{"id":6824,"date":"2020-04-13T20:26:36","date_gmt":"2020-04-14T01:26:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.scottcochrane.com\/?p=6824"},"modified":"2020-04-13T20:26:36","modified_gmt":"2020-04-14T01:26:36","slug":"how-leaders-solve-the-biggest-problem-solving-problems-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/2020\/04\/13\/how-leaders-solve-the-biggest-problem-solving-problems-2\/","title":{"rendered":"How Leaders Solve the Biggest Problem-Solving Problems"},"content":{"rendered":"

Since the start of this turbulent season, you have likely been confronted by more problems than you have ever encountered.<\/strong><\/p>\n

And because problem-solving is in your leadership “DNA”, you have likely stepped up and attempted to take on each and every problem that this challenging season has been able to throw at you.<\/strong><\/p>\n

So why is it that some of your recent attempts at problem-solving have felt like you\u2019re just butting your head into a brick wall?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

In some cases it\u2019s been because you shouldn’t have been trying to solve that problem in the first place. The most effective leaders I know have a much higher problem-solving batting average because they start by processing the problem through these 3 clarifying questions:<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. Is this a problem to be solved, or a tension to be managed?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Before you decide to tackle whatever crisis has landed on your desk, first discern if indeed you really can solve it. It could be a tension that must be managed.<\/p>\n

Andy Stanley has pointed out\u00a0that not every difficult situation that lands on your desk is a problem you will ever be able to solve. Some of these situations are tensions you must learn to manage.<\/p>\n

2. Is this my problem?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Once you\u2019ve determined that the latest crisis really is a problem, and not a tension to be managed, next figure out if it really is your problem.<\/p>\n

In his book, The Contrarian’s Guide to Leadership, <\/em>one time University of Southern California\u00a0president Steven Sample addressed\u00a0how he responds when a problem is presented to him.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first thing I do,\u201d Sample wrote, \u201cis to figure out if this is really my problem.\u201d<\/p>\n

You might be tackling a problem that really doesn\u2019t belong to you.<\/p>\n

3. Just how big is this problem?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

As I outlined in an earlier post,<\/a>\u00a0one of the first jobs of leadership is to determine the appropriate scale of the problem that has just landed. \u201cIs this a big deal? A little deal? Somewhere in between?\u201d<\/p>\n

Always figure out just what the scale and scope of this problem really is. And put the appropriate energy and resources towards it.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the point.\u00a0In today’s tumultuous season, new and sometimes profound problems will land on your plate. The cumulative effect can be overwhelming.<\/p>\n

So before you ask, “How do I solve this problem?” be sure your first question is, “Should I be solving this problem?”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Since the start of this turbulent season, you have likely been confronted by more problems than you have ever encountered. And because problem-solving is in your leadership “DNA”, you have likely stepped up and attempted to take on each and every problem that this challenging season has been able to throw at you. So why…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":6825,"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":[738,7,1020],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6824","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-effectiveness-2","category-leadership","category-problems"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6824","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=6824"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6824\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6827,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6824\/revisions\/6827"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6825"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6824"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6824"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6824"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}