Problem Solving A Dead Golf Cart: Lessons Learned For Every Situation

Every year, a group of former colleagues and I go on an overnight canoe trip on the Saco River in Maine. This year, we decided to do a house after the river for a couple of days and landed in a gated community near a lake that came equipped with a golf cart to get around. I am sure some of you can understand our excitement of having access to a golf cart. Some of you also may be wondering what that has to do with professional lessons around problem solving. Well, when we got to the house, we threw all of our belongings in the door (which we considered “unpacking”), loaded a cooler onto the golf cart full of snacks and drinks, and quickly piled ourselves into the 4 seats. I think the last thing I said before firing it up was “here we go boys” before I punched the gas. Unfortunately, all we got in return were a few clicks which is the tell-tale sign of a dead battery. Two days later, we had driven that golf cart with a dead battery in it everywhere. On the last evening as we took her out one last time (most complicated start process ever – you’ll see it below) I promised the guys that I would turn the experience with this golf cart into a LinkedIn article on problem solving. Andrew Hennessy, Chad Cotter & Kevin Gentry – this is for you guys. Epic trip!  

Work the Problem

You can’t work the problem if you panic, so, embrace the situation and start thinking about how you can solve the problem in the short-term. This requires flexibility, creativity, a splash of optimism and relentless resilience. We obviously knew the best solution for the long-term was a new battery but that may take a lot of time and we didn’t really have a lot of time since we wanted to be driving the golf cart, not driving to an auto parts store.

We started leveraging the resources we had available to us to work the problem – I called the house rental company to let them know and see what they could do, Chad went in the basement to see what (or who) lived down there, Andrew started checking connections while Kevin didn’t do much. Kev, seriously? Just kidding, he went for tools in the upstairs utility closet.  Interestingly, there was not any conversation about who was doing what, we all just started working the problem together through seeing what the other team members were doing and filling in the gaps with some moderate communication to stay on the same page. What united us, remember, was shared purpose – get the golf cart going so we could feel the wind in our hair. In case your curious - the resolution was us getting maintenance to come with a battery booster to get it running...the first time.

Lesson 1: Relentlessly working the problem is both a critical skill and a huge team builder as it will unleash the brain power of the team which, I assure you, is far more powerful than your brain power alone. In addition, there is a wonderful feeling when you all are working the problem because you can see, and feel, the equal investment in solving it.

Create a Plan & Know Your Role

Hope is not a plan and knowing your role in this context has nothing to do with hierarchy. In problem solving, hierarchy can actually create unfortunate, and undesired, outcomes to both simple and complex problems (we’ve all seen it). This is really about clear communication around who is doing what so that ideas, resolutions, and plans can be tested and/or successfully implemented. 

By the evening of Day 2, the battery was so dead it didn’t even make a click anymore and we didn’t think the boys in maintenance were interested in coming to see us for the 7th time. We had to re-work the problem. We had, however, managed to acquire a battery charger/engine starter kit that ran off outlet power. Well that’s fine and dandy except if you know anything about gas golf carts, you know if you let off the gas the engine kills and the battery is what keeps turning the engine back on so no battery, or, no power outlet and we were a dead duck. We knew this because earlier in the day someone (ahem, Andrew) conked out at the exit gate (a complicated maneuver to be fair involving a key card, a gate on an arm, and the need to keep the gas pedal somewhat compressed while operating said key card/gate) requiring a visit from the service guys who were very aware by that point of our die hard dedication to running around in this golf cart. 

The new problem was we couldn’t get the battery booster we had to actually turn the engine over. We had all read the manual at least 0 times. Just kidding, at least once each and we were very certain we were doing it wrong the right way. Nonetheless, we started working the problem again to develop a plan through trial and error. Here is the process we eventually used to start the golf cart. Read it twice and really think about how ridiculous, and dedicated, we were to riding in this golf cart.

With the golf cart already in the street facing the right direction, we removed the cart battery entirely and placed the battery booster where the battery was. We then ran a 100 foot extension cord from the house to the plug of the booster pack and replaced the golf cart front seat (the battery/engine is under the front seat) with the cord hanging out. We had discovered (through Kevin’s recommendation) that if we manually rolled the golf cart forward the fly wheel (or whatever it's called) turned some and presumed it might start easier. The process was once the battery booster beeped that it was ready to start the engine, Kevin and Chad would push the cart down the street while Andrew would hit the gas pedal repeatedly while I drug the cord along that was still connected to a power outlet at the house. Once the engine kicked on, I would unplug the booster and throw the extension cord off the road while Kevin and Chad hopped into the two back seats. On our third attempt of this, she kicked on.

I left out about 1 hour (maybe more) of planning, strategizing, repositioning, discussing, eating (it was dinner time; we were hungry) that led up to the above process happening. Every time we would try something in our plan, and it didn’t work, we would adjust and adjust and adjust until we ultimately landed on the above plan that worked. You’ll notice too that we all knew our role in getting that golf cart started. No frustration. No anger. Just determination to reach the shared goal of an evening ride.

Lesson 2: No plan is a perfect plan but you definitely need a plan. A plan, however, is only as good as the team executing it. Do they know their roles? Are they doing their job, maintaining individual composure, and executing their role until the problem is solved? To start that golf cart it took all 4 of us. No-one had a needless role though Kevin seemed to imply he was pushing harder than Chad but since the golf cart started, it’s all moot now I think?

Celebrate

No doubt the importance of celebrating a job well done. For us, hearing the engine kick on and being free to ride created an amazing moment of sheer jubilation…which sounds silly, right? It was just a golf cart and we’re four grown men reliving a portion of our youth in the middle of our lives. Wrong. We worked the problem, created a plan, assigned roles, and then had success – that means it’s time to celebrate the effort. Sure, had we gone out and it fired right up we would have had fun but maybe not as much fun as we did knowing the ride was the fruit of our labor.  

It will be very difficult for me to do justice to what ensued when that golf cart kicked on that last time. What I recall was throwing the cord off the road while four grown men yelled, hooted and hollered (in a VERY quiet neighborhood) while we buzzed down the street with arms in the air, obligatory high fives everywhere, and smiles on every face. What was actually funny was when the souped up extended golf cart of 8 teenagers rolled by us staring blankly at the sheer positive energy radiating from our steed. I don’t know what they were thinking but they may have called the police or at the very least reported us to their parents.

Lesson 3: Whenever you’re working a problem, you need to celebrate the success all along the way, not just when you have the problem solved. Every step, even if it shows you what not to do, is a step in the right direction because you’re learning, building a plan, and working the problem. The celebration serves as fuel for the brain to keep pushing toward the goal. Every step in the aforementioned insane golf cart start process was celebrated during its development.

All three of the above lessons learned: Work the Problem, Create a Plan/Know Your Role, & Celebrate are all iterative “things” because problem solving by nature requires iterations and evolution – be sure you evolve with the problem and what you’re learning and, most importantly, the next time you are trying to get the golf cart started, remember that anything is possible given passion, dedication, and a good group of people!