Page 211 - Leadership Lessons of the White House Fellows
P. 211
THE LESSONS
once told me that for complex problems, it might take as much as 75 percent
of the available time to ensure you have the question right, and if you get
the question right, the remaining 25 percent of the time should be sufficient
to find the answer. Taking the time to get the question right is very powerful
in problem solving. It sounds self-evident, but I see examples every day in
which the question is not properly understood and the answer is predictably
off the mark.”
Rice’s problem-solving abilities were put to the test in a major way
when he was faced with one of his biggest challenges as a leader: standing
up a new flying squadron. “Putting something together of that magnitude
from scratch took everything I knew about leadership to get it right. The
lesson that comes to mind is that when faced with a huge problem, you
have to ‘eat the elephant one bite at a time,’” Rice explained. “The scale
of the individual activities that must come together to complete the task
can appear to be overwhelming at the beginning of the effort, but with a
clear vision of the end state and with disciplined planning and execution,
it all comes together at the end of the day.”
Several years ago I returned from a business trip to find that my assistant
had hung a gigantic fifteen-foot-long wooden sign above my office door.
The sign says, DON’T BRING ME PROBLEMS. BRING ME SOLUTIONS. I
suggest that you post a similar sign and then set about the task of guiding
each person on your team toward the goal of becoming a top-notch problem
solver. Sure, it takes time and effort to teach problem-solving strategies to
your people, but when you experience the payoff, you’ll know it was an
investment worth making.
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