Love The Person and Fix the Problem

Photo by L. Scott Force

How are you at fixing people?

I've discovered that I'm not very good at fixing people. Whether or not they are broken, there's not much that I can do to fix people.

But problems are very different. Problems are caused by things that can be changed. Problems are caused by what we've done, are doing, or have created. As Dean Gano points out, problems tend to be caused by either conditions or actions. Discovering what those conditions and/or are and changing them is not only easier than changing people -- it's the better way to solve the problem.

People are in the mix. People do the actions that might be causing the problem, or create the conditions that may have created the problem. But changing people usually fails and frustrates everyone concerned. Changing actions or conditions is the way to go.

It takes patience. People might not want to change anything at all, and may need to be convinced. But they don't need to be changed -- we only need to change what they do.

As they resist (and they will) or persist (in undesired behaviors) we'll need to be patient. We'll need to focus on the things that can and should be changed. And, we'll need to remind our expectations that people seldom get it right the first time. That doesn't make them bad -- it makes them human.

Our job is simple: love the person and fix the problem.

Are you willing?

-- Douglas Brent Smith

Front range Leadership: High Performance Leadership Training

doug smith training: how to achieve your goals

Comments

Leadership and Process Improvement

As a leader, how much attention do you give to improving processes? Do you watch your team install a process and then simply let it flow on and on -- or do you drive a constant focus to improve that process? Too often I've seen leaders spend their efforts trying to fix people , when the center of their problems is usually broken processes and procedures . Any process can be improved until it's no longer necessary. And then you can shut it down. It's work is done. So keep improving those processes. If you're still doing it, you can still improve it. -- Douglas Brent Smith http://frontrangeleadership.com

Perfect Relationships

Is your partner perfect? Are you? I've made enough mistakes in my life and in my relationships to know that the search for perfection is illusive at best and at worst, frustrating. There are no perfect people out there waiting for us, to fall in love with us, to fix us, to bring us what we need, to fulfill our dreams. But that's OK. In fact, that's wonderful. We don't need a perfect person in order to create love. Love creates the perfect person. -- Douglas Brent Smith

The Benefits of Supervisory Training

When was the last time you had any leadership training? How often do the supervisors in your organization get training? If you are like most organizations, it's never enough. Some teams go without any supervisory training at all and expect supervisors and managers to learn as they go, on the job. Unfortunately, while it is memorable to learn from your mistakes, it comes at a high cost. People get tired. People leave. Important accounts go away. Customers complain. And teams struggle without the skills and knowledge it takes to build cohesive teams that are capable of solving problems, improving performance and achieving goals. Admittedly, I can be expected to support training since I'm in the business. Still, take a closer look at your own leadership career and decide for yourself. Are leaders better off with more training and development or with less? Supervisory training can generate benefits that pay off long after the training is over. Here are just a few of the things sup...

Dear Home Office

Have you ever worked in the field with the responsibility of reporting to a home office? How did that feel? I've noticed that there are big distinctions between people working in the field, doing the work, selling the product, delivering the goods, facing the customers... and people in the home office who make the rules, collect the cash, drink free company coffee, and call in sick if they need a day off. When you work in the field you don't call in sick because then you don't get paid. At least not what you'd make by doing the work. So when someone from the home office wants to give you feedback, how does that feel? Maybe they have something to offer. Maybe they will give you tips that make a difference. Or maybe you might want to write them a note something like this... "Dear Home Office... Your advice sucks so please keep it to yourself. We know what works and what doesn't. We see our customers' faces. We feel their pain. We need new rules ...

No Hiding The Truth

What happens when someone tries to hide the truth? It pops up, unexpected, full-blown and often unforgiving. There is no hiding the truth. The truth always bubbles to the top. Pushing down what we regard as worth hiding, even when it's clearly true, simply delays the inevitable. The truth comes out, and then whoever attempted to hide it looks doubly suspicious and unreliable. Also, when we try to hide the truth we suddenly limit our possibilities. What can we say? What should we suppress? Where are we headed? Who can know and who cannot know? Did we tell the wrong person already? Maybe we should just keep quiet... Truth we try to hide becomes our tallest wall. It's a weight we carry around wondering when we can let it go. It's a wall that prevents us from seeing the beauty that belongs in all truth, even the truth that troubles us. What secret truth are you carrying around? Isn't it time to let that go? -- Douglas Brent Smith Front Range Leadership: ...

Centered Leaders Create Positive Change

Do you feel the need to make radical changes in your team? Are there deep flaws within your organization that you've just got to transform? It can be tempting to equate radical with rude. It can seem reasonable to bend rules to change them. Centered leaders know, and practice better habits for change. Maybe it takes longer. Maybe it involves more people. Certainly, it involves all the clarity, courage, creativity and compassion that a leader can invoke -- but centered leaders find ways to radically change things with dignity and respect. Revolutionaries need not be ill-mannered or violent. There are an infinite number of paths to positive change. How can you approach change more positively today? -- Douglas Brent Smith

Be Your Best You

I wrote an aphorism that I wanted to share, but have held back because it sounds a little edgy; it sounds a little presumptuous, maybe even conceited. That's not my intention. So in order to share it, let me first share this: it's up to each of us to be our best. Whatever anyone thinks about us, that does not define us. What defines us is what we see in ourselves and how we put that into action. How much clarity we bring to any issue, is completely up to us. How courageous we are under pressure is not up to anyone else but us. The degree of creativity we bring to the world depends on our daily practice and our willingness and discipline to develop that creativity. Our compassion can not be given to us -- we must make it, feel it, show it ourselves. It's true for you. It's true for me. Your best you is up to you. That keeps changing. That keeps growing. It's our lifetime project and adventure: perpetual improvement. Now here's that aphorism that...

Strategic and Communication Skills

Supervisors often bring strong technical skills to the job. When they have worked in technical jobs prior to becoming a supervisor, they were often the best at what they do. They know the ground level part of their business well enough to solve problems and deal with day to day issues. Leading is all that and more. High performance leadership requires attention to detail AND a constant view of the big picture: where is your team, your market, and your customer base headed? What does the future hold? Strong supervisors learn to add strategic and communication skills to their technical ability. What are you doing today to develop your sense of the big picture? -- Douglas Brent Smith

Does Ranking Team Member Performance Make Sense?

Do you rank employees? Does your organization use a system of listing employees from "top performers" to "bottom performers"? You may call them something else, but do you use that kind of system? When I worked at GE we were forced, as leaders, to force rank our employees. Everyone had to fit within 9 categories. We used whatever measures we could to arrive at something resembling a logical order. The problem is, how do you compare across job platforms? How do you compare the performance of a claims adjuster to recruiter? How do you compare a customer service rep to an underwriter? How do you know that you are measuring the right things? How do you know that your assessment is accurate and unbiased? How do you know that next year your company will need the same skills and goals as this year? If you hired correctly in the first place and have been doing your job as a team leader to develop a cohesive, high performance team that works colla...

Evolve To Something Better

Are you evolving? High performance leaders evolve. Sometimes you can see it in revolutionary changes - they suddenly go from maintaining the status quo to driving exceptional and innovative performance. Sometimes it's incremental - happening so slowly that it's almost imperceptible until one day you realize: wow, they have really accomplished some major goals. That takes growth. That takes change. That takes evolving. Our goal is not just to keep pace. Our goal is to evolve something greater. What are you evolving today? -- Doug Smith Front Range Leadership: High Performance Leadership Training doug smith training: how to achieve your goals

High Performance Leadership

Search This Blog