| Shake That Brain!® Solutions
Volume 2, Issue 10 |
| Shake
That Brain! Volume 2, Issue 10 IN THIS ISSUE: 1. THE ELEVATOR
PROBLEM ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ As the manager of an office building, you’re getting a growing number of complaints from the building’s tenants about how long they have to wait before an elevator arrives. You decide to call in a consultant to advise you. Question: What type of consultant do you hire? Naturally enough, most people answer, “An elevator consultant.” And that’s a fair answer. But it’s certainly not the ONLY answer. To get more -- and possibly BETTER answers -- do the following: WRITE
DOWN YOUR PROBLEM AS A CLEAR, PRECISE QUESTION. For example ... Before you start asking “What kind of CONSULTANT do I hire?” how about asking “What kind of PROBLEM do I have?” Is it a “mechanical” problem (“How do I speed up the elevators?”) or is it a “people” problem (“How do I get these people to STOP COMPLAINING!?”). Naturally, each of these questions will result in a very different kind of answer: the difference, perhaps, between spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to upgrade the system, or just what it costs to buy a bunch of mirrors and place them by the elevators – so people can spend their time PRIMPING and PREENING instead of being focused on how long their elevator is taking. Or you could do both – upgrade the elevators and put up mirrors. Regardless, the lesson is clear: THE MORE
WAYS YOU POSE YOUR QUESTION THE BETTER YOUR ODDS A similar solution was devised after callers to a business kept complaining about how many RINGS it took for someone to answer their call. The solution? Instead of hiring more people, they increased the LENGTH of each ring – so callers heard just two or three rings instead of four or five. And just like that ... people stopped complaining. REPRINT INFORMATION: Permission is hereby granted to reprint this article. Adapted from Joel Saltzman's book, "SHAKE THAT BRAIN! – How To Create Winning Solutions and Have FUN While You're At It!," to be published by Wiley 12/05. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ This newsletter has been brought to you by Joel Saltzman. Joel is a speaker,
facilitator, consultant, and creator of the "Shake http://shakethatbrain.com/wow Joel is also the publisher and founder of Shake It! Books: http://www.shakeitbooks.com/ TO
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