Solving problems is not specifically a management task, but managers are faced with a lot of daily problems that need to be solved.  As a manager you have a slightly different set of resources than your employees.  So how do you, as a manager, go about solving your issues?  There are ten ways that management solves problems.

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Lean thinking has been popularized by companies like Toyota, Apple, Dell, and many others.  But will practicing lean thinking produce a competitive advantage?

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As a business executive, you face many difficult daily challenges like creating and dominating new markets or finding and keeping the best people.  But then, like many executives, do you find yourself spending too much time solving everyday problems (that only you can solve, right?), which prevent you from growing your business and becoming a better manager?  You may be making some of these management mistakes:

1. Do you have a compelling vision for your company, that projects a remarkable future, but few of your employees have heard of it or could explain it if asked?

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Communicating with authority figures make many people nervous.  Your boss holds the power over your performance reviews, salary reviews, and future work assignments.  Don’t be intimidated by all that authority.  Your business communications can be improved.  You just need to understand your boss and what they expect from you when you do communicate.  You don’t have to be nervous if you keep these ten simple ideas in mind.

10 Considerations to Communicating with your Boss

1. Keep your boss informed. Your boss doesn’t like surprises.  If something bad has happened, its better they find out from you now then from someone else later.  If you want a better boss then keep them informed.

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Have you heard of Management by Objectives?  It was first popularized by Peter Drucker in the 1950’s.  This is basic goal setting, where you pick (or agree on with your employees) your objectives and then drive everyone to the result.  Results are important, but so is keeping control of your organization.  The problem with Management by Objectives is that we don’t want to become overly focused on the goals to the point where we begin to ignore the environment around us.  What’s better than Management by Objectives?

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There are a number of things that can and do go wrong on a project.  You are probably familiar with many of the most common project management nonconformances or failures.

Common Project Management Nonconformances include:

• Errors, omissions or just plain poor assumptions
• Delays which affect the project schedule or the originator’s ability to meet project deadlines
• Late submissions
• Rework
• Unauthorized changes to projects, schedules, plans, etc.
• Non-compliance with established policies, procedures, specifications or project specific Quality Assurance Plans
• Cost overruns (which result from all other failures)

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If you’ve ever asked yourself, “How can I unlock the value in my business?” …you’re not alone.

This question has been on every business manager’s mind since the first company was started.  Large or small, it doesn’t matter.  When it comes to business valuation, people want to know how to get the most for the company.

Today I’m going to tell you.  It’s so shockingly simple, it may take a few seconds before you realize the truth of this statement:  The key to unlocking the value in your business is by documenting your business processes, in writing, for all of your employees!

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Do you have the time to research business best practices for many common business processes or everyday job tasks?  Even if you did you could end up writing hundreds of procedures for your business. Yet not having procedures could be a big problem.  You could end up with vital company knowledge walking out the door and leaving the next employee to start a new learning curve.  Of course, management and shareholders have to pay for this business waste that includes: re-training, turnover, and re-work.  Fortunately, There’s a better way…

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I am going to let you in on an industry secret.  I’m sure you have heard consultants offer to make your organization more money through increased productivity or efficiency.  Then they produce clearly defined job tasks, work instructions, reports, forms, and job descriptions for every employee or business process – also known as a Policy and Procedure Manual.  The thing is these manuals are derived from internal templates.

Well, if you’re like me then you’re watching your budget and you hate paying a lot of money to consultants for delivering templates.  After all, what you really need are the templates themselves.  Right?

Fortunately, there’s a better way…

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Sounds easy in principle, doesn’t it? Just plan your work and work your plan. So, why is “plan-do-check-act” so difficult in practice? Using the Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) method is like climbing a hill: it starts out easy but gets harder the higher up you go.

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