Why Your Best Employees Think About Solutions First

Working with “Debby Downer”

We’ve all worked with “that guy”….you get a call or text from him and you instantly groan. You know he has a problem with something, and he’s going to tell you the 15 reasons why doing X, Y, and Z won’t solve the problem. Wah, wah…What he won’t do is offer any solutions. Overtime, you start to figure out ways to avoid him, and eventually the working relationship (and productivity) decline. How can you prevent this?

Focus on the Current Offenders

More likely than not, you have a few people on your team that come to you with more problems than solutions, but they are very smart and excel in their role otherwise. They aren’t quite as extreme as the case above, so all you need to do is course correct. One of the easiest ways to deal with problem-focused people is to “put the monkey on their back”. The famous 1974 HBR article explains why business managers should never let someone put the metaphorical monkey (or task) on their back. You can apply the same logic here. When someone comes to you with a problem, ask them how they plan to fix it. They will probably offer more problems and sub-issues, but make sure you listen. Then give them ownership of the problem and the resources to solve it. In my experience, most problem-focused people, don’t feel like they have the support to solve issues on their own. It’s only natural that they will offer what seem like more complaints to their managers.

If that doesn’t work, simply rewrite the social rules. Tell them they are not allowed to come to you with problems unless they have at least one solution in mind. It’s worth noting this applies to business issues, and they should always feel comfortable to voice concerns around anything else. One of two things will happen: they will start bringing solutions to the table or they will stop coming to you with complaints. Either way, it’s a win.

Then, Hire the Right People

Why is it that some people naturally focus on solutions? Some of it’s instinctual and some of it’s past experiences. One of the reasons I really like hiring former management consultants is most of the firms including McKinsey, Bain, and BCG use a hypothesis driven approach to problem solving. There are many different names for it, but it generally follow the same logic. I particularly like Bain’s “Answer First” naming convention because it makes it clear to start with a solution. Other firms including Strategy&, Oliver Wyman, and AT Kearney have similar approaches. This sort of mindset then trickles down to everything those consultants do, including implementation and execution in real world settings. While consultants can make great hires, it’s important to help them not over-solve a problem. When you hire a consultant for your team, make sure they stick to a timeline on deliverables and prevent them from “boiling the ocean” (but we all secretly hate that phrase!).

Ken Kanara is the President & Managing Director of ECA. He works with private equity portfolio companies to place former management consultant in permanent and project based roles. He can be reached at [email protected].