Implementing your solution

- Most of you would probably not be surprised to know just how many times I've seen individuals, teams and organizations come up with solutions only to let them sit on the table unresolved. I would also venture to guess that most of you had experienced something similar. A sense of deja vu when you're in a meeting addressing the same problem that the group had discussed and solved last year or even last month. This happens way too often and it's usually result of two common errors in problem solving. The first is not putting a plan in place and the second is not having a way to assess if the plan actually worked. So make sure you're actually have a plan to move forward with. It's great to find the solution and to come to a great conclusion but part of that has to be laying out how you're going to make it a reality. A good action plan includes several key pieces. What exactly needs to get done. Go step by step. Who is doing these things? Each item should have a name attached to it, who is responsible for making sure the task is accomplished? By when, be specific about when each of the things should be done. What resources are needed and when are those resources needed? What do your teammates need? When do they need it and who's responsible for getting those things there? Are there checkpoints for seeing if you're on track and making progress? Finally, and this is important to remember who is in supporting roles. Are there people that need to be reported to used as resources or included in key steps? All people that have any role at all should know when and how they're involved. So you found your solution laid out your plan, executed the plan and now you need to determine if your solution really worked, you need to assess your success. So to do this, you need to make sure that you've articulated the final result in measurable, specific ways. You can make sure that the final result can be measured against a timeline or a deadline. Assessments need to take into account budget, timeliness and satisfaction of the team. Make sure there's opportunities for feedback from all stakeholders involved to highlight things that are going well as well as those things that aren't aligning. It's here that you should use an iterative process, assess, problem solve, plan, put in place, assess and restart. You should always look for ways to improve. So when you take a look at a problem you've solved, how well did you roll out the solution? Are there ways you could have improved it? The next time you look to solve a problem put a plan in place to not only make sure it happens but you're able to assess its success and correct as needed.