s/he? Further, if you have a solution, why the heck aren't you out there implementing it?

Worse,what does this say about the organization that encourages this sort of behavior? That they don't trust their people? That they are so risk averse that no one is encouraged to make a move because of fears of making mistakes? Think about what this does to  employee motivation and engagement.

Instead, try telling your employees to stop bringing you solutions, and bring you problems instead.
They'll be skeptical at first, but if you're firm in telling them 'if you already know what to do, why are you asking me for permission?', they'll get the message pretty quickly. You'll soon be amazed at changes in attitudes and increased energy levels.

And you'll probably find that your job becomes a lot more interesting as well - the good ones are not going to bother you with trivia (and if they're not good, why are they still working for you?) and the problems they bring you are likely to be really interesting - helping solve those will have a real impact.

Sunday, July 25, 2010




My parents, who both grew up in the depression, instilled two values in me: hard work, and thrift. While we never felt we wanted for much growing up, there was never a lot of money to spend either, something we were blissfully unaware of. One thing I remember is mom cooking healthy dinners every night, using fresh ingredients bought daily from the supermarket. She was a good bargain hunter, and knew how to stretch her food dollar. We'd splurge occasionally on a hamburger out at the local A&W (remember those?), washed down with a root beer float.

Thus, I was struck by a vignette early on in the film Food, Inc., where a working family of four stops by a fast food restaurant for a dollar meal. The mother explains that because they are so busy, she doesn't really have time to cook, but she does want to make sure her children get a 'good' meal to start the day... She goes on to say that because they don't have a lot of money, they have to look for bargain ways to feed their family. But then we find that the father is suffering from diabetes, for which he is spending $200 a month on prescription medicine...