As we enter a period of renewal and change, Your Clear Next Step is committed to helping our customers make their businesses and workdays even better. We will be here to walk beside you, to listen, to connect, and to aid in your search for clarity. In doing so, we are offering a free, weekly Zoom calls, called Friday Connections, at 1:15pm (CDT) every Friday from 5/8/2020 - 8/7/2020.
These calls are a chance for us to share tips and discussion about relevant topics (working remotely, maintaining consistency in uncertain times, building relationships across geography, staying motivated, staying connected, etc) and network with each other to provide help and support during this time of change.
Thank you to everyone who was able to join us today! Click here to join our next call on Friday, May 22nd at 1:15pm (CDT).
On today's call...
Sinikka talked about creative problem solving.
So we’ve had a fair number of opportunities recently to get creative in our problem solving, and we’ve seen some great ideas come out of these recent months!
There are three key messages that we need to think about when we are trying to solve a problem creatively.
What problem, really, am I trying to solve?
- Brainstorm, alone or with someone else, to make sure you see the real problem you’re trying to solve so you can avoid the trap of just solving symptoms
- You’ll recognize it as a problem you can solve, you should solve, and by solving, other problems go away
- Again, brainstorm, alone or with someone else, to come up with all the possible ways you might solve that problem
- Then pick the best of those options: the one with the most benefits, the fewest obstacles, and the one your gut says is right.
- Deciding is not the same as taking action!
- Once you’ve tried your solution, make adjustments as needed to make it even better.
A few thoughts that were shared by the group:
- One participant is creative every day at work while navigating so many moving parts. They are most proud of when they are working with communities and they help them grow and evolve by creatively taking the risk away.
- One participant has been creatively finding ways to recruit workers. They are also problem solving how to keep their stores safe and protect the store’s perception. They have been using ideas from the whole company on how to create a good impression.
- One participant’s travel has been cancelled so they launched their YouTube channel and have been pivoting their business.
- One participant has been creatively finding ways to learn the financial side of business and using their creative brain in numbers and money since they don’t normally do that.
- One participant has been creatively problem solving through moving their meetings online.
- Managers are creatively trying to find back to work policies.
- One participant has been trying to creatively figure out how to get the word out about their class.
- One participant gave a shout-out to the Helping Hand in Indianola who has established relationships to get fresh produce to the food pantry, formed relationships to help solve the meat crisis, and coordinated with the churches who have freezer space to hold some of this meat and produce while it waits for a family.
- One participant saw that people who had campers gave medical professionals their camper to use while they were at risk.
- Another participant shared that their family member has turned their camper into an office space so that they are out of the house.
