Practical Solutions for Everyday Work Problems by Elizabeth Chesla

When I saw this book, there were only 2 things in my mind. One is that even though it does not look brand new, it is still rather cheap and the other being I can get some tips in solving my work problems, which seems to be coming at me continuously throughout the whole day. After going through the book, here are my 20 takeaways.

1) State current situation, then the desired situation.

2) Identify the problem.
- problem must be a fact, not an opinion.
- problem must be manageable (something can be done to solve it)

3) Set goal
- Specific, measureable, ambitious & realistic

4) Break problem into parts
- questions and answers must be relevant
- keep records

5) Must have positive attitude and beliefs (must believe that you can before things are done)
- face reality, do not run away from the problem
- trust intuition
- be patient

6) Be in a good environment

7) Observe to see what others overlooked

8) Put yourself in other people's shoes

9) Practise creativity

10) The more creative you are, the more possibilities you can uncover. And the more possibilities you uncover, the more likely you are to find the best solution for that situation.

11) Just start to write something, anything to stop the writer's block.

12) Brainstorm. No censor, no criticism

13) Listing - list all possible answers, without thinking to come up with best answers.

14) Mapping - Enables you to see realtionship between different ideas.

15) Drawing connections - connecting between random words and the problem

16)No creative solution. Normally stuck in one way of thinking due to problem handled in certain way. Need paradigm shift.

17) Evaluation solutions.
- Ranking by criteria. Effectiveness, feasibility, time, cost. human resources, difficulty/ease of implementation, risk. Use table to rank.
- Pros and Cons

18) Errors in reasoning during evaluation.
- Appeals to emotions. Fear, vanity, flattery, scare tactics, peer pressure, pity
- Assuming a possible consequence will happen if you do something.
- Thinking you have only 2 options when you could have more options.
- Reasoning going in circles, ie no real reasons
- Assuming a situation which might not be true.

19) Action Plan
- Break solution down into tasks to be accomplished
- Determine order in which tasks must be completed
- Determine who will handle each task
- Determine how long for each task and how much it costs
- Set specific start and end dates for each task
- Develop contingency plans

20) Present the solution
- Consider your audience
- Clearly define the problem
- Summarise the problem
- Present the solution
- Anticipate objections.

I felt that the book is a good book for beginners in starting his/her working life. It give the basic steps to look at problems. It has been refreshing, though i had hope to learn new ways to tackle problems.

Fish! Sticks by Stephen C. Lundin, John Christensen and Harry Paul

This is sort of a continuation of the 1st book, Fish!. For those who have not read the 1st book, it would be better if you read it 1st before reading this book. This is in fact the 3rd installment from these authors of the Fish! philosophy. The 2nd book is Fish! Tales, which are real life stories about people who used the Fish! philosopy.

This book differs from the 1st book in that the 1st book teaches about the concept of the philosophy and this book introduces methods to make the change sticks.

There are 3 main ingredients in this book; Find it, Live it and Coach it.

In any job, one must be committed to something. There must be something that you believe dearly in order for you to function as productive worker. There must be something that makes you have passion in what you are doing, so that you are constantly thinking of new improvement ideas. It may be that you want to be supportive to your colleagues, it may be that you want to create a good working environment or it may be that you want to better yourself every year. Whatever it is, you have to "Find it".

After finding your committment, you have to "Live it". If your committment is to support your colleagues, you will find ways to live to your committment. You can observe if your colleagues need assistance in certain jobs, or you can help by simply suggesting a method to make your colleagues' job easier. Living true to your committment requires discipline and consistency.

Coaching others sometimes can be difficult, especially if the other party is a more senior or experienced person. In "Coach it", it does not matter who the other party is. What matters is if you have better ideas and experience in doing that exact task. We are all good at something, be it writing a report, repairing the TV, analysing data or even a leisure workout.

Practising all these 3 parts would help to make any change sticks in any organisation.