Business problems are everywhere. Your company has difficulties that crop up almost on a daily business. You are not alone.
Every business, regardless of revue size and staffing numbers, has problems. Many of them seem impossible to for any mortal being solve. A few major long term difficulties have probably been lurking around your company's hallways and offices for as long as anyone can remember.
Many people look at the latest business problem as a roadblock to their plans. At best the obstacle is a brush fire to extinguish. At worst, the problem is a disaster of business destroying magnitude, ranking with some all powerful mythical beast of ancient legends. Simply throwing up ones hands in dispair and hoping the situation will rectify itself is often the usual course of action.
Every problem has many possible solutions. Some of them might surprise you with their tremendous results. Let's examine the concept of problems in a brand new way.
Problems are not all bad. In fact, they can be so good for your business, they could almost be considered gifts to you and your company. While the concept might be considered counter-intuitive, it's more along the lines of creating ideas that make the business stronger. Problems are opportunities. Keep in mind the cliche that the Chinese word for crisis and opportunity are the same. Out of every problem, even every dire crisis, a chance arises to create a solution that may be better than than what it replaced.
To begin your problem seeking, it must be recognized that every person is creative. Everyone can solve a problem, ranging from finding a different route to a destination to avoid some road construction, to devising a technique to enhance the company's sales numbers. It's all about understanding there is more than one to do a task. Often, the current operating procedure is not as efficient as you would like. If it were, there would be no problem there to solve.
Problems create opportunities for renewal and growth. Start by listing all of the accepted wisdoms of your company. You know what they are for your business better than anyone. List the various areas you would like to improve your personal and your company's overall performance. Those lists are probably longer than you would like to see, but they are necessary to create. Improvement requires examination. Things under the rug only get worse with time.
Try this for an idea. Picture the result you would like have for your business. You close your eyes and see new customers arriving, sales staff taking order after order, suppliers deliver your orders on time, and all accounts are paid in full. It's not some pipe dream. It's simply the end of a process. Condider the result the end of a movie. You are just past the opening credits of that movie, and simply need to fill in the rest of the scenes.
Your company already has some of the needed pictures in place for the smash box office hit you are about to create. The ideas in use at the moment are simply needing some reinforcement and adjustments. By getting the staff people involved in a free wheeling brainstorming session, new ideas will arise like spring flowers. Make certain that all ideas are considered without judgement. Let the inner child play, and keep the judges away.
There are no bad ideas. There are only incomplete ones. On a scale of one to ten, your current situation might be a five. All you have to do is develop concepts and procedures to get the idea over the final steps to success. The problem you were handed at the beginning of the day is now the first step in developing a solution that could transform your business. The potential of creative problem solving is unlimited.
Become a seeker of problems. They are precious gifts representing golden keys to your future business success.
