by Nick Jacobs

As a leader, your days are filled with problem solving tasks. Every day your cohorts present you with their problems, and they look to you for the solutions. There have been numerous books about management that teach us to deflect those invitations to suffer with them by refusing to accept their monkeys on your back. The 4-Hour Work Week, by, Timothy Ferriss, boldly proclaims, “Escape 9-5, live anywhere, and join the new rich.” The book tells you how Tim went from $40,000 a year and 80 hrs. per week to $40,000 per month and 4 hours per week. He suggests that you find out which customers generate the most money for your company and only recruit customers like that. Easy enough. Then he suggests that you should find out which customers waste most of your time and get rid of them, however, you know for sure that Tim's not talking about hospital administration.

Having spent several college summers on the railroad in the yard master's office, it became obvious to me that the problem solving techniques established by that particular industry were primarily directed toward triage. The proposition went something like this: listen very carefully in an engaging and somewhat sympathetic manner, when possible take whatever steps necessary to help move or remove barriers that had become the road blocks to the resolution of the problem being presented, and encourage the presenter to continue to move forward to solve the problem by triaging it to the appropriate levels within the organization. When this method doesn't work, it reminds me of a picture in my office of fifteen well dressed professionals pointing at each other. It should have been entitled, "Spread the Blame."

Actually, as an act of impatience, frustration or simply boredom, I often times come up with the solution on my own, immediate, timely and definitive, and most often in a vacuum. Usually when a unilateral decision comes from me, the response is phenomenal. It starts out with a smile and a nod of agreement from the visiting party, a commitment to move forward and a sincere thank-you. Then the push back begins. Clearly, in this type of decision making situation, there is a lack of endorsement and the outward resistance intensifies like a tropical storm, ensuring damage or at the very least failure.

On the other hand, when the problem is triaged back to those presenting it in a constructive manner that offers support but not a complete solution, the results are phenomenal as well. It's about a combination of empowerment and encouragement that directs them toward embracing the scientific method. We talk through the observation phase, help them in the creation of potential hypothesis that is consistent with what has been observed, try to make predictions from that hypothesis, encourage them to modify it in the light of their results, and finally, remind them to repeat steps three and four until there are no discrepancies between theory and end result.

The amazing thing about even this method is that, if we apply it very purely, we will probably fail miserably because, for the most part, we are working with moving targets that are enveloped in emotions, politics, unpredictable outcomes and yet to be defined options, but, having said that, it is the basic premise for engaging our personal hard drives in a way that will move/triage the problem forward toward solution.

Bottom line? As I re-read this post, it is obvious at least to me that I have no real answer, no definitive solution, no optimal choice, but that some order, some persistence, some method is better than just forcing your solutions down everyone's throat, and it will help to keep at least a few more monkeys off your back.