Have you ever had it where a phrase that you’ve heard thousands of times before suddenly makes sense? That was the case with the phrase “be hard on the person, not on the problem”. The first time I heard someone say that was over 10 years ago, but suddenly a few years ago it finally struck a chord. It’s become one of the most valuable management tips that I utilise and try to pass on.

I used to be the type of manager who would do the exact opposite. Despite my great track record and career as a manager I’d find it all too easy to shout and chastise my staff if they did something wrong. This would very rarely help the situation and often the same mistakes would happen again because the root cause hadn’t been addressed.

Rather than instantly thinking “oh god, I need to get rid of that person” it’s much better to focus and work on the problem together. If you really take the time to look into the problem then you might realise this is something that has happened historically and can easily be resolved.

Try getting together with your staff and asking a few key questions:

• “What was the problem?”
• “What can we do to prevent it?”
• “Why did it come about?”
• “What can we learn from it?”

All of these questions will help you to work towards stopping the same issue happening again.

Create a Culture

You might be asking; how do I work continuously on the development of my people, as well as being hard on the problem rather than the people?

The answer, and one of Instil’s 3 C’s, is to create a culture. A culture where everyone feels open to talk about problems. This is especially important with problems that come up time and time again. Your whole team must be at ease enough to discuss these issues openly. Working together, getting buy-in from everyone and coming up with strategies and plans to correct/avoid them in the future.

Working together and hearing suggestions from everyone on how best to tackle issues means that they are more likely to implement solutions and see them through. This is because they feel invested in the resolution.

More Management Tips

Have a read of “The Importance of Regular Follow-ups” to find out more about the best ways to interact with your staff.

Connect with me on LinkedIn for loads more free sales and management tips.