http://www.michaelmcmillan.com/to-avoid-problems-focus-on-solutions Fri, 02 Dec 2011 16:38:40 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3 http://www.michaelmcmillan.com/to-avoid-problems-focus-on-solutions#comment-33 Michael Thu, 03 Dec 2009 03:28:16 +0000 http://michaelmcmillan.com/?p=168#comment-33 Thank you, Luke. I like your ideas and agree with them. It’s hard to <em>not</em> suffer from perceptual blindness over time and stop seeing opportunities and new solutions. The idea of writing down your initial observations and revisiting them is a great idea, too. We once hired a designer from Europe… before his first week ended he came into my office with a list of observations… such as, our computer system needed upgrading, and so on. It was bold and he upset a few people… but we listened to him and concluded he was right. It’s easy to dismiss the new person and make him/her the outcast. Successful companies keep an open mind and listen to different perspectives (including the least likely suspects). I appreciate your insight. Thank you, Luke. I like your ideas and agree with them. It’s hard to not suffer from perceptual blindness over time and stop seeing opportunities and new solutions. The idea of writing down your initial observations and revisiting them is a great idea, too. We once hired a designer from Europe… before his first week ended he came into my office with a list of observations… such as, our computer system needed upgrading, and so on. It was bold and he upset a few people… but we listened to him and concluded he was right. It’s easy to dismiss the new person and make him/her the outcast. Successful companies keep an open mind and listen to different perspectives (including the least likely suspects). I appreciate your insight.

]]> http://www.michaelmcmillan.com/to-avoid-problems-focus-on-solutions#comment-30 Luke Tue, 01 Dec 2009 04:32:38 +0000 http://michaelmcmillan.com/?p=168#comment-30 Nice Post. Something I always try to do is to write down my initial inclinations when working on a new problem or joining a new team and then revisiting my writings later. My experience in consulting is that a new employee is always "socialized" for several weeks by senior members before being asked to contribute. Why not probe the new member for insights and thoughts? Definitely much opportunity lost here. Nice Post. Something I always try to do is to write down my initial inclinations when working on a new problem or joining a new team and then revisiting my writings later. My experience in consulting is that a new employee is always “socialized” for several weeks by senior members before being asked to contribute. Why not probe the new member for insights and thoughts? Definitely much opportunity lost here.

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