What's The Problem?
Why surfacing problems matters more than solving them
We’ve all heard leaders say:
“Don’t come to me with problems, come to me with solutions!”
You may have even said some version of this yourself on occasion. I’m sure I have.
Being in constant problem-solving mode is exhausting. So who wouldn’t want team members who’ve already identified potential solutions to a problem they’ve found?
Here’s the thing, though—you can’t solve what you don’t know about.
What Are You Missing?
If you take the stance that all problems must be accompanied by solutions, I guarantee you’re not hearing about all the problems that exist.
Why? Because at least some of your team members, some of the time:
Don’t know how to solve the problem.
Need time to think about how to solve the problem (meanwhile, the problem persists).
Are junior-level employees or new to the organization and don’t know what solutions are possible.
Have ideas for how to solve the problem, but are afraid of what you’ll think of them (this might be an indication there isn’t psychological safety on your team).
Have ideas for how to solve the problem, but don’t know how to implement them (and thus, won’t voice them for fear that you’ll say “great, go do it”).
Just don’t care.
And if you’re not hearing about the problems, well … there’s no possible way for you to fix them.
Reframing Problem-Solving
Often the goals of an “all problems must have solutions” approach are to: 1/ ensure problems get solved, not just surfaced, and 2/ build your team members’ capacity to problem-solve.
Shifting your and your team’s thinking to an “all problems must be solved as quickly as possible” approach instead can accomplish these goals, and, creates a framework for thinking about problem-solving as a multi-level process:
Level 1: Identify and surface the problem as quickly as possible—because we can’t solve what we don’t know about.
Level 2: Conduct root cause analysis to determine the source of the problem.
Level 3: Provide a range of potential solutions for the team and/or manager to discuss.
Level 4: Propose a specific solution, with supporting justification and data, for the manager to approve.
Level 5: Identify the problem and the solution, fix it, and then let the team and manager know about the problem and the solution.
A Framework for Growth
With this approach in place, you now have a framework to both promote individual and team growth and assess your team’s performance:
How many problems are we identifying at which levels?
How long is it taking us to identify problems at each level? What mechanisms can we put into place to identify them sooner?
How long does it take to move from problem to final solution? To implement the solution?
Where are individual team members primarily landing in the framework and how do we help them move up in the model and grow their problem-solving skills?
It all begins with knowing that a problem exists. As Charles Kettering once said:
“A problem well-stated is a problem half-solved.”
So the next time someone brings you a problem without a solution, thank them. You might be surprised by how much your team already knows about the problems around them—they've just been waiting for permission to share them.
Bonus read: Identifying a problem is only as good as your ability to make a decision on how to solve it:
