Solving Problems in the Everyday Workplace

In an ideal world there wouldn’t be any problems, but many administrators live and work in the real or practical domain. In many settings and situations, things occur and solutions have to be found. It is really just part and parcel of the job. Not that anyone has to enjoy this responsibility, but you also can’t avoid it.

The only way to survive and to move forward is to develop both a mindset and a system to deal with problems. The following steps and suggestions should help.

• Initially, identify and define what the problem is, because you can’t successfully deal with it until you know the source, the parameters and how it occurred. What exactly is the problem? Some are more obvious than others, but make sure that you know exactly what occurred.

• Gather all of the pertinent facts, and it is extremely helpful to use the cues of who, what, when, where, why and how. Yes, the prompts are commonly used in journalism, and by providing the related answers this helps the reader to understand the content of the article, essay or chapter. In addition, these cues when related to the problem are also essential in order to come up with the best solution.

• Review incident reports from eyewitnesses, email messages, documents and all materials and sources that will provide the necessary valuable facts.

• Establish the two extreme solutions. Extreme? This would mean the two at either end of the spectrum that will probably never be suitable or used, but they set the parameters. Or to use an athletic analogy, they become your goalposts, and your ultimate solution will typically fall somewhere in between the uprights.

• The one extreme would be to totally eliminate the person, venue, equipment, process, or whatever caused the problem. On the other side, you totally ignore the cause of the incident or situation, and hope that it will go away. It should be obvious that both of these alternatives may not be a good logical answer.

• Reach out to colleagues and get ideas and possible solutions that they may have used or considered for complex issues or for similar problems. This should expand the range of possibilities, and the added advantage is that they may also have been highly successful.

• List all of the possible solutions, some of which may be highly creative and the result of out-of-the box thinking.

• Think through your most probable alternatives to analyze if they may create any ramifications or future additional problems – no reason to create more headaches if you can avoid them. Also consider if by selecting any particular solution, you may be creating a precedent for the future. Will this standard or practice ultimately be the best thing for your school or program?

• Sleep on your final choice if possible. This isn’t just a commonly uttered maxim; this step may also allow some much-needed clarity and time to ensure that you are making the best decision.

• Reconsider your decision if additional facts come to light that warrant a different approach. While this may be difficult or awkward, if you apologize, and explain why you are making this change, most people will understand and accept it. After all, everyone should want the best resolution or result possible.

While you want to be thorough, you also want and should come up with a definite solution within a reasonable timeframe – to be determined by the specific situation and your setting. Why? Because the next problem does not wait until you solve the first one, and as a result, you may have two or more on your plate at the same time. Excuse the play on words, now you have a real problem by having to deal with several at one time. Handle it properly, but expeditiously, and move on.