Kia ora and welcome...

Hi!

Thanks for stopping by and visiting my blog site.

For those of you visiting from overseas. Welcome to the shores of New Zealand. Kia ora and welcome.

As you can tell I haven't made a posting here since back in October 2009! It's been a while hasn't it? So it's time to start again and I'll do that this week and make it a regular thing with no less than 2 updates a week.

I'll also make them no more than 600 words which should equate to a 3minute read for you. I'm hoping this will give you time to read and return for the next blog while gaining a useful key point while you're here.

Enjoy your visit! And return soon...

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Stop the Fire Fighting


I want to get a quick run on the blog update board with this article.


So here goes...this wont take long...

  • Are you tired of having staff come to you with problems?

  • Are you tired of straining your brain to find solutions for problems staff have?

  • Do you want to save time in dealing with day to day problems?

  • You want staff to think for themselves?

  • Have you had enough of being the source of all knowledge, and being drained by the constant flood of staff knocking on your door for answers?

  • Want a quick and proven answer?
Read carefully...

When a staff member comes to you with a problem say to them this.
"What 2 solutions have you got for this problem?"
Did you get that?

Here's the same thing with a slight variation. Make an announcement to your staff like the following:

"Whenever you want to present me with a problem that you have identified, you are to bring with you, no less than 2 answers that are serious solutions to the problem you've identified".

So there it is.

The greatest time saver you'll ever put in place. It'll make your life a lot easier. Your staff will learn to think for themselves and wont that be great!

Some of the benefts Managers have shared with me, as a result of having introduced this simple approach, are:
  • I have more time for things I need to spend time on.

  • My staff are no longer knocking down my door with problems.

  • The staff are actually thinking for themselves now.

  • Staff have said they have a greater level of confidence in their own decision making.
Well it's up to you now. Will you make fire fighting your occupation or will you empower your staff to think for themselves?

Give this simple technique a go and let me know how you've found it. I'm confident you'll be pleasantly surprised.

2 comments:

mcorla said...

I like this approach and have been encouraging it for a while now. Instead of getting brought rants and vents, the team mindset is to bring me an issue that requires attention along with possible solutions. It's great, it encourages staff to be proactive and they experience being valued when they are listened to. I think it is important to provide direct and honest feedback around their ideas which reinforces that you listened, and provides good discussion going forward,

Colin Cox said...

I agree mcoria it consistantly brings good results from staff, and such a simple approach for Managers to use. Thanks for your comment.