One of my best girlfriends and I were chatting – although we joke that although neither of us understands what the other person does for a living, we do find most of the over arching issues seem to be the same.
Today’s example is that problem solving requires THINKING and thinking requires TIME.
Our conversation was around the fact that people are even busier now than ever – or so it feels to both of us. One of the biggest issue that is causing is that people’s and teams’ problem solving ability is taking a huge hit.
If your world is full of back to back meetings – never ending reply all email strings – plus interruptions, you most likely have no time to pee… let alone think, be creative, do research, all of which are needed to solve problems.
You’re also probably thinking “tell me something I don’t already know Lynn!”
ok – here goes.
You currently do something that was SUPER important once-upon-a-time, that just doesn’t matter anymore.
STOP DOING IT
Don’t tell anyone, don’t ask if anyone cares, just stop doing it.
Take the time that you spent: running that report, sending that email, holding that meeting… what ever it was;
- leave your desk
- take a breath
- think of what the #1 issue your team is having right now
- take another breath
- don’t try to solve it… instead ask yourself: can I impact the issue MYSELF?
- if you answer YES – do it.
- if you answer NO – move on until you find an issue you can solve without involving someone else.