Leaders who can't solve problems are not good leaders! 4 ways to improve your workplace thinking skills
After becoming a leader, what is the biggest discomfort? That is, all the problems in the team are piled up to you, and you become the problem solver.
When you are an ordinary employee, if you encounter problems that cannot be solved, you can ask the team leader and department manager for help.
But when you become a leader, what should you do when your subordinates summarize their problems to you and you can't solve them? Are all the problems packaged and reported to your superiors? If you do, then you're not that far from being demoted.
Leaders who can't solve problems are not good leaders! 4 ways to improve your workplace thinking skills
Becoming a manager means that the burden on your shoulders is heavier, not only to solve problems for your subordinates, but also to worry about your superiors. Therefore, in business management, a leader who cannot solve problems is not a good leader, and the ability to solve problems becomes a necessary ability for a good manager.
The solution to all problems is rooted in human thinking. Many times, we will unconsciously fall into a fixed mindset, thinking too one-sided, unable to comprehensively think about problems and solve problems, resulting in failure.
So, is there any way that we can discover our own thinking loopholes, improve our thinking ability, and solve problems accurately and efficiently? Today, we will enter the third lecture of the theme of "Managers Make Good Use of Tools and Improve Efficiency". From the perspective of thinking tools, we will introduce 4 thinking tools for efficient problem solving, so that managers can have more leadership.
- Brainstorming: use quantity to drive quality, use ideas to inspire ideas
Almost everyone in the workplace has heard the term "brainstorming." Brainstorming is a well-known collective training method for creativity, allowing a group of people to generate new ideas around a specific area of interest.
The basic idea of brainstorming is: to get good ideas, you must first get a lot of ideas; to get a lot of ideas, you must rely on ideas to inspire ideas. It is this storm-like chemical reaction between individual brains that brings about the possibility that "1+1 is far greater than 2".
Leaders who can't solve problems are not good leaders! 4 ways to improve your workplace thinking skills
Although the brainstorming method is very famous, there are many people who do not like or even reject this way of thinking, thinking that this way of thinking is "formal", "wasting time" and "ineffective"...
Why is this happening? Thinking back to the failed brainstorming scene, everyone diverged their thinking around a problem, and when a person expressed his or her own point of view, many people immediately came up to refute it. On the one hand, it is easy to discourage the speakers and follow-up speakers, and on the other hand, the goal of the meeting is diverted and the problem cannot be solved. In this atmosphere, any discussion will end without success, and there will be no good solution.
Anyone who thinks that brainstorming is more effective, strictly follow the four principles of brainstorming: free thinking, delayed judgment, quality by quantity, and combined improvement. Because brainstorming is not a group of people talking, but using a rigorous process, using quantity to drive quality, using ideas to inspire ideas, and generating innovations that a group of people cannot produce alone.
Some time ago, our company wanted a new product. One of the core questions was, how to collect the performance information of store members? In this regard, a brainstorming meeting was held for all members, hoping to solve this problem with the help of everyone's diversified ideas. Publish the issues to be solved a few days in advance, so that all participating members can think in advance; at the beginning of the meeting, each person distributes post-it notes, and then writes enough ideas or ideas as required; then summarizes everyone's ideas and ideas and makes them public After discussion, screening, synthesis and improvement, a high-quality solution may finally be obtained.
Leaders who can't solve problems are not good leaders! 4 ways to improve your workplace thinking skills
The process of brainstorming may vary from team to team, but there are four principles that must be followed in order to be effective throughout the process.
①Free thinking: The background of participating members is as diverse as possible. Regardless of whether you have a relevant background, you can give full play to your imagination and express your opinions.
②Delayed judgment: Do not make any comments on the opinions of all members, whether it is correct or not, whether it can be realized or not, directly write it on the post-it note, do not let others see or hear, avoid immediate judgment, and discourage people’s enthusiasm .
③ Seek quality by quantity: Everyone must think independently, no communication is allowed, and then at least 3 different viewpoints must be submitted to ensure the number of ideas, in order to have qualitative changes.
④Combined improvement: Collect everyone's opinions, summarize and list them one by one. Because of independent thinking, it is inevitable that there will be the same point of view. All ideas and opinions are counted, and then the feasibility is discussed and improved. Finally came to a conclusion.
- Mind maps: not only can record knowledge, but also help us think and create
When it comes to mind mapping, the first impression that pops up in everyone's mind is to take notes, which can sort out a seemingly logical framework and tall graphics. At present, there are many kinds of mind mapping software, and there are hundreds of millions of users, but most of them use it as a note-taking tool.
I have a friend who is a mind map expert. Every time I read a book and take a class, I use mind maps to sort out the relevant knowledge system, which is very fulfilling.
Leaders who can't solve problems are not good leaders! 4 ways to improve your workplace thinking skills
Later, when we discussed a certain knowledge point, he said that he had studied that course and made a mind map. At that time, he had a very deep understanding, but he couldn't remember it for a long time. So, he opened the notebook excitedly, found the mind map of the knowledge point he had done, and then looked at me with a puzzled expression, because he couldn't remember anything when he looked at those short characters and frames. Still have to re-read the course content at that time.
In fact, the mind map itself is a thinking tool. It was invented by Tony Buzan. He believes that human thinking is not linear, not tabular, but radioactive. In order to give full play to your creativity, start with the goal, and develop your ideas gradually, independently and comprehensively.
The greatest value of mind maps is to help us think and create, not to record information. Write our goal in the middle, and then diverge, associate, and adjust step by step. It is the free movement of nodes that is creation and the real essence of mind mapping.
There are many text workers who especially like to use the related tool list of mind maps. First, the core topics of the article are listed, and then the relevant keywords or content that can be thought of are written on it, and then all the written out The content is related, sorted and summarized, and finally the content is adjusted according to the logic, and a content outline with a strong sense of logic will appear.
Leaders who can't solve problems are not good leaders! 4 ways to improve your workplace thinking skills
When we encounter problems at work, we can also follow this process to think and solve problems. First, let our thinking diverge around the goal step by step, then associate and adjust, and finally get a solution.
- 5W2H method: make your thinking process and step-by-step, and make your thinking more careful
Through the elaboration of the first two thinking tools, we will find one thing in common: let us think step by step and process, which is also the characteristic of all thinking tools. Only in this case can we think more Meticulously find the problem, so as to transform and innovate.
The 5W2H method is a very effective thinking tool, also known as the "seven-he analysis method". It is the seven most common questions in English: Why (why), What (what), Where (where), When Abbreviations for when (when), Who (by whom), How (how to do it), and How Much (how much).
Before we think about and solve any goal, we need to ask these seven questions together, which can help us make up for the omissions of thinking about the problem.
Leaders who can't solve problems are not good leaders! 4 ways to improve your workplace thinking skills
The core of the 5W2H method is the process and step-by-step thinking, and the application scenarios are to find problems, change and innovate, and assign tasks. Even if you are not talented enough, but follow this process step by step, you can become a qualified manager or problem solver.
For example, the company has not carried out the training of new employees very well recently. How to improve it? Then you can find problems, innovate and assign tasks according to the 5W2H method.
① find the problem
What: The orientation training for new employees is not well done, and the turnover rate is high.
Where: When training is conducted in workplace conference rooms, there are usually conflicts in the use of conference rooms, and it is difficult to ensure that the training is carried out normally.
When: This situation has been happening since November 2018 and has not been resolved yet.
Who: The training department is responsible for the work, and the managers of each department participate in the training and teaching.
How Much: New employee orientation is held monthly.
Why: It is difficult to guarantee training venues; trainers, namely managers of various departments, often do not have time to teach; the frequency of organizing newcomer training once a month is too low.
②Change and innovation
Focusing on the seven questions just raised, it will be carried out layer by layer, and continue to go deeper into the four levels to find opportunities for innovation.
For example: why do newcomers training?
The first level of in-depth: why do newcomers training? To let new people better understand the company and the team, reduce the turnover rate.
The second level of in-depth: Why do newcomers need to understand the company? Because employees want to build an emotional connection to the company.
The third layer goes deep: Is the only way to build an emotional connection is training? You can try "the old with the new" and the "mentor-apprentice system".
The fourth layer is in-depth: Will the "old and new" and "mentoring system" increase the burden on the old employees? Some incentives can be given to older employees.
③ Assign tasks
Who: Person in charge of personnel department and training department;
What: formulate a specific "old with new" plan and its incentive mechanism;
When: The plan will be reported at the weekly meeting this Friday.
Through the systematic thinking and analysis of the 5W2H method, we can come up with a specific solution, and then decompose it into tasks and assign them.
- Two-dimensional and four-quadrant: Get out of the “either or other” thinking limitation, and look at problems from the perspective of the unity of opposites
When we talked about time management before, we talked about the "two-dimensional four-quadrant method", which divided things into four quadrants: urgent and important, urgent and not important, important and not urgent, and not important and not urgent.
The two-dimensional four-quadrant method is not only a good tool for us to manage time, but also a good tool for us to think about problems. It can free our thinking from the dichotomy of "either or that" and use the attributes of two opposites as the basis. , draw a four-quadrant diagram, discuss the situation separately, and make thinking more complete and dialectical.
When we come out of the dichotomy of "either or that" and look at the world from the perspective of the unity of opposites, we will find that our thinking will become wider and wider, and there will be more and more methods.
How to do it? We only need to find two key factors that are strongly related to this goal according to a certain goal, and assign them to the horizontal and vertical axes. The situation is clear at a glance and the positioning is accurate. If two factors are not enough, you can assign other factors A few more rounds can clear up the status quo.
Leaders who can't solve problems are not good leaders! 4 ways to improve your workplace thinking skills
For example, in the famous "Ali Tiejun" recently, Ali uses the "two-dimensional four-quadrant method" in employee training. Values and performance are two key factors that are strongly related to the goal of employee training, and then assign these two factors to On the horizontal and vertical axes, there are 4 types of employees:
① Employees with incorrect values and strong performance are pheasant-type employees, and they must carry out firm value and ideological guidance;
② Employees with incorrect values and poor performance are rookie-type employees and will be dismissed directly;
③ Employees with correct values and poor performance belong to potential employees, and all kinds of training, help and support are given;
④ Employees with correct values and strong performance are star employees and are Ali's future.
Finally, we will find that through the "two-dimensional four-quadrant method", it is actually a very clever solution to the problem of whether employees are more important in terms of ability or loyalty.