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Organizational Development

Solving business problems is hard

  • By Anne-Cécile Graber
  • In Organizational Development

Read why and how to solve them 

We all face problematic situations in business and may feel overwhelmed by them. At the same time a problem for one employee may not be one for someone else. It all depends on the level of consciousness and development in a specific area of life. Business problems have a personal touch that we cannot ignore. This is usually the reason why we look for experts and consultants when we face them. Specialists are in fact people who faced the problem so many times that they have found workarounds, techniques, methods and long lasting solutions.

The problem with problems is that team leader and CEOs may not realise that there is a one because they are not informed. Employee are not telling them directly that they have a problem. We may think our situation is normal or not going to change.

title image of the blog post : solving business problem is hard

What does indicate that we have a problem?

We can identify problems with the following factors.

  • Overthinking

We think of the situation again and again and organize meetings to discuss about it. We focus on defining the problem. Finding the responsible person or department. We are on the problem.

  • Negative emotions

We observe nervousness, lack of enthusiasm, stressed out or irritated employees. Meetings and working within teams becomes a pain.

  • Externalizing guilt

We accuse external factors or others for the situation. We blame other departments for not doing their job. We accuse others for not wanting to cooperate. We are the victims and others the perpetrators.

  • Physical symptoms

Employees may have headaches, feel fatigue, and even get ill as a consequence of a problematic situation that is not dealt with.

  • Compensation behavior

Employees start procrastinating, avoid interactions with other employees, start to indulge themselves with Social Media, food, alcohol and sometimes drugs…

  • Avoid discussion

Teams prefer to not talk about it and ignore the existence of the problem. They deal with their daily business and disengage as soon as the problem pops up.

Why don’t we just solve the business problem? 

There are few reasons for us to avoid solving problems. Here is a list of the most common reasons for such problem solving avoidance:

  • Low awareness

We may not make the connection between our emotions and physical state with the situation we are in. We are disconnect from our inner self and may be driven by our Ego. The ego will always look at the outside world to compare, judge and explain the world. 

  • No decision power

Employees may be in companies where decisions about their daily work life are made by others at a higher level. Employees may know what to do to improve the situation but are not allowed to take actions and if they did they may be afraid to be severely punished (fired, new lower position…) 

  • Fixed mindset

A fixed mindset makes us believe that our competences are fixed and cannot be improved. When we face a problem we may believe that we are not able to raise to the situation.

  • Stuck syndrome

Employees feel tighten up by cultural norms, self-doubts, impression that nothing can change… Employees are seeing their situation as impossible to change.

  • Conflict avoidance

Employees may also be unable to face conflict in a positive way and prefer to avoid them. This means that they may sabotage their work, not talk about the problem, ignore feedbacks and so on.

  • Pleasing others

Employees may also prefer to please others and more especially their hierarchical superior instead of sharing what they really think. If a supervisor says or do something that could damage the company development. An employee may see it, comment on it with colleagues but will not say a word to stop the catastrophe to happen. This is a negative consequence of hierarchy.

  • Power conflict & internal politics

Even people at the higher level of the hierarchy are subject to problems solving avoidance because they are working against each other in order to get more money, fame and employees. In big companies, the more employees you have under your control, the bigger your budget is. The bigger the budget the higher the financial reward at the end of the year. Such regulation pushes responsible to engage in self-promotion, keeping employees in useless position to get their bonus…

”We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”  – Albert Einstein

Consequences of not solving problems

Business are facing problem blindness. Problems challenge us to look at the world with new glasses. They tell us the way we behaved so far did not serve us. Most of the problems we have in life comes from a misunderstanding. I misunderstand you and interpret your actions and words based on my current mindset. You misunderstand me. All reasons listed above are so interrelated that it may seem impossible to solve the issues we are facing right now.

People change when the pain is too strong, when they cannot handle it anymore. Pain is a signal that we are ready to grow. Like the caterpillar who will become a butterfly. Like the child being given birth. Like the teenager who rebelles because he wants to grow. All this pain, emotions and thoughts are a calling.

When will the business world be in such a pain that it will have to change? When will societies realize how unaligned businesses are run? – Anne-Cécile Graber

We manage companies as if they were machines that just need simple orders, oil and gas to function when in reality we are dealing with human beings searching for sens, connection, purpose and fulfillment.

Why and how to shift paradigm? 

Businesses have to shift their mindsets if they want to be part of the future of work. The expectations of employees, customers and any person involved is shifting with younger generations aspiring for more sense in their work, more respect for the planet and their fellow human beings. We are at a time where information about companies misbehavior can spread within minutes all around the world. The Artificial Intelligence is going to change the way we earn money for a living. 70% of current jobs will disappear as a consequence of AI implementation in business. The number of qualified employees will be too low to respond to companies needs. Companies have to attract those qualified employees. Furthermore, they may not achieve it, if they are not responding to younger generation aspirations. There is a need to change the way we look at competence and potential. We can learn at any age as long as we are interested in the subject which means for business that they have to find fast and interested learners instead of already educated employees. Businesses have to evolve. Otherwise they will simply fade away as new ways of working are put in place by visionaries. We need to challenge our beliefs about the way we manage and do business.

Nowadays businesses takes into account the monetary aspect, the numbers, the KPIs, the Return on investment. We forgot why we came all together in big organisations. We forgot to serve each other. We are unconsciously harming the planet, the economy, the employees, the suppliers, and the clients because we made a decision years ago. Money is time. We can consciously decide to shift paradigm and decide that life is a luxury that we can enjoy.

There is not one answer fits all for how to shift your business. It means that you will have to find your way and dig deep within yourself to find answers. The shift that need to happen are: 

Selecting the right expert

In order to shift you have few options:
  • struggle on your own
  • struggle with others
  • be accompanied by precursors
If you decide to be accompanied find someone with whom you share at least the same belief about the state in which you are and the state you want to be. Ask them what they would do in your situation? Ask them how they would not solve this problem for you. Spend some times with them to see if you can have a profound conversation and spend time in silence. Find a person or a group of person who resonates with you. It may take some time or happen very quickly. Be clear about what you want and why you want it.
If you resonate with my article and want to contact me. please do so: contact[at]acgraber.com and see how we could cooperate together. You can also connect with me on Social Media 🙂

——-

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Anne-Cécile Graber
Anne-Cécile Graber shares her knowledge with professionals working in multicultural workplaces who want to achieve their goals. Her desire to understand how company functions brought her to work for SMEs, International companies and start-ups in different countries. Her passion for organisational and personal development lead her to obtain a master in Organizational Sciences in the USA and get certifications as a systemic coach and a systemic facilitator. She loves to guide people on their journey with her humanistic & pragmatical approach.

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    Comments

  1. Misfer Aldawsari
    17 August 2017

    Thanks you so much for the valuable information. rely appreciate your efforts.

    Reply
    • Anne-Cécile Graber
      20 August 2017

      Dear Misfer Aldawsari, your feedback means a lot to me. I am delighted to read that the blog provides you with valuable information. Have a great day!

      Reply

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