{"id":4496,"date":"2015-03-30T14:50:36","date_gmt":"2015-03-30T19:50:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.scottcochrane.com\/?p=4496"},"modified":"2015-03-30T14:50:36","modified_gmt":"2015-03-30T19:50:36","slug":"finding-the-right-bucket-to-solve-unsolvable-leadership-challenges-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/2015\/03\/30\/finding-the-right-bucket-to-solve-unsolvable-leadership-challenges-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Finding the Right Bucket to Solve Unsolvable Leadership Challenges"},"content":{"rendered":"

Updated from January 12, 2015 post
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

Having just returned from a four-week, 30,000 mile global leadership tour, I have blissfully (and perhaps naively) imagined waltzing back into the office problem-free.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Of course, reality was far different.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Immediately I’ve been faced with problems that require leadership solutions. And as I’ve begun tackling each one, I have first determined which bucket I need to dip into.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In an earlier post this year I unpacked my approach to solving unsolvable leadership challenges. Take a look, and let me know what you think.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Years ago I inherited the task of trimming $400,000 out of a $3,000,000 budget.<\/p>\n

The first $200,000 had been relatively painless. But now the job needed deep cuts; I needed to trim\u00a0another\u00a0$200,000, and I had run out of ideas. I was stumped.<\/p>\n

But a leadership mentor of mine asked me the question that changed everything.<\/p>\n

\u201cScott, what bucket are you looking for your solution in?\u201d<\/p>\n

I pressed him to explain.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, it seems to me you\u2019re looking for answers in your \u2018easy fix\u2019 bucket. You\u2019ve already emptied that one. That\u2019s how you trimmed the first $200,000. But to finish this job, you need to learn about 3 different buckets.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Radical Innovation Bucket<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cSupposing I were to tell you that you had to run the entire organization next year with only $1,000,000,\u201d he continued. \u201cWhat would you do? I\u2019ll tell you exactly what you\u2019d do. You would figure out a way to run the organization for $1,000,000. But you would figure it out using radical innovation.\u201d<\/p>\n

He was right.<\/p>\n

The \u201ceasy fix\u201d bucket doesn\u2019t solve unsolvable problems. You need utterly new approaches.<\/p>\n

Those are found in the radical innovation bucket.<\/p>\n

The Uncommon Courage Bucket<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll bet you faced little push-back with your first round of cuts,\u201d he went on. \u201cThe next round will face serious opposition. That\u2019s when you need uncommon courage.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unsolvable problems are always faced with that kind of bravery.<\/p>\n

The Emotional Intelligence Bucket<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you start implementing your radical solution, you need to find a way to navigate some tricky relational waters,\u201d he concluded. \u201cPeople are emotionally invested in their work. Keep your emotional wits about you at all times.\u201d<\/p>\n

The higher the stakes, the greater the need for emotional intelligence.<\/p>\n

So when you next need a solution for an unsolvable problem, start by looking closely at the kinds of solutions you\u2019re bringing to the table.<\/p>\n

If the problem is still overwhelming, it could be because you\u2019ve been looking in the wrong bucket.<\/p>\n

What other leadership buckets do you dip into?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Updated from January 12, 2015 post Having just returned from a four-week, 30,000 mile global leadership tour, I have blissfully (and perhaps naively) imagined waltzing back into the office problem-free. Of course, reality was far different. Immediately I’ve been faced with problems that require leadership solutions. And as I’ve begun tackling each one, I have…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,5,738,440,478,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4496","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-action","category-discipline2","category-effectiveness-2","category-failing","category-featured","category-leadership"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4496","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4496"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4496\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4500,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4496\/revisions\/4500"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}