Who Owns the Problem?

“Good management is the art of making problems so interesting and their solutions so constructive that everyone wants to get to work and deal with them.” - Paul Hawken, Environmentalist

As the head of your business have you ever taken time to think about where problems come from? Have you thought about who’s responsible for them? More importantly, have you thought about what happens when the person that should own the problem doesn’t or the person that’s not responsible does? If not, I think you’d find the time spent very beneficial.

High performance organizations spend a great deal of time making sure the right problem is owned by the right people. Seems pretty obvious doesn’t it. However there’s a subtly here that separates the good from the great. If the wrong person owns a problem all kinds of unnecessary new problems will arise. They’ll usually attribute the causes of the problem to things other than the key cause. The next thing you know you’re drowning in issues that really provide nothing toward helping your organization get where you want to go. Your competition loves it when you spend precious time fixing issues that have no relevance to your business performance.

As always a good place to start is with yourself. Whose problems are you owning in your organization? For example, how much time do you spend owning your employees satisfaction? How much time does it take away from what you should be doing? Shouldn’t they be in charge of that? Think of it this way; If a person that works for you isn’t responsible for the problem of their own destiny do you think they’ll ever be able to understand why you’re so hyped about the purpose and destiny of your company? People that have no commitment for the well-being of your business are an anchor you have to pull along.

Who owns the problem of recruiting in your company? If your answer is HR it means you’ve let everyone else off the hook for owning that problem. In a tight labor market like we’re in now wouldn’t it be great if everyone in your organization owned the recruiting problem? What about quality or customer service? Are they owned by a specific person or department? If so, have you just let everyone else off the hook for two of the most fundamental pieces of any great organization?

The distribution of the ownership of problems is a crucial part of your job as the leader. When you get it right your business can then rise to take on the real issues and problems it faces from the external world of customers and competition.

This leads back to the whole reason why the PURPOSE of your business is so important. If you hand out responsibilities to people who “get” what you’re trying to accomplish, the problems can be taken care of without you needing to be a part of every decision. That in turn leaves you more time to oversee that the entire organization is constantly improving.

I’m sure you’ve seen or been a part of organizations where excuses are more prevalent than problem solving. People feel no responsibility for problems the refuse to own. Which type of company would you rather be in charge of?

If you’re the type of CEO or owner that loves to be the go-to problem solver, then you will inadvertently be the invisible and insoluble cause of those problems. If you love being Problem Solver in Chief how is anyone else in your organization going to become more competent? This is one of the most common reasons why I see “A” players leave companies. They’re more than willing to step up, take responsibility and help the organization succeed. After a typically short period of time though they become frustrated at having a lot of responsibility but no authority. You’ve unintentionally inhibited the healthy growth of your own people. Do you think your life and stress level will get better when your best people desert you?

If this resonates at all then what to do? First, is to not be a part of the problem. Second, find the right people so they can own the right problems of their performance and the performance of the part of the company they’re responsible for.

You can never decree the level of performance you want. You can however put the right people in charge of owning the right problems. The more control they have over their destiny within your organization the more they’ll become tied to that destiny!