Technique #1: Why Times Five
When you think you’ve buried a problem, and it keeps returning, chances are you’ve solved the wrong problem. Departmental conflicts and interpersonal spats are rarely about the accusations and shortcomings being charged. To unearth the real causes, you have to dig deep. Use the “Why Times Five” technique to get to the bottom of it all. To use this technique, ask one of the parties to the problem to tell you what the issue is. Ask why. When they tell you, ask why again. Continue until you’ve gone down five levels. It looks something like this:
Example
Two departments have been blaming each other for the late delivery of a critical project. The fingers are pointing at Ted, a normally reliable project coordinator.
Why wasn’t the project done on time?
Because Ted was on a business trip.
Why was Ted’s not being here important?
Because we couldn’t finish the project without him.
Why couldn’t you finish the project without him?
Because he’s the only one who knows how the computer program works.
Why is he the only one?
Because none of the rest of us were sent for training.
Why is that?
Because we had to reduce our budget, so management cut our training.
When you apply Technique #1, you’ll be amazed at how much you’ll learn about your company’s operations.
Technique #2: Multiple Perspectives
It’s easy to assume your know the source of a problem, but the problem may not only originate in a place you didn’t consider, it may be a type of problem you haven’t considered. In the first example, the source of the problem was not only not Ted, it wasn’t even a personnel or workflow problem. It was a lack of training caused by a budget decision that was made without thinking through the consequences. Every problem should be examined from multiple perspectives: To use Technique #2, view the problem from several of these perspectives:
| Technological | Social/Interpersonal | Language barriers |
| Existential | Communications | Software incompatibility |
| Cultural | Values and ethics | Terminology differences |
| Accessibility | Accuracy of data | Hardware limitations |
| Time constraints | Psychological | Generational differences |
Technique #3: Conflicting Interests
Often, managers are puzzled when a previously good employee runs into trouble. When investigated further, you find that she is still a good employee who is just trying to do her job. But doing her job interferes with another good employee’s ability to do his job. The problem is structural, putting good people in needless competition for necessary resources, or pitting them against rules, processes or budgets that restrict their ability to carry out their tasks. In other cases, employees may have been asked to do jobs that are contrary to the company’s culture or value system, or to co-workers’ personal value systems. In either situation, the constraints need to be recognized and removed, or the task itself made more acceptable to employees.
To use Technique #3, ask employees what one thing could be added to or subtracted from their situation that would help make their jobs easier. Use this technique with Technique #1.
Technique #4: Look for Micro-managing
When an otherwise capable employee isn’t doing his job, look at how that employee is managed for possible clues to solving his performance problems. An over-controlling manager can kill initiative and willingness in an employee. Almost no one likes to be micro-managed, and the resentment from being micro-managed can manifest itself in apathy or even sabotage. Micro-management can also create employee drones who follow directions but are unable to contribute actively to building your company.
If you or your managers are micro-managing, training is the best option to resolve the problem, along with a mandate that managers must develop their employees’ talents, or else.
Technique #5: Look for Unclear Expectations
The opposite of micromanaging is under-communicating goals and expectations. A project gone awry, or an employee making a false step may be the result of too little direction. Look at how your company sets the parameters for employees, departments, or project activities. Boundaries such as ethics, values, budgets, minimum performance standards, and acceptable behavior tell employees what their limits are, while clear-cut expectations and well-defined deliverables point them in the right direction. If everybody has a good understanding of the desired results, and their role in achieving them, then fewer problems will occur.
Technique # 6: Stop Tolerating Bad Behavior
Ask yourself how your staff can possibly have enough time available for complaining, backbiting, and conducting a campaign against another person or department. Look closely at staffing levels and workloads. Pile on the projects. Get rid of the chronic complainers (your staff will thank you). Set a good example, and then move on.
