6. Denial

            Before the Great Depression of 1929 that started on Wall Street in New York City, and then spread to the rest of the world, project/programme purpose leaders, stock market analysts, scientists, politicians, academics and other “experts” confidently and regularly predicted that the market could never fall, that the economy was so strong and stable that failure was impossible.

            Before the dot.bomb stock market collapse that closed the 20th century, when thousands of technology organizations folded or had massive lay-offs, and millions of investors around the world had much—if not all—of their life savings wiped out, project/programme purpose leaders, stock market analysts, scientists, politicians, academics and other “experts” confidently and regularly predicted that there was now a “new economy,” one based on the Internet and high technology; and one that was disaster-proof.

            And before Titanic was an internationally acclaimed movie, it was the world’s most expensive, modern, and advanced ship, the most magnificent ship of its time.

            The Titanic went down because the captain of the great ship was, in effect, “asleep at the wheel.” No one could imagine a problem that could affect such a super ship, so no one looked for one, or even paid attention to what was going on around him or her. Then it hit an iceberg.

            In retrospect, “experts” were able to point out exactly why the stock market crashed in 1929, the dot-bombs exploded in 2000, and the Titanic sank on its maiden voyage on April 14, 1912.

            Problems are so much easier to spot once they do their damage. It is necessary for an effective manager to be proactive; that is, to actually seek out problems before they become apparent.

7. Looking for Problems in All the Right Places

            Instead of hiding from them, or just facing them when they appear, some proactive managers go looking for problems.

            In much the same way that the knights of old went looking for dragons to slay and people to rescue, and adproject/programrs went looking for new worlds to discover and conquer, these managers are looking for challenges; the opportunity to show their capabilities.

            They are also looking for the rewards that come with success, of being recognized as a proactive problem solver.

            Since too many managers—too many people, actually—have to be lead by the hand to a problem and then have their faces rubbed in it before they will even acknowledge its existence, those who actively seek problems, and regularly solve them, are usually treasured by their organizations .

            Proactive managers do more than know that problems are part of their job. They consider the search for problems a way of doing their job even better. They search for problems the way a firefighter looks for hot spots. Firefighters know that it is easier to deal with a small fire than a medium-sized one, and a medium-sized one is easier than a big one; it’s easier to put out a fire that is limited to one room than one that has the entire house, and the entire neighborhood, in flames.

             These managers do more than manage, they protect.

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8. An Expert’s Opinion

            In an article on the processes of decision-making and problem solving written for the American National Academy of Sciences in 1986, Nobel Prize winning economist Herbert A. Simon said:

                        “The work of managers, of scientists, of engineers, of lawyers—the work that steers the course of society and its economic and governmental organizations —is largely work of making decisions and solving problems.

                        It is work of choosing issues that require attention, setting goals, finding or designing suitable courses of action, and evaluating and choosing among alternative actions. The first three of these activities—fixing agendas, setting goals, and designing actions—are usually called problem solving; the last, evaluating and choosing, is usually called decision making.

                        Nothing is more important for the well-being of society than that this work be performed effectively, that we address successfully the many problems requiring attention at the national level… at the level of project/programme purpose organizations … and at the level of our individual lives…

                        There are no more promising or important targets for basic scientific research than understanding how human minds, with and without the help of computers, solve problems and make decisions effectively, and improving our problem-solving and decision-making capabilities.”

The work of solving problems they are faced with – and of seeking out problems to solve – is one of the most critical communication and managerial skills an effective, proactive manager can have.

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When Goals Become the Problem

Goals are important. They give us all something to shoot for; a way to motivate ourselves into action, and then measure our progress and success.  Sometimes, however, our goals are our problems.

Gilda Dangot-Simkin, a consultant, and president of Dynamic Development, in Stamford, Connecticut, says that there are good goals and bad goals. As she wrote in an article at http://www.coach.net/article06.htm:

            “For goals to increase productivity, build morale, and create a sense of achievement, they need to meet three critical criteria; that is, goals need to be specific, realistic, and mutually determined. When they violate these basic guidelines, goals can be counterproductive, demoralizing and even engendering of hostility.”

            In other words, poorly conceived and set goals become hard-to-spot problems. Because they are our goals, we tend to look at anything getting in the way of achieving them to be a problem, when we should be looking at the goals themselves.

            All too often goals are set in wish-like statements. For most organizations , ‘we need to increase productivity’ has become as common as ‘I need to lose weight’ for individuals. Instead of the vague ‘increasing sales,’ try ‘increasing sales by 500 units this year.’ Instead of ‘reducing absenteeism,’ try ‘reducing absenteeism by 20 percent.’”  Make sure that goals are specific.  Also, they need to be realistic.  Goals that are unattainable can be demoralizing.  To reduce absenteeism by 20% may be something we might achieve.  Reducing absenteeism to zero is probably unattainable, so why try at all?