Leaders are looked to has having the ability to solve problems and provide solution ideas when people need them. Rising to this challenge requires skills and character that enable the leader to continue forward progress for his or her team. Furthermore, problems are inevitable; they will happen!
Problems arise for there are always things out of our control such as people and circumstances. When one of these two variables intereferes with our plans, a problem occurs. The leader must demonstrate the following characteristics to be good problem solvers.
1. Outlook- Leaders must live with the attitude that problems will arise. Problems are necessary for our forward progress and personal development. A leader who does not act surprised when problems arise builds security in those trusting his or her leadership. The proper outlook eliminates a lof of the negative emotions that come from being caught off guard.
2. Honesty - Leaders cannot hide their face in the sand and expect to move their team forward. Leaders must be willing to be honest and face the reality and truth about situations. Leaders must have the character to be honest and humble to own up to the truth. This also builds security and trust in those following his or her leadership.
3. Perspective - Leaders must keep the big picture and remember the goals. Author Alfred A. Montapert wrote, "The majority see the obstacles; the few see the objectives; history records the success of the latter, while oblivion is the reward of the former." Leaders cannot let themselves get buried in the details and forget their mission.
Most importantly, don't let obstacles become brakes. Leaders must not let obstacles and problems become the means by which progress stops and the team doesn't continue. Leaders must see obstacles as opportunities and part of the process necessary for future success.
Huh, well all of those 3 points I think are really important. The thing that sticks out to me about them is that usually there's one that you're like "oh, don't need to worry about that one" but that's not the case with these. All 3 of them require constant attention, which I think sometimes can be really difficult. I really like the Outlook one too because I think that a lot of the times when you start going with an idea you're positive, you have to be because who wants to do something they think will fail? However, I think that then a lot of times people get unrealistic because they get to caught up in the THIS IDEA IS AWESOME. It's something everyone can work on. :)
ReplyDeleteellen i was thinking just like you i also think the outlook is most important. as a leader our outlook on the problem will reflect on to out team. if it is a good outlook you will probably have success but on the other hand if the leader himself doesn't even have the right outlook how is he to tell the others of his objective. i think thats why outlook is most important
ReplyDeleteI think all three are great and I think that the reason there isn't a lot of leaders in the world because all these are hard to do at once. It takes a lot of work and it takes a lot of courage and hard work that only a real leader would be willing to do.
ReplyDeleteI think all of them are really important, but the one that really stuck in my head is outlook. If you are living in a fairytale and think everything is perfect, you are in big delusion. Real leaders expect difficulties, but they expected them and have idea what to do about them.
ReplyDeleteOf all the things that make a problem solver good or bad, these are definetly the most important. You can also see these qualities in every leader. They are clear cut things that every person can accomplish if they take the time to think about them and work on them. These 3 qualities can help you everday in your life in everything you do.
ReplyDeleteI agree with everyone else. No one is going to want to follow someone who is the "leader" but doesn't know what they are doing. let alone trust the person because of stuff they have lied about, even if it was in the past, and something not related to the subject. If you are a leader, you can't just shut down because a problem comes up, you have to learn to push through the problem and find ways to get around stuff that wasn't planned.
ReplyDeleteYeah I think those three things are important.
ReplyDeleteBut my number one is Honesty.
Leaders must be honest.
With people they work.
With themseves.
About everything.
It makes people trust leader.
It is foundation of communication.
Effective communication is what leaders do.
On outlook, like we always talk about in class, good leaders need to be able to define the probletunity and be able to see that all problems are opportunities. On honesty, I've got to be honest, I'm not always honest. I try to be but sometimes I'm not. And that problem is simply an opportunity to show more honesty and earn people's trust back. On Perspective, that is true that most people do see problems as opportuniteis. Opportunites to give up. To be an efficent leader, you need to be able to see every obstacle as an opportunity.
ReplyDeletehmm... I agree with all the points, they are really important. But actually, the thing that I've realized as soon as I came to high school is outlook. You know, when you are little, you see the whole world through the pink glasses, but as soon as you grew up you have to take them off...and...gush...this world is full of problems!!! however the more you realize that problems are a normal event the more brave to see them you'll be. And the more you are not afraid to see them, the more you expect them the more of them will be predicted, so the more of them will be solved before they appeared. So the outlook does help, it is my opinion.
ReplyDeleteI think that all three of the points are really important to have in a leader when solving problems. The one thing that struck me though was the perspective one because leaders can not let the obstacles become as brakes to them in there problem solving. Obstacles will always come but I think that a leader must accept that it is in the way and to figure out how to work through it and not let it stop them.
ReplyDeleteleaders need to look at trials and promblems as blessings. Bc every time you overcome a trial you become stronger inside and know how to react next time that happens.
ReplyDeleteperspective to me is most important. it gives you the ability to look from all sides of the problem and find the one spot where you can begin to solve the problem
ReplyDeleteI just read your post on effective teen leadership before this one and said out loud...Mr. Fritz, you forgot to include perspective, I am quite pleased to see it in the problem solving blog...Perspective on a situation has proven to be one of the most useful attributes to have...especially when I am meeting people who have catistophically different backgrounds than my own.
ReplyDelete