The difference between FOCUSING On PROBLEMS and FOCUSING On SOLUTIONS

Case # 1:

When NASA began the launch of astronauts into space, they found out that the pens would not work at zero gravity (ink will not flow down to the writing surface.

Solution #1: To solve this problem, it took them one decade and $12 million. They developed a pen that worked at zero gravity, upside, down underwater, in practically and any surface including crystal and in a temperature range from below freezing to over 300 degrees C.

Solution #2: And what did the Russians do..? They used a pencil.

Case # 2:

One of the most memorable case studies on Japanese management was the case of the empty soapbox, which happened in one of Japan’s biggest cosmetics companies. The company received a complaint that a consumer had bought a soapbox that was empty. Immediately, the authorities isolated the assembly line which had transported all the packaged boxes of soap to the delivery department with one soapbox passing through the assembly line empty. Management asked its engineer to solve the problem.

Solution # 1: Post-haste, the engineers worked hard to devise an X-ray machine with high-resolution monitors manned by two people to watch all the soapboxes that passed through the line to make sure they were not empty, they worked hard and the worked fast but they spent a whoopee amount to do so.

Solution # 2: But when a rank-and-file employee in a small company was posed with the same problem, he did not get into complications of X-rays, etc., but instead came out with another solution. He bought a strong industrial fan and pointed it at the assembly line. He switches on, and as each soapbox passed the fan, it simply blew the empty boxes out of the line.

Moral:

· Always look for simple solution that solves the problems.

· Devise the simplest possible solution that solves the problems.

· Always focus on solutions & not on problems.