How to Solve a Problem Solver?

How to Solve a Problem Solver?

I recently asked a client, “What do you do best?” He said, proudly. “I am a fantastic problem solver.”

I cringed. I really have the hardest time working with “Problem Solvers.” Because when there are no problems to solve they don’t know what to do to grow their business. They don’t know how to change. They don’t know how to increase revenue. But give them a crisis or an issue and they hit the ground running. They NEED problems and issues to feel productive.

What they need to be is Problem Preventers. They need to cross the line and make things work so well that the problems are ameliorated before they start or before they become problems. They need to set things up so that the processes run well. That the issues are thought through before they happen, so they never become problems that need solving.

Are you a problem solver? Do you know how to become a problem preventer? One woman I worked with who was the Queen of Problem Solving discovered that in her personal life she prevented problem. The example she proudly used was how well she baby-proofed her house. Her toddler couldn’t get hurt or poisoned if he tried. So we took all the pre-thinking skills she had when she did that, and aligned it with her business process, and she was able to problem-proof her company.