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|Feedback To Author | Feedback To Webmaster Copyright © 1999 by Robert Moskowitz. All Rights Reserved Preventive Maintenance: Problem Solving For Telecommuters By Robert Moskowitz Absence may make the heart grow fonder, but absence from the office is one reason little problems can grow into bigger ones. Face it, when you and the vast majority of your colleagues and team members are spending all your working hours in the same room, the same floor, or at least the same building, you're typically engaging in a great deal of superfluous, redundant, and extraneous communication. That makes it relatively easy to forgive misunderstandings, correct mistaken impressions, and add to partial information. But when you're working at a distance even for just one or two days a week there's less opportunity to discover and correct these little glitches. That gives them time to fester and grow, eventually wasting time or energy, diverting a project off the most direct path toward its stated goals, or creating some other serious problem. All this is one reason telecommuters tend to remain more productive and successful if they practice a little preventive maintenance on their relationships and work habits. Preventive Maintenance Problem Solving Skills For Telecommuters The process of solving a problem that happens to involve telecommuters is similar to other kinds of problem solving. But it focuses more tightly on the special requirements and opportunities associated with communications between people working at a distance. You might not apply all these steps to every problem, but it's useful to have them all in your repertoire. Assess The Situation The biggest mistake a problem solver can make is to start throwing his or her weight around, making suggestions or pronouncements without first having a clear idea of what's going on. The more sensible and successful approach is to avoid taking any sides or making any prejudgments about the problem situation until all or at least most of the facts are in. That's why the effective problem solver remains calm, and assesses the problem situation with an eye toward certain critical factors: · The urgency of the situation: if the situation is deteriorating rapidly (perhaps employees are fearful that a new emphasis on telecommuting is the first step toward mass layoffs, and are resisting the expansion of telecommuting), you need a different problem solving approach than if the situation is static or developing relatively slowly (perhaps employees are unhappy with reimbursement for telecommuter expenses, and would appreciate an increase). · The magnitude of the downside risk: if the situation might ultimately explode into a disastrous and costly disruption (perhaps tension over a new anti-telecommuting policy threatens to drive key people out of the organization), you need a different problem solving approach than if the situation seems likely to result in a much smaller loss over a longer period of time (perhaps employees want more positions at lower levels to become eligible for telecommuting). · The long term impact: if the situation is going to impact your organization for a dozen years or longer (perhaps top management is promoting an incompetent nephew over a highly skilled telecommuter who has earned a shot at the position), you need a different problem solving approach than if you are facing a "one time only" situation (perhaps a telecommuter is asking for a Friday off from work because her daughter is traveling to Washington to meet the President) Get All Points Of View The second biggest mistake is to treat one person's account of the situation as the absolute truth. Most people perceive events and situations somewhat subjectively. They don't have all the facts, or they ignore facts that don't support their interpretation. Listening to everyone involved in the situation, as well as those who may not be directly involved but do have relevant information, tends to cancel out the subjectivity and provide a more accurate overview of the problem situation. The best way to get all points of view is to: · Identify all the people to talk with. · Isolate these people from each other as quickly as possible. · Talk to them one at a time, taking brief notes on what each one says. Do A Reality Check It's not uncommon for problem situations to be presented with the attitude that the "Sky Is Falling!" But since, so far, it hasn't, you're probably better off doing your own reality check before you get too involved in "solving" this particular "problem." Ask yourself: · Is there a problem here? · How big is it? · How urgent is it? · Is it your responsibility to solve this problem? If not, whose responsibility is it? Identify The Cause It's easy to blame a problem on whatever happens just before the problem arises. That's why lots of people have blamed telecommuters for such things as a drop in sales volumes or an increase in errors. Sure, newly inaugurated telecommuters might have caused recent sales shrinkage or extra errors, but the effective problem solver knows the real cause of these problems might very well be separate from the telecommuting: a seasonal sales slowdown, a new computer system that's confusing everyone, or a management deficiency that wasn't obvious until telecommuting highlighted it. Accurately identifying the cause of a problem is important because it determines where you'll look both to solve the problem, and to prevent future repetitions of it. Focus On Objectives Assuming you have a problem to solve, it's critical to stay focused on your main objectives. For example, imagine you're trying to develop a relationship with a big customer and telecommuting makes it difficult for him to know where to contact you. Don't stop telecommuting. Instead, keep building the relationship while you install a temporary "workaround" for the problem perhaps a secretary or a colleague who takes responsibility for always knowing where you are, or switching to a specialized phone number that can easily follow you from location to location. Later, when you have more time, you can replace the workaround with a better, longer-term solution. It would be a mistake to devote so much energy to fixing the problem that you neglected the main objective: building a good relationship with your customers. On the other hand, some problems are so severe that you must fix them in order to make progress on your main objective. For example, in building the Panama Canal, the chief engineer spent two years installing needed health and safety infrastructure for the work crews. Only then could they effectively tackle the monumental task of moving so much dirt and building such an immense canal through such inhospitable terrain. Facilitate Discussion and Negotiation It's not the problem-solver's job to come up with the actual solution, but more importantly to manage the problem-solving process and marshal all available resources to get the problem solved. You do this best by bringing key people into a discussion of the problem, the idealized solution, and finally a range of reasonable and practical solutions. If the problem is a conflict between people that's exacerbated by telecommuting, a good facilitator can usually moderate a compromise they can live with. If the problem is not personal, such as excessive machine downtime, a market slowdown, or a flaw in product design, a good facilitator can help people express their rough ideas for solutions, recognize the individual strengths and weaknesses of these ideas, and recombine the strongest parts of various proposals to create a workable solution. Offer A Solution "Starting Point" A lot of people feel the only suggestion they want to make is the one perfect answer, fully worked out and ready to go without objection from anyone. But many problems are solved only by trial and error, long-term effort and continual re-adjustment, rather than a single grand gesture that fixes everything all at once. Since only a few problems go away by themselves, there's value just in getting the problem situation turning around toward improvement by offering some kind of solution, even if it's not the perfect one. So why not offer a half-baked suggestion if it provides a starting point for progress toward a truly workable solution? Build A Consensus Most problems from resentment of individual telecommuters to inadequate investment in intranet technology will admit of more than one solution. But in most circumstances, the right solution is the one that will work AND that everyone involved can support. So an effective problem solver is steadily working to build consensus: about the nature of the problem, about the highest priority issues to be addressed; about what directions to pursue in search of a solution; and most particularly about what solution to implement when there's more than one possible course of action. Develop Preventive Procedures Give a man a fish and he eats for a day. You've solved his immediate problem. But teach him to fish, and he eats for the rest of his life. Clearly, this approach is more effective because you've solved today's problem and prevented future repetitions of it, too. The effective problem knows it usually takes very little extra work to reduce the chance of similar problems happening again. Monitor Compliance The final step in effective problem solving is to keep a finger on the pulse of the problem situation. Since the cheapest and most effective way to solve a problem is to prevent it from occurring, monitoring compliance with problem-prevention procedures is a fundamental way to make sure you don't spend all your time putting out fires. Problems That Telecommuters Can Limit Or Prevent Individually or in combinations, these skills can easily be used to limit or entirely prevent a great many problems for telecommuters, such as: Problem: Co-worker resentment This rarely emerges as an urgent situation, but it carries a lot of downside risk, with the potential for long-term impact. · Picking up your slack Co-workers quickly become resentful if your telecommuting leaves them to handle your left-behind responsibilities, even such simple tasks as answering your telephone or dealing with your share of customer complaints. Telecommuters can usually find an easy solution by making schedule changes or re-aligning task responsibilities to eliminate the cause of the co-workers' resentment. · Envying your freedom Co-workers may also (and understandably) resent the "special treatment" afforded telecommuters in the form of flexible scheduling and easier commuting requirements. Most times, the best way to reduce this resentment is for management to allow co-workers to telecommute, too, even if winning this approval takes a long time. Problem: Lost time due to missing resources This can quickly emerge and create an urgent situation, with a lot of downside risk and the potential for long-term impact if you fail to produce what you've promised on time, and to specification. · Missing information Telecommuters who can't get answers to questions or access to reference materials can have their productivity temporarily plummet. The best solution is usually proactive planning, so that people and other resources the telecommuter needs are lined up and available when and where needed. · Missing people Certainly special circumstances and ad hoc questions come up. But those are not excuses for failing to anticipate predictable needs for contacts. Telecommuters should try to anticipate their information needs and "make appointments" whenever possible so they're not relying on other people to be generally available at the telecommuter's convenience. · Missing equipment Similarly, telecommuters should try to anticipate their needs for special equipment and "sign them out" or reserve them whenever possible. In some cases, it's cost-effective to invest in critical equipment (such as a printer, scanner, or fax) specifically for the telecommuter's use. If this is not cost-effective, then tighter scheduling and better planning will eliminate a lot of problems. Problem: Miscommunications Although miscommunications comes in many varieties, even tiny incidents that occur too frequently can build up into an urgent situation, with both significant downside risk and the potential for long-term impact. · Misunderstandings Even in face to face communications, misunderstandings are fairly common. How much more likely are they, then, when you're squeezing everything you mean into a tiny wire that transmits only your voice, or only a printed page? Until we have true "virtual reality," therefore, telecommuters can expect miscommunication problems. The best remedy is proactive checking, asking questions to make sure you are understood correctly, and taking the time to fix even the smallest errors before they grow into larger ones. · Misspoken words Whether it's an inflection of your voice, a garbled pronunciation, or a true bobble between your mind and your mouth, these can lead to major errors in understanding. Prevention is important here, so telecommuters should plan what they will say, prepare written notes before speaking complicated ideas, and speak extra carefully when they're at a distance from the office. · Mistakes No one is perfect, so mistakes are quite common even among telecommuters. The best remedy is to avoid as many mistakes as you can. But the second best remedy is to maintain an "open" attitude so people are willing to correct you, and to question any information that doesn't seem quite right or that doesn't fit with other ideas. Problem: Falling out of the loop Telecommuters are far more afraid of this possibility than the results of actual studies would seem to justify. They fall out of the loop no more frequently than non-telecommuters. But if you're worried about this, take steps to prevent it before it becomes an urgent problem with significant downside risk and potentially long-term impact. Assuming a reality check shows some basis to believe you actually have fallen out of the loop, and it's simply because you're working away from the office, the best remedy is to be extra communicative during those times you are working in the office. Distribute memos details your projects, their status, and your next steps. Schedule meetings with key players. Even make a point of being seen by opinion leaders and supervisors. Although in this article we haven't discussed the advantages of telecommuting, they're so well documented that letting relatively small and easily repaired problems interfere and bring telecommuting to a halt would be very foolish and short-sighted. That's why it's important for telecommuters to perform a little preventive maintenance on their telecommuting relationships and work habits before they ever come close to becoming rusty and unresponsive.