I found myself twice in management meetings have similar conversations about problem solving as it relates to organizational structure. I should start by admitting that I am notorious for over-estimating the amount of work that can be accomplished and underestimating what it will take to accomplish this work. But – that having been said – what I often find is that it is hard for managers to break what appears to be a large and overwhelming issue into a series of manageable chunks and then attacking each chunk independently. I think – maybe because of my background focus on math and analytics – that for me everything seems to form itself in the form of manageable chunks. But all too often it is hard to see those chunks because the group of problems appears to be so large in comparison.
Think for a minute about the following analogy. I am not a chef and cannot even begin to think that I can put together a great meal. However, I have found myself watching and mystified as I see people who can put together the most amazing meal – piece by piece. They do not come into it looking at the overwhelming challenge of creating and over the top meal. Instead, they approach each part of what needs to be made independently – while acknowledging and understanding how they fit together. Think about it – they make the salad, the soup, the dinner, the side, the sauce, and the dessert. Each of these pieces in and of itself it a lot of work and needs to be looked at and completed by itself. And independently, it is not much. But when put together and combined together, it solves the larger dsire of creating a great meal – one piece at a time – cooking in manageable chunks.
Is there a better analogy? Probably. But the bigger question is – as a business leader – are you helping your manager to see the manageable chunks?
