Solve any Business Problem in 3 Steps

In business, unforeseen circumstances are inevitable- life throws you curveballs every day. As a leader, your job is to know how to deal with them. Fortunately, no matter the scale of the problem, most issues can be drilled down and handled by using this simple 3-step plan.

1. Take a deep breath.

Freaking out only makes it worse! The goal here is to control your emotional response. If you want to come up with an effective, logical solution to the new challenge, you’ll need to remain in a steady, neutral state. Keep in mind your team feeds off your energy- if you’re bugging out, they’ll bug out.

2. Start to unpack the problem

After you’ve calmed yourself and your team down, you need to begin to think about what caused the problem, and what the potential solution are. Personally, I like to quickly look at the short and long-term fix. Framing the problem this way helps give perspective, and provides options.

3. Weigh the risks.

Looking at possible solutions, you then have to weigh the risk of making a short-term mistake over biting the bullet today for a more prosperous future. For example, let’s say a huge customer is going bankrupt or having financial troubles. Do you believe in their ability to bounce back if you work with them? If so, do what you can to accommodate them without putting your business at risk and help them through. They will never forget it.

I once had a customer with financial troubles and we immediately shut them off from our product. They ended up bouncing back and still won’t do business with us to this day. Understanding how what you do today will affect you a year from now is crucial.

Whatever you do, take some sort of action. At the end of the day, a decision is better than no decision.