How to Build a Company of Problem Solvers
Train your people to bring Solutions not Problems
Over the years I have come to accept that human nature is to raise problems without suggesting a solution…..it seems it is not natural for people to provide a solution when identifying a problem. I thank my lucky stars each day that my parents are who they are and I was given the independence as a kid growing up to think for myself and hone my own problem solving skills.
Unfortunately, especially in the landscape industry, many of your staff will not have the natural tendency to resolve the problems they identify on their own. It is up to you to create the culture that will not allow people to identify problems without solutions. You cannot allow moaning and groaning about problems, when people complain you need to reply with “what would you like me to do about it?” or better yet “how would you suggest we change things?”. This is what I refer to as a power question. You have the power, and you are clearly transferring it to them and teaching them that in your operation they need to be a problem solver. If you try to fix every problem – the moaning will only persist, and worsen with time. People can always find a problem, its up to you as the business owner to harness the problem identification (often moaning) into a continuous improvement cycle that encourages people in your company to become empowered problem solvers.
I recently had an employee come to me and tell me that he often feels that he is not clear enough on the upcoming workload for his team. He is second in command on this landscape construction crew he works on. I asked him what he meant and I asked for details. His reply was something like..
“(the Supervisor) is not letting me in on the overall plan for the week and the upcoming weeks. I feel like I am not contributing as much as I can because I don’t have all of the information.”
Seems simple, but it is very complicated in my landscape contracting company and I am sure it is in many others. I asked further for an example. He provided me with a few. It became clear to me that the information that he was missing was likely in many cases information that even the Supervisor did not have based on a number of variables. He was frustrated because he thought the Supervisor was not communicating all of the information clearly – I think this was partially true. I spent close to an hour on a chalk board in our planning room explaining how the project variables impact the capability of the project supervisor to clearly schedule every detail more than a few days at a time (this is a 12 week project) because of weather, other building trades, material management, site logistics and client and consultant input. I explained that a major part of the management role in the landscape construction field is to constantly seek information and adapt plans to complete the work as efficiently and safely as possible.
I think he understood, and I cannot say for sure that the answer I provided is what he hoped to hear. My final question to him was – “Does this make sense?” He said he understood, and he expanded by saying he thinks he needs to ask more questions and identify the project needs sooner and consider the variables more. I think he has solved his own problem. My point is that sometimes you need to help less experienced people find the answers they are looking for on more complicated issues like this.
A more simple example – we had a shortage of parking space in our yard for staff parking in the morning. One of the employees came to me saying that he could not find a spot. I went and had a look. Our lot is gravel, so there are not any lines painted to keep people parked tight. I asked him what the solution was. He responded immediately – the cars are parked to far apart and we are wasting a lot of room. I replied -
“What are you going to do about it?”
He looked a little puzzled at first, so I repeated myself by asking if he had an idea of what he could do tomorrow morning to fix this problem. He instantly responded – I will come in early and make sure everybody backs into their parking spaces and that the cars are closer together so that there is room for everybody. A good start in my mind but not a solution, I asked – then what? Again puzzled he said I guess I can do that more often. I replied – wouldn’t that be a waste of your time? He agreed. I helped him by suggesting he leave a note on the cars that are not backing in, or are parking too far apart in the future. Now it is his job – not mine! He didn’t have all the experience needed to fully solve the problem so I helped but I ensured the responsibility was left to him, and before parting ways I let him know that I appreciated his interest, and that I would know be holding him accountable for the parking and that the added responsibility was a step forward for him.
Make sure that in your efforts to teach and force people to become problem solvers that you don’t forget to coach and help. Sometimes people don’t have the experience to completely solve a problem, in this case help, but don’t do it for them. In all cases empower your staff to implement improvements and solve problems. Make sure everybody in your company knows that it is better to be wrong once in a while than to sit on your hands or complain aimlessly.
Mark Bradley is the founder and president of TBG Landscape (www.tbglandscape.com), a full service landscape contracting firm from Toronto, ON. Mark has grown his business from grassroots startup to annual sales of over $17 million while designing and installing Ontario’s most prestigious residential design build projects. More recently, Mark has opened up his business and exposed the systems that grew his company by founding the Landscape Management Network, (www.landscapemanagementnetwork.com) an online collection of tools, software, and education to help landscape contractors improve the way they see and manage their businesses.
