3 Ways To Embrace Small Problems

In the world of leadership, the smallest issues can often snowball into the most significant challenges if left unchecked. Proactive problem-solving is essential for any leader wanting to lead a successful team. If you embrace addressing small problems, you’ll keep them from growing into big problems. Adopting a tactical approach to address these small yet critical issues requires thoughtful strategies that combine openness, watering, and weeding.

Here are three thoughts on how leaders can solve small problems before they become bigger problems.

1) Build A Culture of Openness

Establishing a supportive environment where every team member feels empowered to express concerns, regardless of their magnitude, is crucial for proactively addressing potential issues. Cultures that value transparency and shared responsibility encourage individuals to identify and communicate even the slightest inefficiencies without fear of negative consequences.

Openness Tips:

Encourage Constructive Feedback

When you encourage others to speak up and bring issues to the forefront, you create a culture of feedback. Your team will not open up if there is fear of speaking up about small issues. You can’t afford to have a team that is silent on matters that must be addressed.

Normalize Regular Check-Ins

Implementing regular check-ins with team members fosters a sense of attentiveness and care. Whether formal one-on-one sessions or casual, spontaneous moments, they are invaluable for uncovering issues before they become big. You can’t hear about issues if you’re not around your team.

2) Spend Time Watering

Like a garden that requires constant care, a team needs regular nurturing to thrive. This means consistent effort from you to cultivate a flourishing ecosystem. You have to water what you want to grow in your team. If you want your team to be better problem solvers…what are you doing to nurture that behavior? If you want your team to communicate more effectively…what are you doing to train them to communicate better? Here is a simple truth…what you water grows.

Watering Tips:

Train To What You Want

If you want your team to grow, invest time to train them. You can’t expect your team to get better without consistent watering. Read books together, share insights and tips from trusted thought leaders, bring in a leadership coach to help develop your people, attend workshops, etc… DO SOMETHING!

Talk About Issues

Spend time discussing real issues that need to be addressed. Too many teams talk about the logistics of what needs to be done rather than addressing actual problems. How are you creating opportunities for team members to bring up challenges and ideas to improve and progress? As a leader, you must champion the cause to open up dialogue for issues to be dealt with before they get out of hand.

3) Spend Time Weeding

Once issues are brought to your attention, addressing them quickly underscores your commitment to be proactive rather than a reactive environment…LEAD WITH SPEED. Quick and decisive action speaks volumes to your team—it signals that their contributions and concerns are taken seriously and that you’re committed to maintaining a positive and functional work culture. Like a garden needs constant weeding, as leaders, we must boldly pull the weeds out that are choking growth.

Weeding Tips:

Prioritize and Strategize

Evaluate which issues demand immediate attention and which can be scheduled for later resolution. Set clear goals for solutions and communicate this strategy with your team to ensure alignment. Your team needs to know that issues are being addressed…remember you can’t overcommunicate with your team. Don’t leave them in the dark.

Recognize and Adapt to Change

Change is the only constant, and a team’s ability to adapt to change defines its success. Embrace the feedback you get from those around you, even if it contradicts your thoughts. Be open to solutions that may be out of your view. If you don’t listen to your team, they will eventually stop talking. So, make sure you are open to change based on solutions from those around you.

The more you work on being open to tackle problems when they’re small, the more successful you will be in the long run.