In a previous article, we talked about dealing with difficult people and how it is important to identify the real problems.

In this article, we will discuss dealing with difficult problems. Ironically and very often, the answer lies in those “difficult people”.

If you’re a very driven, aggressive leader, chances are your most challenging people will be those who are highly analytical and detailed. Where you speak in bullet points, they may speak in voluminous, detailed volumes. Where you most want things to be done quickly, they most want things to be done right. Chances are, they want you to slow down; and you want them to speed up.

In an ideal working environment, there is a level of both.

If you are an aggressive leader, slow down just a bit to give your more analytical team members time to think through the details before you charge off in the direction of a goal. Though it may take a little more time on the front side, they could save you countless hours and thousands of dollars on a project. One example is a project where I had several hundred people to manage through a process. Doing it my way, which seemed the most direct and quickest route, would have taken about three weeks. My business manager asked if I could give her a couple of days to see if there was a quicker way to accomplish the goal. I gleefully handed over the keys to the spreadsheet. She wrote a macro that accomplished in seconds what would have otherwise taken three weeks.

Now, she will tell you that she also works very hard to adjust to my perspective on things as well, and adjusts her pace accordingly. She boils down the details into 3-5 bullet points. She seeks tools that allow me to work very quickly and directly.

It is this working together with different perspectives that enables us to solve difficult problems quickly.

If you are faced with a difficult problem, go outside your normal circle of peers who think like you and collaborate a little with those who do not think at all like you. You may be amazed at how quickly, working together, you find a simple solution to an otherwise complex problem.

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To learn more about working with your team to solve difficult problems visit StrengthLeader.com.