Developing problem solvers in your team means that you (as a manager) can get to the end of the day feeling like business is under control and not under fire. Any normal day at the office presents many situations that test our abilities and can be handled efficiently or disastrously. The difference usually comes down to how well equipped the person was to handle the situation.
Any given situation can be an opportunity or become a problem
Just as beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so a situation can be viewed positively or negatively. Opportunities generally come disguised as hard work or appear difficult and so can easily be missed or handled badly by the wrong person. A badly handled situation can become a problem very quickly and the opportunity squandered.
Let the team know what you expect of them
Here we need to ensure that the team is fully versed in your expected outcome for any given problem. When presented with a situation do they have any protocols or guidelines in place to assist them in solving the problem?
Team culture is important
The corporate culture and team role models have a defining impact on creating problem solvers or problem makers. When presented with a task a problem maker will ignore it, put it off, pass it off, or handle it badly.
Culture a can do attitude and problems tackled will more likely have a successful result. Positive people are less likely to make bad judgements than someone who is afraid of making mistakes or negative.
Allow people to make mistakes but be there to help them learn from their mistakes. Great problem solvers, as with successful people, are forged from making and learning from their mistakes.
