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Senior Correspondent

12 Steps That Will Make Anything Better

12 Steps That Will Make Anything Better

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Babies cry. Big boys and girls work to make things better.

The essential ingredient of any real problem is the definition of better.

“A problem only exists if there is a difference between what is actually happening and what you desire to be happening.” Ken Blanchard and Spencer Johnson, “The New One Minute Manager.”

Babies:

Dissatisfaction without offering a solution is whining, “Why won’t someone make my world better for me.” Boohoo!

Maybe you should keep a pacifier in your desk?

If you don’t mind getting in someone’s face, you could say, “I’ll work with you. But, I won’t treat you like a baby.”

I’ll work with you, but I won’t solve it for you.

Confront reality:

The need to solve people’s problems for them suggests immature leadership.

Leaders who solves people’s problems for them create helpless followers.

Some solutions require authority to change things, for example. Why are you clinging to authority?

 Needy leaders need needy followers.

12 steps that make anything better:

1. Describe what you don’t like.

  • Poor results.
  • Strained relationships.
  • Wasted resources.

2. Determine if it’s worth addressing.
3. Describe behaviors that produce what you don’t like.
4. Describe solutions.

  • What do you want?
  • What does better look like?
  • How can we make progress?
  • What behaviors will make this better?

5. Describe behaviors that produce desired results?
6. Choose the top one or two behaviors that you believe will make things better.
7. Role play the top behaviors.
8. Agree to engage in the behaviors that make things better.
9. Meet next week to evaluate. “How did we making things better?”
10. Celebrate small wins.
11. Ask, “What are we learning?”
12. Ask, “What will we try next week?”

A problem is just something to whine about, until there’s a solution.

 

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