ADDRESSING TOMORROW’S POTENTIAL PROBLEMS TODAY

Here’s something that frustrates me:

I’m in a group. We’re debriefing on something that went wrong. As we get into the roots of the problem, someone says:

“I knew this would happen someday.”

We value “courageous communication” in our company. A great example of courageous communication is when we are willing to surface a potential problem before it becomes a big problem.

There are all sorts of reasons people hold back speaking about problems:

• “It’s not my job.
• “Don’t want to hurt feelings.”
• “I don’t want to be involved.”
• “I might be wrong.”
• “Someone else will handle it eventually.”

You get my drift. A business truism comes from Jamie Dimon, a hall-of-fame bank leader. He says, “Problems don’t age well.”

The sooner we get to a problem and work out solutions, the better we will be. Please do a mental inventory. If you know of something you can see will be a problem tomorrow, how about finding a way to surface that issue today? It will make us a better place.