Put your problems on ICE
August 25, 2008 by Phil Gerbyshak
Filed under Business
A few years ago, my buddy Greg Balanko-Dickson and I came up with a model on how to get rid of the junk in our lives as managers, small business owners, and as people. It’s a simple model, and one you can put into practice for any problem you might have.
Identify – Before you can solve a problem, you need to understand what the problem is. Identify the problem, and give it a name. Look at it from all angles. Make sure you understand the problem, what you believe about the problem, and what you’ve done in the past to try to solve the problem before.
Challenge – Now that you understand the problem, challenge any beliefs you might have about overcoming it. Is it really as big a problem as you thought, or did you just make a mountain out of a molehill? Challenge yourself to step up and tackle this challenge.
Eradicate – Now it’s time to get rid of the problem. If it’s a lack of knowledge, study up. If it’s a problem attitude on your team, help your associate see how it’s impacting the team and ask her how she can improve it. If it’s a personal problem, take whatever steps you need to, one at a time, and eradicate the problem.
An easy way to remember this method: Solve your problems by putting them on ICE.
Do you have any good problem solving methods you’d like to share?
Flickr photo by Kyle May.
COOL acronym Phil
Hey Phil,
I totally forgot about that conversation. That is great you remembered and are sharing it with people.
Way to go!
Hi Phil,
this is quick and to the point. It is effective and I like it.
Can we look at it from another angle?
How about the possibility that talking about THE problem will develop the problem itself?
What if a very effective conversation on diagnosis of problems generates more of them? And what if people entertain themselves looking for the root causes of the problem, and maybe looking for people who are guilty and allowed the problem to occur?
Could it be that the guilty ones may react? How would they?
… and what instead, if we let the issue take care of itself and start observing what works?
…. and we start having conversations that are focused on strenghts?
Could it that focusing conversations on positive issues is more likely to involve people on the search for solutions?
Thanks for this.
“Solve your problems by putting them on ICE.”
That’s a nice metaphor.
Not sure if thinking about problems does create more of them, but I believe you can only have one thought in your head at a time. So maybe it’s good to focus on solutions (but not forgetting what problem the solution is for, of course)
Let me expand/clarify.
If I am a manager, or a small business owner, and, when I am dealing with my people, I focus a lot on “problems”, I may develop disagreement, demotivation etc.
It is different if I focus conversations on things that work … “hey let’s do it this way, it works!”, (instead of “don’t do it this other way, because you are creating the usual mess”).
If people focus on areas of agreement they will be happier. Does it matter?
Besides, some “problems” are not easily solvable. One example: I want my employee to change his mind as to how something has to be done.
This can be really difficult.