Overcome Problems

Once you start to implement the plan in the real world problems will crop up. Encourage team members to raise concerns, and use the discipline of problem-solving techniques to tackle difficulties as they arise.

Raise Concerns

Your primary aim is to identify problems early enough to prevent them becoming crises. It is far more difficult to take remedial action when a problem has become urgent. Although you may create extra work by examining some problems that do not actually arise, it is far better to err on the side of caution than to find that a problem has escalated into a crisis without your knowledge. With experience, the team will get better at judging when and whether to raise a concern.

Case Study: Pre-empting Problems

Tom, a team member in a construction project, heard from a supplier’s clerk that there was a chance that an important component, due in two months’ time, might be delivered late. He reported this to his project manager, Bernie, who raised the concern with the supplier’s managing director. The supplier told Bernie that he believed they still might make the planned delivery date and that Bernie’s would be the first project to get the component.

• By raising the concern at an early stage, Tom made sure that their project was the least likely to suffer if there were a delay.

• By realizing that there could, nevertheless, be a problem, Bernie was able to look at a contingency plan if the delivery were to be late.

Tip

Ask team members to suggest solutions to any problems they raise so that some problem-solving work has been done before you are involved.

Update the Plan

Once a concern has been raised and a team member has agreed to carry out problem-solving activities, record this. Make sure that the problem-solving process includes the briefing of the knowledge co-ordinator. Ask the co-ordinator to document ongoing problem-solving activities as “open items”. Assess all open items at your regular review meetings using a simple red, amber, and green classification. Recognize that major issues may require a significant change to the plan.

Every challenge you overcome in life will be a learning experience that will teach you to anticipate problems and how best to tackle them.

Use the Four Ps

A useful problem-solving technique is to home in on four areas – the Four Ps – to find out what is causing the difficulty. For example, if production is falling short of target, consider which of the following is the culprit:

• People – Do people have the right skills and support?

• Product – Is there something wrong in the design of the product or the production method?

• Process – Would an improvement in one of our business processes cure the problem?

• Procurement – Does it have something to do with the products and services that we buy?