{"id":3170,"date":"2012-07-23T18:11:00","date_gmt":"2012-07-23T18:11:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/2012\/07\/23\/bring-solutions-not-problems-is-incomplete\/"},"modified":"2021-07-06T08:24:38","modified_gmt":"2021-07-06T12:24:38","slug":"bring-solutions-not-problems-is-incomplete","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/blog\/bring-solutions-not-problems-is-incomplete\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;Bring Solutions, Not Problems&#8221; Is Incomplete"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"clear: both;text-align: center\"><\/div>\n<p>The business world is full of axioms \u2013 phrases or expressions recognized by their repeated utterances.\u00a0 They become so common that business people accept them as law or, at the very least, don\u2019t scrutinize them for improvement opportunities.<\/p>\n<p>Don\u2019t miss updates on Procurement &amp; Supply Chain, Subscribe here!<\/p>\n<p>One such axiom is \u201cbring solutions, not problems.\u201d\u00a0 This axiom is designed to prevent employees from simply dumping problems on their managers and leaving those problems for managers to figure out.<\/p>\n<p>Managers rightly expect their employees to not just identify problems, but to have the initiative to figure out how to solve those problems.\u00a0 Perhaps the employee may need some managerial assistance or resources or approval but, still, the employee should have the intellect to think through the issue and come up with a proposed solution, set of options, or some recommendations instead of just dumping the problem like a pile of trash on the manager\u2019s desk.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s all great, right?<\/p>\n<p>Sure.<\/p>\n<p>However, \u201cbring solutions, not problems\u201d is incomplete.\u00a0 Let me elaborate\u2026<\/p>\n<p>The constantly changing nature of business \u2013 especially in procurement situations \u2013 means that not every problem should be an immediate priority.\u00a0 Not every opportunity for improvement should be seized right now, bumping other opportunities aside.<\/p>\n<p>So, even if an employee brings solutions instead of problems, that doesn\u2019t mean that the manager is going to (or should) let the employee loose to implement those solutions.\u00a0 One of the major challenges for managers today is the ubiquitous \u201ccompeting priorities.\u201d\u00a0 Sometimes, the last thing a manager needs is yet another priority to compete for the limited resources of his or her staff.<\/p>\n<p>So, yes, bring solutions.\u00a0 But also bring the cost, risk, and\/or urgency of the problem.<\/p>\n<p>How much is the problem costing the company?\u00a0 Or how much time is the problem wasting?\u00a0 Or what risks does the problem pose?\u00a0 Or why would waiting to solve the problem be a bad idea?<\/p>\n<p>Managers have the delicate job of juggling multiple tasks with a fixed number of resources.\u00a0 Adding one more task isn\u2019t going to help the manager complete the tasks already in progress.<\/p>\n<p>So, to accept more work for his\/her team, the manager needs to know that it is worth spreading the resources a little thinner.\u00a0 Without knowing the cost, risk, and\/or urgency of the problem, the manager cannot make an informed decision regarding whether the solution should be implemented and, if it should, when.<\/p>\n<p>So even though \u201cbring solutions, including the cost, risk, and or urgency of the problem, not just the problem\u201d probably is too wordy of a phrase to become a popular axiom, it certainly is a practice that should be a part of the way every procurement department tackles emerging challenges.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The business world is full of axioms \u2013 phrases or [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":4034,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3170","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-procurement"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v19.4 (Yoast SEO v19.13) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>&quot;Bring Solutions, Not Problems&quot; 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