How I work through problems as a CEO (use my process)

Whenever there’s a problem in my business (Nitschke Real Estate), it’s my job as CEO to resolve it. By implementing the?EOS meeting framework, we’ve been able to reframe how we talk about and tackle issues, with a weekly cadence and conversation – rather than letting problems pile up over time.

As CEO, if I’m confused or unsure about something, my team will be too. So, whenever there’s a problem, I always self-reflect first to audit how I’m showing up, what I’m saying, and the energy I’m transferring.

To be clear is to be kind, and I believe leading with clarity is leading with kindness. This means having uncomfortable conversations, mediating miscommunication, and upholding our standard of realness – not just with our clients, but with each other as a team.

Problem solving process?and?philosophy

With a shared philosophy on how you solve problems as a company, you can strategically work through issues as they come up. What I mean by this is establishing standards for how you navigate challenges and change.

I use the 3 steps to success framework:

1.????Elevate your state?(your mental, emotional, physical and spiritual self)

2.????Raise your standards?(establish and protect your values and vision)

3.????Simplify your strategies?(pull back and re-establish your baseline as a business)

This is the?philosophy?part.

Now, with a shared understanding of what you stand for and what you’re working towards, you can move into the problem-solving process.

This is where the EOS framework comes in, which encourages you to build an?Issues Listand attribute a star to each one, to identify which is most critical to solve. Every Monday, we spend half of our leadership meeting on issues, sometimes only getting through one big problem and other times moving through many small pain points.

This is the?process?part.

To resolve an issue and move on, it might just require a conversation or if more involved, an action list with a deadline. One example of this was a personnel issue we had. We discussed it in the meeting to get to the root of the problem, then assigned an action to ‘hold a mediation between the two employees.’ We set up an open forum where both people could share their concerns and hear the other’s perspective, with a support person there. We were able to find some common ground, highlight their differences and agree on a go-forward plan.

The mediation was a great opportunity for a platform of vulnerability for everyone involved, which is what we’re all about at Nitschke. As CEO, I learned the power of mediation in management and added it to my HR toolbox, if needed in the future.

Try the EOS framework issues list approach or define your own problem-solving process, grounded in your philosophy. Reach out if you have questions.

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