Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Wrestling It To The Ground
When a crisis has been identified and work is about to be done, an important decision needs to be made. This decision already has a default answer and will be implemented if you, the owner, do not make a conscious and resolute choice. Too often many make a half-hearted selection, but in the end succumb to the default answer. What is the decision to be made? Are we going to solve the root cause of the problem or are we going to put a band-aide on it?
I have witnessed many managers and owners verbally say they want the root cause identified and resolved. However, when hours of effort go by and other work starts to pile up, the decision is made to "go with the temporary fix" - the default answer. Here is the fuel for future fires. A problem not driven down to its root cause and then resolved is a problem waiting to happen again. If this is your normal mode of crisis management, then you will ultimately have an environment riddled with band-aides waiting to pop off! What is ironic about this is that these temporary fixes can not handle much stress or strain and will invariably fall apart at the worst moment when you are the busiest.
It is imperative that at the beginning of managing the crisis that a resolute decision is made to get it fixed completely and correctly. With this may come the need for some over-time for salaried employees. This is not desirable, but I have experienced that these same employees would much rather get it totally fixed the first time, than to constantly spend extra time and frustration cleaning up the messes of unsolved problems. You as the owner or manager must be willing to pay the cost.
Once you have established a pattern of resolving crises, you will start to notice changes. The number of crises and their frequency will start to reduce. In addition, the severity will diminish. Overall the operation of your business will improve and its throughput as well. After all, you have fewer issues interrupting the work to be done.
Resolve to start wrestling the problems to the ground. Don't let go until it is completely resolved. Manage the crisis; don't let it manage you!
I have witnessed many managers and owners verbally say they want the root cause identified and resolved. However, when hours of effort go by and other work starts to pile up, the decision is made to "go with the temporary fix" - the default answer. Here is the fuel for future fires. A problem not driven down to its root cause and then resolved is a problem waiting to happen again. If this is your normal mode of crisis management, then you will ultimately have an environment riddled with band-aides waiting to pop off! What is ironic about this is that these temporary fixes can not handle much stress or strain and will invariably fall apart at the worst moment when you are the busiest.
It is imperative that at the beginning of managing the crisis that a resolute decision is made to get it fixed completely and correctly. With this may come the need for some over-time for salaried employees. This is not desirable, but I have experienced that these same employees would much rather get it totally fixed the first time, than to constantly spend extra time and frustration cleaning up the messes of unsolved problems. You as the owner or manager must be willing to pay the cost.
Once you have established a pattern of resolving crises, you will start to notice changes. The number of crises and their frequency will start to reduce. In addition, the severity will diminish. Overall the operation of your business will improve and its throughput as well. After all, you have fewer issues interrupting the work to be done.
Resolve to start wrestling the problems to the ground. Don't let go until it is completely resolved. Manage the crisis; don't let it manage you!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
0 comments:
Post a Comment