Please enjoy this guest post from Michael Cardus of Create Learning.

When solving problems with machines, the focus is on the problem with a process structure that looks like this:

1. Defining the problem.
2. Generating alternatives.
3. Evaluating and selecting alternatives.
4. Implementing solutions.

It is effective with machines because determining the problem is identifiable and either a part can be replaced, more resources added or an adjustment can fix the problem. Effectiveness is increased and the problem is solved.

The challenge comes when working with people systems like leadership, management, performance, planning, communication of clear and distinct tasks and objectives, collaboration. These are human areas and the problem is not as identifiable as in a machine.

When examining the human system, the part cannot be removed and repaired, and the decisions become more complex. Complexity increases because human systems are interactive and what you see as the effect is not always the cause.

Solutions finding is the necessity of every manager in adding value to people to increase their ability to make decisions and solve problems. Work is making decisions and solving problems; this is what you are paid for.

Here is a better solution finding method for human systems:

1. Setting the ground work – determining what is going on and asking questions about facts and evidence of the problem.
2. Determining Goals – What is the solution of this problem, if the problem ceases to exist what will you be doing more of? What are we trying to achieve by finding solutions?
3. Problem statement – what is going on? What is the problem exactly, with evidence plus clear and distinct examples.
4. Solutions Example – determining what and how things will be different when the solution happens. What is the person doing more of, focusing on, developing, sharing, etc…?
5. Scaling the solution – where are we right in reference to the solution, what has worked so far? What is keeping the solution alive? Examples the more realistic the better.
6. Future of the solution – if things were just a little better what would be happening? What would it look like, sound like, feel like, where would energy, time money be going?
7. Task Focus – What is one thing that you can start doing to solve this problem right now? What are you willing to do to solve this NOW?
8. Follow Up – determine a time shortly to follow up and explore progress on the solution.

The Humanistic Solution Finding Model places responsibility to find and enhance what is working by shifting

• Belief into the person who has the accountability to find and solve the problem.
• Thinking and reinforcing the person with the ability to solve problems and make decisions.
• Feeling that the solution is attainable and some steps are already in place that are working, making the goal more achievable.
• Attitude switch from seeking problems to finding solutions.
• Behavior of solving problems and doing more great work – in turn solving more problems and making better decisions.

Human systems thrive and work on solutions, the more people who find solutions the more problems vanish.

Michael Cardus is the founder of “Create-Learning” an experiential based consulting and learning organization that uses creative and energizing activities, learning simulations, and content presentations to fully engage participants in the learning and training experience, resulting in increased retention of team members, increased team member satisfaction and increased profit.

You’ve followed all the “rules” about planning your day and work hard to keep it on track. But no matter what you do, it seems like every day turns out the same — you’re there for ten hours, gobble down lunch at your desk and complete five (or none!) of the twenty items on your to do list. It can be depressing. In the long term it will wear on you and and make you less effective overall.

Today’s hectic business environment is a tough one. Not only do you have to get your work done, you have to help your team achieve its goals. But between task and team member interruptions — not to mention those unexpected calls from the boss — your work day can be a very hectic one.

There is light at the end of the tunnel. Before you go any further, take some time to assess what’s going right and what’s going wrong with your day. You can’t fix what you don’t know, so the best thing to do is find out. The way to do that is to understand what’s happening during your day. And you can find that out by using a Time Log to track your time. Get your Time Log here.

Here’s how to use it.

• Track your time daily for one week. At the end of each day, analyze what happened that day. See if patterns exist around certain times of the day, people or tasks. Make a note of what you discovered.
• At the end of the week, look at all of your time log sheets along with the notes you captured. What does it tell you? Are there special times of the day you are particularly busy? Certain people that require more of your time than others? Tasks that always take longer than the time you allocated?
• Adjust your schedule to accommodate what you discovered. Set up your day to allow extra unplanned time during the periods you found that were very busy. Allocate more time for the people and tasks that require it according to your schedule.

The key is to modify your schedule according to what’s happening in your day so you get more productivity out of it. Pay close attention to the things that are derailing your schedule and adjust accordingly. It will help your work life be a whole lot more satisfying and less stressful.

Your entire team can do this exercise. Then you can help each other identify the hot spots and manage them to achieve team goals.

This topic was originally featured in my weekly Team Building Tips newsletter. Are you a subscriber? Get timely team building tips and tools straight to your email box by signing up here.

Is trust important to a team? You bet it is. Without a foundation of trust, your team will never reach its full potential. So how do you find out the trust level in your team and what can you do about it?

A good starting point is to survey your team members, assess the results and move forward from there. And I have found just the right tool for you to do that.

Leadership expert, Dan Oestreich, has created a survey that measures trust in your team. And he’s made it available to you for free. (Yea!!) The Team Trust Survey can help you find out how trust — or the lack of it — affects the way people engage, decide, produce, innovate, and share in success.

You can get the survey here.

To get started, download the survey and share it with your team. Then follow these suggestions from Dan on ways you can use the survey with your team.

• Our team is performing at an acceptable level. How do we take it to its full potential?

• We are consciously working to build our trust levels and team performance. What will help us the most?

• We are already an extraordinary team. Where can we go from here?

• We have conflicts, disrespect, and “undiscussables” causing tension for us. What can we do about it?

I hope you find the survey useful and would love to hear what you think of it.

This topic was originally featured in my weekly Team Building Tips newsletter. Are you a subscriber? Get timely team building tips and tools straight to your email box by signing up here.

New to an agency with little turn-over. Most have been there for three years or longer performing only one task. I’ve started trying to have people learn responsibilities of others in case an individual who performs a task no one else does is not at work. I’ve guaranteed that learning another’s responsibilities did not warrant them to perform those tasks unless an individual who generally performed that task did not come in to work. I’ve met some resistance from 4 of 15 individuals. They want to be reimbursed for the additional responsibility if they are to perform the task, whether or not the responsible individual does not report to work. The majority of the individuals accepted my idea and are trying to help me in motivating the resisting individuals. I’ve planned to move forward, but continue to encourage the ones resisting to participate; I’ve explained the benefits for the individual and the department. How do I negotiate if the four individuals choose not to learn?

The Team Doc Says…

Assuming these tasks are interchangeable from person to person and no special education or skills are needed, I don’t think you need to negotiate.

Unless your company is bound by a union agreement, most jobs include a statement identifying that the person will perform other tasks as required (or something like that). Which means you can just tell them to participate or face the consequences. That said, I wouldn’t go the strong arm approach until you’ve tried other options. Not knowing for sure what you’ve tried, some of my advice may be repetitive. Here goes.

1. Make sure everyone “gets” the big picture. The main reason a company has employees is to accomplish a goal. Goals are broken into tasks with are typically spread around the company by some sort of logical grouping of jobs. I think it would be worthwhile to have this discussion with your entire team. Often team members have a tough time seeing how they fit into the big picture of the company and this will help them understand.

2. Explain the driver behind the cross training. I call this an explanation about the dump truck theory. In other words, if a team member got run over by a dump truck (yes, I know – morbid), the work of the team could not be completed. If the work of the team could not be completed, it could potentially sink the company. And who wants that to happen?

3. Cross training makes team members more valuable (and normally provides job security). Often people don’t want to learn new skills because they’re afraid. And they don’t want to teach others their skills because they’re afraid. You need to talk to each of these team members to determine the real issue. Most don’t look past the end of their nose and discover that the more they know, the more valuable they are to the company (so it’s tougher to be let go in a down turn). But to make this work, you need to have a plan — a method to the madness if you will. Make sure you identify the critical skills (not all skills are critical) that could stop the company cold and prepare cross trained team members.

If, after all of this, the team members refuse to cross train unless they are compensated, you can make the cross training a condition of their employment with the company and if they don’t comply you’ll have to let them go.

What do you think reader? Please leave your thoughts in a comment.

My role in the organization is to lead a group of four people in the ‘Team Building’ Unit. We are in a mining organization with about 2000 staff of different nationalities with diversified cultural backgrounds. The role of my unit is to build and increase team spirit among the employees.

We will be running a number of trainings that are geared towards changed behavior and motivated staff. Do you have some team building games, energizers, brain-teasers, etc that can be used in our training? Or any other tools you think will help us achieve our team building objectives? Looking forward to read from you.

The Team Doc Says…

You have a huge task ahead of you. Your best bet is to focus on what outcome you are trying to achieve and then design your efforts around achieving those outcomes.

For example if you are targeting increased communication, train on tools and strategies to help people communicate better. Give them a safe environment to practice in and support after the training so they can make those behaviors part of their day-to-day behaviors. Once you know what you want to focus on, creating activities to achieve that goal, which are tied to the reality of your workplace, will be much easier to do.

There may also be cultural organizational impediments that get in the way of making the change you desire. Hopefully you have a senior sponsor who will be an advocate for you so you can address those issues. It will take risk, bravery and a good long time. People don’t change overnight.

What do you think reader? Add your thoughts below.