Don't Come to Me with Problems

Come to me with solutions

“There are two kinds of people in the world: those who make excuses and those who get results.” - Alan Cohen

To be clear: your people should come to you when there is a problem. But encourage them to think beyond the problem. Ask them, “What do you want to do to fix it?” or “How do we get back on-track?”

If they have a good solution, give them the green-light to implement it. If they have an “okay” solution, discuss ways to improve it, then green-light implementation. If they’ve got nothing, e.g., “If I knew how to fix it I wouldn’t be here in your office right now,” then ASK them to consider your idea. “Would it solve the problem if we…?”

Don’t focus on placing blame. “Everyone makes mistakes—what matters is what people do to then make things right.” Focus on the fix, not the fault.

Remember the Big Picture: the goal is not only to solve the immediate problem—as leaders, we want to develop our people to be more effective problem-solvers.

(Photo by Recha Oktaviani on Unsplash)