“I don’t want to hear about problems! Only Solutions!”

A previous boss of mine used to say that often. Very often. Too often, if I’m honest.

I think he was well-meaning when he said it, in that he was always open to new ideas. Whatever his underlying motives, I’ll certainly give him the benefit of the doubt.

But what irked me about that response all those years ago is the same thing that concerns me today.

That while the task of finding solutions to problems is an admirable and necessary pursuit, our reaction to a problem being unearthed shouldn’t simply be a reflex action.

We shouldn’t be looking at ways to make the problem go away, as much as looking at why we’re seeing the problem in the first place. Firefighting is vital when the building’s in flames. But maybe we should spend more time asking ourselves why the space heater overheated.

The thing is that, today more than ever, businesses need to hear about problems.

They need to know what’s wrong, as much as what’s right. More so, in fact. And they need to know about it in a timely fashion.

Too many companies are what I call “intentionally blind”.

Business owners refuse to acknowledge what’s really happen in their firms, with their customers, with the market as a whole.

To recognize and accept the problems that are staring them in the face.

Refusing To Accept Reality

Whatever a company’s problems are, the last thing we should be doing is good sticking our head in the sand and pretending they don’t exist. Such action is delusional, dangerous – and in my book is tantamount to a wilful dereliction of duty.

Often, in such a situation, other people within the company are aware of the problems. However, policy inside ‘intentionally-blind’ companies is usually to shoot the messenger, so everyone toes the company line and keeps quiet.

Until it’s too late.

When we immediately jump to solutions without thoroughly investigating problems, we miss crucial information.

Problems are symptoms.

They point us to underlying conditions that require our attention.

A declining sales figure isn’t just a number that needs correcting; it’s a diagnostic tool telling us something fundamental about our business’s health.

I’ve seen this movie so many times before. The marketing team notices a drop in engagement, so they churn out more content. The real problem? The product no longer solves a pain point that matters to customers. More content just means more noise.

James Whittaker, an ex-Google engineer, tells a revealing story in his book “How Google Tests Software.” He describes how the company once held a failure celebration after a major project collapsed, not as a consolation party, but as a genuine acknowledgment of the valuable insights they gained as a result.

Sometimes the journey really is the destination.

Similarly, Toyota has spent decades perfecting their famous Andon cord system that allows any assembly-line worker to ultimately halt the entire production line, should they spot a problem.

Something that many of us would see as being counterintuitive has actually be proven to be revolutionary.

Shooting The Messenger

The difference between these companies and the “don’t bring me problems” business where I used to work isn’t resources.

It’s courage.

It takes guts to build a culture where people can speak up about what and where they see existing or potential issues, without getting them getting torn a new one by their peers – or their boss.

This kind of culture requires corporate leadership that:

• Actually believes that problems are learning opportunities, rather than just saying it during staff meetings
• Rewards people who find the ugly truth, not just whoever makes things look pretty
• Gives teams the breathing room needed to investigate why things went sideways
• Treats recurring problems as a failure of understanding, rather a witch hunt to find the person to throw under the bus

Knowledge is not everything. The right knowledge at the right time is everything. There’s no such thing as bad news or good news, only on-time news and late news.

Business is a rapidly-changing, unpredictable entity. The sooner we learn and accept what’s wrong, the more time we have to put it right.