Four steps to solve potential problems

There are three types of problems, namely abnormal problems (fire-fighting type), discovery problems (improvement type), and predictive problems (potential type).

Among them, abnormal problems and improvement problems indicate that something has already happened, and I must solve it or hope to do it better or better, tending to avoid problems. The predictive question is to prepare for a rainy day, indicating that if it does not happen now, it may happen in the future, and how should we respond if it happens in the future.

I think managers should not be "fire captains" but should be good at solving potential problems. For example, our fire brigade spends 3% of its time fighting fires and 97% of its time training and preventing fires. , check various hidden dangers that may cause fire, and do the work in advance. Including our new hotels, hotels, office buildings, residences, kindergartens, KTVs, etc., they must be inspected by the fire department and can only be opened for business after passing the inspection.

In other words, the higher the management level, the more attention should be paid to forecasting issues.

So, how to solve the potential problems?

1

Find potential hidden dangers

The first is to find potential problems, which problems are likely to occur, even if they have not happened now. Just because there is no problem does not mean that there will be no problem. Therefore, managers should have a strong awareness of problems and nip them in the bud instead of waiting until it is too late to put out the fire after the problem occurs.

To detect hidden dangers, managers must understand what the workflow benchmarks are, including our established target plans, so that they can find gaps and problems. There are two types of reference standards, one is the established standard within our company, and the other is the company's external standard for benchmarking in the same industry or even across industries. "Benchmarking management" is now popular and is a good tool method. Through comparison, find your own problems and shortcomings, dig out the problem points, list them and present them, and then find a solution to the problem.

Pay special attention to problems in the process system and individualized problems that do not occur by chance. Learn to look at problems from the organizational level and process mechanism perspective.

2

Look for hypothetical causes

After potential problems are discovered, we should hypothesize why this problem occurs? Is it because we didn’t think about it in advance or because we have limited resources and energy? Or don’t have enough budget? Why hadn't this possibility been thought of before? Where did I miss it? Only by finding the corresponding hypothetical cause can we solve the problem at once and prevent the same error from happening again.

From 1998 to 2002, he planned, organized and hosted the Municipal Real Estate Fair for four consecutive years. For one consecutive week, more than 200 real estate, decoration and building materials companies participated in the exhibition, with hundreds of thousands of visitors. How to ensure that real estate transactions will have good effects from the economy to society without making mistakes. Grasp every detail from the early stage of planning, including theme positioning, booth planning, exhibitor recruitment and confirmation, on-site layout, publicity, opening ceremony, real estate project promotion, entertainment programs, etc., without any omissions. During this period, think about everything that can be considered, and then think about unpredictable uncertain factors and make plans. For example, if there are quarrels between merchants and customers on site, abnormal weather conditions in the booth tents, early coordination and communication with the media department of the Public Security Brigade of the Industrial and Commercial Bureau of the Urban Management Bureau, etc., only in this way can emergencies be avoided as much as possible.

3

Develop a plan

List all the problems we can imagine, formulate corresponding solutions one by one, take preventive measures, and be targeted Making preparations regularly and doing the work in advance will reduce the occurrence of temporary emergencies. When formulating the action plan, allow room for flexibility, set additional budgets, spare manpower and material resources, spare suppliers, etc., and appoint people, positions, responsibilities, and processes. If a problem occurs, immediately activate the emergency plan and solve it immediately. Moreover, plans should be plural, not one kind of plan. If the first plan doesn't work, start the second plan.

4

Set early warning indicators

After potential problems are identified, only by setting up an early warning indicator system for the plan can risks be effectively prevented and controlled. Every emergency situation should have an early warning indicator, a predetermined signal that tells you the emergency situation is in progress. Without these indicators, there is no guarantee that the impact of an accident will be eliminated.

An early warning indicator refers to the occurrence or non-occurrence of something at a predetermined time.

Good managers monitor plans consistently. For example, if raw materials do not arrive within a specified time, it may be necessary to rearrange workers from one production line to another.

In the daily management work, the middle and senior leaders of the enterprise should focus on improving and predicting problem solving, instead of being a "firefighting captain" and controlling all things that may happen, only in order to "win the odds." Above the temple, decisive victory and thousands of miles away" and achieved good results.

Dong Lixu: MTP, problem solving, performance improvement

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