The Power of Solutions
One of the ways most people advance their careers is through finding solutions to challenging problems. There are books, seminars, podcasts, and more dedicated to being the "lynchpin" in an organization, the one person who solely determines the outcome of a situation. The more problems you solve, the more problems you get to solve. Who can solve this complex, thorny issue? Give to the "fixer" who has already proven that they can handle it.?
While, in theory, this is excellent news for you as an individual contributor, it becomes much more challenging to sustain when you become a leader. Instead of solving just your problems, the team will start bringing you their problems. At first, it won't be hard to solve them, and you will probably get accolades from your team and those higher up in the organization. You may even feel a sense of pride and accomplishment that they had to call in the "professionals" to solve it.?
Give it a little more time, and you will find that your role shifts from being the leader to chief problem solver. It's not the worst job in the world, but there are other reasons you were asked to be a leader. You have moved from being the lynchpin to being the choke point, which slows down the organization.?
To make matters worse, your solutions are the only way things get decided or done. That limiting factor means that your organization is only as good as you are and ignores the other potential solutions. This means you must constantly upgrade your solution-making powers as the team grows in complexity or size. That pressure alone is enough to make most leaders fail.?
The power of "a" vs. the limitations of "the."?
We often try to solve a problem, looking for the one and only answer. Instead of opening our minds to find all the possible solutions, we limit ourselves to only one answer that must be the best. A different way of solving problems is to bring "a" vs. "the" solution. To be even more specific, framing it as "this is?a?solution that might work" instead of "this is?the?solution that will work." This thinking style also works well when others present their solutions to you. Asking if this is the only solution vs. one possible solution opens the door to other potential answers. Try using this approach the next time you are trying to solve a problem and see what happens.?
My problem, your problem, or our problem
Another common practice that leaders tend to fall into is solving problems for others. As mentioned earlier, being a problem solver may come more naturally to you than others on your team, so it becomes the standard operating procedure for you to solve them. Instead of leaning into this style of limiting leadership, try moving to a leadership style that is less about you and more about the team.?
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The critical concept is figuring out who is responsible for solving the problem. There are times when it's their issue, others when it's yours, and times when it's a joint problem. It's their responsibility if it's a standard problem that falls within their job description and competent. It's yours if it's outside their job description and they aren't competent. It's a joint problem if it's a combination of the two.?
When people bring you a problem, here are several questions you can ask to help them solve it on their own vs. you having to do the work.?
A good leader knows that asking these questions prosecutorially will not produce good results. Instead, use an interesting style that searches for understanding.?
"or what happens?"
You will run into a situation where there appear to be no reasonable or possible answers. It is at this time you use the power of three words: "Or what happens?" This prompt can be used as many times as possible to get to the root cause of the problem and a workable solution. Adding in the "how do we know that to be true" after the "or what happens" eliminates the assumptions and moves us to a basis of fact.?
While imperfect, this approach is "a" way to solve problems. What successful ways have you found to solve problems in your life??