Rather than sharpening your management problem-solving skills, consider concentrating on problem prevention instead. A proactive perspective of anticipating problems and taking steps to prevent them is far more beneficial than patching things up after-the-fact. Some thoughts:
- Have good intuition and be pessimistic enough to imagine possible negative outcomes. Continually size up situations and consider possible outcomes, both positive and negative. It's great to have a positive attitude, but you must also be realistic. Pay attention to your hunches and work on developing your intuition. If your gut is telling you something won't work, consider revising your plan, or at least proceed with great caution.
- Visualize worst-case scenarios. Think about problems before they occur and plan for how you’ll deal with them. For example, what will you do if your initial sales projections fail to materialize? Do you have a financial contingency plan? Are you prepared for natural and man-made disasters? This is not an exercise in negativity, but rather preparing in advance for dealing with management problems so they don’t turn into major catastrophes.
- Pay attention to early warning signals. Look for little signs that could mean trouble ahead. If you’re feeling anxious, figure out why. If sales dip, even slightly, be sure you understand the reason. If you sense a drop in employee morale, don't ignore it. Take appropriate action to prevent these red flags from turning into serious problems.
- Avoid bad decision-making. The most common error in management decision-making is to accept the first good solution that comes along, rather than taking the time to find what is truly the best alternative. Also, never make decisions when you’re emotional; delay action for a day or so, until you’ve calmed down and can think clearly.
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