Our default is a solution, but what if we looked at it differently?

It is in our nature in our work to try and find solutions fast to problems, this is fine if all we relied on was ourselves and no one. In an era where we are working with multiple stakeholders, inside and outside the organization, our greatest asset is actually working through the challenges and providing clarity on the problems.

Instead of being in a hurry to recommend a solution, we need to take time in figuring out and understanding the marketing problem, then share this properly with our teams and all key stakeholders. The one thing we have the potential to do if we are in a hurry to do, is find ourselves solving for the wrong problem, or worse still create a culture of no ownership of problems and actually being relied upon to find the solution. For any marketer, you will only be much stronger if you allow everyone that you work with to be a collective problem solver, and for you to not be the main source of problem solving.

Benefits include;

1. Less problems will require your attention, because they will be solved before they get to you.

2. Where there is a team problem, there will be more than one solution which creates opportunity to implement the best one and not just one.

3. You will have an environment that promotes initiative, allows for people to own the problems and work towards finding solutions.

Frame the conversation, clarify the problem and allow everyone to contribute daily in the pursuit to solving the problem.