or why you can never solve other people’s problem.
8pm: “Hi Joe, frustrating day, marketing is such a mess. It’s all over the place, mixed or wrong messages, leads are not being passed over, the CMO doesn’t see there is a problem.”
8am: “Thank you Joe. I love that I can send you a message in the evening, with the biggest mess that feels just so big in my head and when I come in the next morning you have solved it for me.”
This message was in my WhatsApp this morning, now dear Reader, I’m going to let you in on a secret, I didn’t solve the problem. Not even close. I’m no marketing expert. Far from it.
The secret is to never solve other people’s problems. You can never know the answer. But what you can do is guide them to their answer.
When you look a problem as whole it can seem like a mess. The mess can raise emotion. Frustration, overwhelm. A messy ball of wool.
The problem is rarely one thing. Take the messy ball and take the time to split it into its individual threads. Then address each thread in turn. The hard part? Recognising the threads.
Some approaches I take:
- Each thread is either Why, What, How, When or Who (this is the approach I used in the above example)
- What’s really going on here? (look for the fine threads causing all the problems)
You can of course do this by yourself. But you need time and space to think about it. You can’t address it while checking your email or in a meeting.
Go for a walk. Unpick the ball. It will feel less overwhelming and it will most certainly help you find the place to start.
Now, I love a challenge. If you have a problem, if it feels like no-one else can help, send me a voice message or email, just hit reply and I’ll get back to you. I’ll help you unpick that mess of a ball of a problem, don’t hesitate.
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