Helping Others Solve Problems Faster

I’ve recently started working with a new start-up.

Joe, one of the founders shared his problem-solving framework for getting employees to feel good and solve massive problems.

This is a simplified version of the hero’s journey. It goes like this:

1. The call to adventure - An employee is given a problem to deal with

2. Meeting the mentor - This is the role you as a manager play and how you interact with the employee by asking the right question

3. Tests, allies, and enemies - The employee tests themselves to think about the problem

4. The ordeal - You, as a manager, pose a challenge to them

5. Crossing the threshold - The employee accepts the challenge and solves

Joe does this with two questions, as shown in the screenshot below:

• Is there any way to solve this for all time?

• Ok so what would you suggest?

This framework is simple, quick and easy to implement.

Frame up a big problem and then let them solve it.

Notes: The only way you create individual resourcefulness is by letting others solve big problems.

As managers, we tend to want to solve things to show our intellect or because we think we’re going to be faster, but that only acts as a band-aid.

Let other people shine and your job will get easier.

Being Frugal Beats Being Flashy

Mainstream media would have us believe that the VC raising, growth at all costs, and ping-pong tables in every-room businesses are what we should want to be part of and aspire to build.

That might have worked in 2014 when ZIRP was the new kid in town, but that's a bygone era; money costs money now, and GDPs don't move like they used to.

Revenues are out, profits are in and in this environment, the frugal entrepreneur beats the flashy.

But people are confused about what it means to be frugal. The corner dairy, held together by duck tape with crooked isles and broken lights, is not frugal. It is broke.

I know this because I bought one of those businesses once.

A gym that in just five years had fallen from $1,000,000+ in revenue and $500,000 in profits to $200,000 in revenue and annual losses reaching six figures.

This is what it looked like by the time I took over - who the hell would want to train there?

Strangely, the family that owned it were very wealthy - one-half of the husband and wife duo was the managing partner of Deloitte. Once upon a time, they lived in the most valuable home in Dunedin.

It was a terrible idea - but it taught me the difference between being frugal (smart) and saving money at all costs (stupid).

They were employing the save money at all costs strategy and going out of business fast.

That's not what the frugal do. The frugal are resourceful and intelligent allocators of resources. The frugal don't save money at all costs; they save money without reducing value.

They find ways to deliver the same value to the customer at a lower cost.

To do this, you need a process—a defined problem and solution.

Paying payroll on time, getting new customers, training staff. When you know your problems and find repeatable ways to overcome them - you can put a process in place. And once that's in place - you can be frugal.

The books for that gym I brought were a mess when I took over; they had no set way of doing things, and nothing was in order - so I hired help from accountants, bankers and lawyers to figure out the best way to do things.

But once I had a system in place, instead of continuing to pay those from $50 to $300 an hour for support, I hired an offshore bookkeeper for $10 an hour to do it all for me.

Then, there was our onboarding process for new gym members. It used to be as ad-hoc as you could get - the first few hundred leads who walked through our doors after I took over had a uniquely poor experience every time. It cost us many thousands of dollars and man-hours.

Again, I paid for courses, read books, hired experts and eventually, we built a repeatably valuable onboarding experience. And with the help of Zapier, Calendly, Gym Master & Oni, we deliver it at 1/5th of the original cost.

The compounding effect of this frugality will drop six figures to our bottom line this year and might be what has kept us default-alive during these slower times.