When I first started telling people about the idea for this blog, I was welcoming topics about which I could write. I would ask people about what they loved about their jobs, what frustrated them at work, and what they wish they could tell their manager or their staff. I actually had 2 different people suggest the same topic. They both asked me to write about how a manager should respond to an employee’s critique of something or report of a problem. One of them wanted me to write about how every employee should come with suggestions of how to solve the problems about which they are reporting. She felt that such a practice fosters proactivity and critical thinking among her team. The other person wanted me to write about how managers should own the problems that their employees’ present, and not put the onus on the employee who identified the problem to also identify the solution.
I’ve slept on this one for a while. I see both sides to this issue. I can also see most managers identifying with the first person, and most people who are not in management identifying with the second. However, I believe that there is a radical space where both of these opinions are honored and the employee/manager relationship remains intact.
As a manager, and someone who reports to another manager, I both receive reports about problems from my team, and I report problems to my boss. I believe that problem solving skills are exceptionally important. Therefore, when I recognize something that needs fixing and prepare to inform my boss, I also consider a few ways that we could address the problem. I do this partly because my nature is to problem solve, and partly because I prioritize toning that problem solving muscle. As a manager, I also work to develop that muscle in my staff. I see problem solving as a transferrable skill that can be applied in any field. Therefore, I tend to ask for suggestions when a staff member presents a problem. I find it both informative because I can assess her problem solving skills, and more importantly, she may have a solution that is more appropriate than any of which I could have thought. I’m curious about her solutions because she is closer to the problem. She’ll often see gaps in processes that, from my seat, I can’t see.
However, in coaching my team to tone their problem solving muscles, my intention is to develop them, not to pawn off my work on them. As a manager, I am often problem solving about how I can remove obstacles for my team. In the end, my job is to implement solutions to their problems. Getting their ideas about how to make something better, for me, is less about having them do my problem solving work, as it is about getting the best possible solutions on the table.
If you’re a manager, there is a fine balance to strike in eliciting possible solutions from employees, and making them do the problem solving part of your job. If they don’t have any ideas, that’s okay. However, if they do have ideas, your best solutions probably come from there. Likewise, as an employee, being asked for possible solutions, or how you would address a problem, is an important way for a manager to bring you into the problem solving lab. After all, if your manager doesn’t ask you how you might approach something, she may believe that only she can come up with the best solutions. So much ego.
So, it’s a balance. It’s about the intention in which a manager brings an employee into the discussion, and it’s about the openness in which an employee steps into that discussion. What do you think about this approach to toning your problem solving muscle? Tell us in the comments below.