Compass and Problem Solving

If you watched the movie “Pirates of the Caribbean”, you must remember Captain Jack Sparrow’s “Compass” which doesn’t point to North but to what he wants most.?With this compass, he went through all his adventures Treasure of Cortes, Dead Man’s Chest, Fountain of Youth, Trident of Poseidon… ?Have you or your team defined or found your “compass”?

I believe we all should have our own “Compass” to our “North Star” for ourselves and our team so as to direct us whenever we feel lost, facing difficult choices, dilemmas, experiencing frustrations, happiness, or even contentment. It is a learning journey without ending. “a journey without ending”, seems a bit scary, doubt, unsecure, and unachievable …but I am sure if you know your own or your team’s “Compass”, you can describe it clearly, vision it clearly, you will find out it never just be a point but a continuous growth path. Think about it. J Just like Jack Sparrow once we reached one goal, we will start a new adventure to the next goal… It is a never-ending journey.

Each adventure is full of challenges, learning, excitement, mishaps, setbacks, wax, and wane… How to go through them and continue the learning journey of adventures even if you had your compass? I propose 2 axes to look at:

1.??????Look up my “North Star” with “Compass” from time to time. Pause and think, am I and my team progressing in the right direction? What does my/team’s vision tell me? What are the mid-term and long-term goals? Does the team align with the vision and long-term goals? How far am I/the team away from this goal? Do I need to make a major change in direction? What are the resources, and platforms that I/ the team can use or embark on?

?2.??????Look down at the road I am stepping on, is it full of unevenness, or obstacles? What are the current challenges and problems I /the team are facing now? What can we improve to do better, faster, lesser to achieve the team’s short-term goal? How can I/the team solve these problems? How can I clear the roadblocks for the team??

Recent problem-solving experiences with different teams made me reflect on current Problem solving. Problem-solving is much easier when I brought the different teams together and do it face to face. Sounds simple? Try it by yourself.

a.??????First, people are in hybrid work mode. Without face-to-face, remote communication made the sessions very difficult to understand each other’s needs, communication often becomes very slow or breaks down. A simple topic with a face-to-face explanation solved the issue in no time! However, it took weeks in remote MS Team discussions. Not being in the office, and busy are common excuses for skipping face-to-face meetings, so bringing different teams together physically at the same time is a challenge if we don’t have common rules or agreement. If management realizes this and requests the team members to be back in the office when problem-solving is needed. Does your organization have this rule clearly shared with everyone? :)

b.??????Secondly, the actual problem-solving session. Different team members have different job functions, requirements, needs, and interests, to find a solution that makes everyone understand, happy, and willing to change their way of working, is challenging but still feasible because we have a common final goal to achieve together.

??????????i.?????First at the beginning of the session, reinstate that, the team’s common goal, we are here to find a solution together in respect of everyone’s roles and responsibilities, and make decisions together.

??????????ii.?????Secondly, let team members understand what the needs of other people are, and made their needs understood by others, then brainstorm the solutions together. Give everyone a chance to talk and propose ideas. Sometimes, as long as the team communicates the problem can be solved immediately by themselves. The team just needs a platform to be together and communicate.

??????????iii.?????At last, the solutions shall come from the team and be decided by the team.?(Maybe some fine-tune and guide needed by the manager). The most common mistake or pitfall a manager could have (often difficult to resist) is to press through his/her own solution irregardless of team members’ proposals and suggestions. This will kill the accountability and autonomy of the team. If used often, the team spirit dies, and the team will just become a “machine”. As a manager, allowing the team to fail and learn is more beneficial in the long term than the team following your ideas even if you are right. Your role is to create leaders rather than followers.

c.??????Thirdly, the manager’s regular Gemba. When you do not do Gemba, the team will not progress and your decisions are not based on the real situation. If only based on KPI/OKR alone without regular reviews and helps coming from you, mistrust and frustration will occur. There are many issues and problems in your team’s daily work, and their performance is your performance. We need to spend time with them and clear the roadblock for them. Regular Gemba helps you detect the problem and understand the problem. Think about what the actions are for yourself, and what are the problems you want to use to develop the team. Acknowledge what the team has tried and achieved and challenge them to do better before your next Gemba visit.

If you have your own/the team “compass” in your heart and know the way how to solve the problems, the adventure will be a never-ending learning journey to our north star! ??