GregRichBlog.com

This article is dedicated to the president-to-be of the BME Management Association of Students (MSZK).

It might sound immodestly to present myself as a leader, even so presenting an article with title “solving problems as a leader”. This thought might emerge from two facts. First, I am only 24 years old. Second, I have been in leadership position for just a year in MSZK and in strategy director position in Rich World Real Estate (family business), which is not the position of CEO, as important as it might be. The rightfulness of such thoughts is unquestionable, therefore.

However, when I asked the president-to-be what I should write about in my blog, what would help her the most in her forthcoming presidency she said after a short while: how to solve problems. No, I do not think that I would be a great expert on this issue, but sure enough this skill is amongst my strength and in this article I am bound to explore why and how could I be successful in solving problems. This article is not intended to be a perfect piece, it is rather a loosely structured brainstorming on the issue.

To my mind, the very first thing to do is to identify the problems. Problems are self-evident for those only, who are fully aware of the aim, the values, the mission, the vision and the strategy of the organisation. The next step is to “fully live by” those aims, values, vision, strategic issues. The leader should understand themselves deeply, their attitude and their values, so that the contradictions — if there are any — are minimalised between the organisation and the leader. So, there is the mixture, which has to be a well-founded basis. I hope, that it is easy to notice that I deem problems to be relative on many occasions.

Now, we have reached the position of seeing many problems of different nature. I will not go into details regarding my view on how the problems should be classified, but rather I will focus on one very important thing. The emotion-based problems are different from other problems. Stating the obvious? I do not think so. The first thing we should do in my opinion is to check unceasingly whether the problem in question is emotion-based or not. If it is based on deep emotions, then a different approach is necessary to be applied. Understanding the motivational principles behind people’s acts is of great difficulty. One must pay undivided attention to one’s problems. For that the leader needs to have a reputation for being highly aware of the abilities and needs of the people.

As in the case of many things in leadership, especially time-management, the order of solving problems depends on the creation of priorities. Priorities should be created on the basis of the effect of solving a problem. A leader should not overwhelm themselves with tiny problems, because their value is in dealing with the particularly important problems. This should always be kept in mind. Why have you been chosen to be the leader of the organisation? The answer should be: because you are able to solve complex, very important situations and you are the best to do it, or you are among the best.

Gather ample relevant information if it is possible. How much? It is the function of importance and time available. Every problem is different from another, it takes practise to estimate the amount of information that you need. It is crucial to mention “relevance” in this context: focusing on the relevance of the information can save you a lot of time. As a rule of thumb, ask the experts first, but as a zero point on your to-do-list: use your brains beforehand, try to solve the puzzle. If it is a person-related emotional problem and there is a “high relevance” — do it yourself, solve it immediately. It is much easier to keep people motivated when the people see that they are cared about.

Always define the problem. Is it really the problem you are dealing with? Or it is just a symptom of a problem. It is of great importance to be able to distinguish between the two. “Houston, we have got a problem” “Okay, what is the problem exactly?”. It helps to ask some “why”-s (as many as possible), and try to localise the problem accordingly. At the first “don’t know” the interesting things emerge.

Solving problems can be done by means of brainstorming if no solution emerges at first. I have read about other techniques that concentrate on creativity, out of which I deem the “six thinking hats” (also known by “de Bono hats” after Edward de Bono) to be particularly helpful. However, optimisation of time and effort is required according to the priorities set beforehand. Many solutions emerge, but choosing between them requires good rational thinking and well-founded way of thinking, firm values as well as beliefs based on the good-old principle of being aware of the aim of the organisation as well as being aware of themselves as a single human being. More words would be an excessive repetition.

A last piece of advice. A leader has to solve those kind of problems that are hard to decide upon. Many times, the interest of an organisation implies making hard decisions. It would be “very easy” to be a populist leader — in the long run, however, this populist leader fail. If decisions are made on a well-predicted basis, (provided by the leader’s well-founded values and aims mixed with the well-founded values and aims of the organisation) hard decisions are well understood by the other members of the organisation, because they will feel that they are equally and well-foundedly treated the same way. As a positive side-effect, the leader will be acknowledged for the decisions that they make and acknowledgement is an invaluable asset in leadership.

To sum it up, a leader should have an internally consistent system of beliefs and values on which they can put their trust. In addition, it is important to identify the problem, whether it is emotional-based or not. Then, the leader should be able to prioritise in order to maximise their efficiency. Problems should always be well-defined and if needed, creative tools might be used such as brainstorming and six thinking hats. The leader is a leader because they can reach the organisations’ goals better than others by taking into account the people is as well. Difficulties emerge, but the consistent system helps the leader to gain acknowledgement and respect.