Employers Value Problem Solvers
No matter what kind of work you do: If you can solve (or quickly learn to solve) problems or introduce improvements, I guarantee you’ll be constantly courted by your employers and/or bosses.
I make this confident assertion based not just on my personal successes in paid employment, but also from working closely with management and staff of client companies over the past decade.
I provide below, links to pages containing verifiable details regarding my achievements in the fast paced working environment of Guinness Nigeria – my employer between 1995 and 2001.
So What Exactly Did I Achieve?
I’ve documented most of my key achievement in some fairly long articles I wrote years back(most being over 3,000 words).
No need therefore, to repeat myself here.
Below are titles and links to some of the articles.
Become A Habitual Peak Performer: Learn How To Get Into "Flow"(Or…"The Zone") More Frequently
How To Make Yourself UNRETRENCHABLE!
Read This Or One Day The MD’s Presentation Could Flop Because Of You!(True Story)
How To Turn A Major Blunder At Work Into A Career Advancement Opportunity(True Story)
Achieve Recognition and Attract Career Advancement Opportunities By Being A Change Agent(True Story)
Do You Have A Self-Managed Development Guide?
Become A Leader At Work, By Making Your Company’s Decision Makers Take Favourable Notice Of You!
Accelerate Organisational Learning – Use Formal Problem Solving Techniques To Boost Productivity!
Boost Employee Productivity Without Increasing Salaries – Proven, Yet Little Used Strategies
How To Be A Jack Of Many Trades, And Why It Can Make You Succeed More Often?( Based On Real-Life Practice)
The Key To My Success In Paid Employment Was My Problem Solving Expertise
My achievements, as well as the early high level recognition, and career advancement opportunities I enjoyed were – without exception – a direct result of my active problem solving disposition.
I readily put my various skills and knowledge to use in solving problems wherever they showed up.
It did not matter if the problem occurred in a seperate department. If I knew or could do anything to help I would.
Here’s one example.
In 2001 I worked as Training and Technical Development Manager(TTDM).
Apart from ensuring my department (where I was the trained in-house champion) passed the ISO 9000 zero Non-Conformity test conducted by the Standards Organision, I made out time to visit other departments and help resolve NCs that were raised.
This was so the NCs could be closed out before the auditors left.
Now, that had always been my attitude. But during the ISO certification audits everybody appreciated it more, because they knew that if even one department failed, the company would NOT pass the audit.
You can therefore imagine the goodwill I earned for myself during that trying period – especially when it was announced that we passed!
Make It Your Business To Help Eliminate Problems, Even When It’s Not Your Department
This brings me to the issue of a bad attitude some employees develop, to the detriment of their employer.
You hear them say:
“That’s YOUR department’s problem. We’ve done our bit. You sort yourselves out!”
I’ve seen that attitude lead to avoidable losses of useful production time for the entire company!
Potential outcomes of the above include lower sales, and if it persists, the company’s ability to pay employees (like those guilty of not acting responsibly in the first place), could be damaged.
“What goes around, comes around” as the popular saying goes.
Keep the above in mind at all times, and let it guide your actions!
Final Words: Why Should You Take My Advice?
For someone who fancies himself as having usable workplace performance improvement ideas to share, I only spent a mere 7 years working in paid employment 
Some people would say that’s good reason for employers and organisational decision makers to NOT place much of a premium on advice I offer.
I however say THAT is exactly why they should listen to me.
We have a saying in my country, that:
“It’s not how far you’ve come, but how well you’ve performed.”
In 2002, I delivered – on formal invitation – a management research paper on Self Development, to a packed auditorium at the Center for Management Development here in Lagos.
As I mounted the platform to start my presentation, the Training Manager/announcer felt compelled to warn the audience (which included top management personnel) against taking my youthful appearance (I was 32) to mean I could not have anything useful to tell them.
I should add that he spoke from personal experience. I still recall being vaguely amused at his expression of surprise at my lack of grey hair the first time we met
He’d brought an invitation letter signed by the Director General, noting that they’d assumed from reading my paper that I must have spent up to 2 decades in paid employment to gain the kinds of insights I’d shared in it!
I’d assured him that 7 years were all I could boast of, but that I had even more useful ideas to share that I had not yet put on paper
The over 100 feedback forms returned to me from the audience that day had ratings and comments that supported my claims, as confirmed by the Training Manager, who read through each one, before passing on to me.
A formal letter from the centre later acknowledged the “lucid manner” in which I’d presented my ideas on that day.
It further noted that even those of them who’d assumed they knew enough about the subject (Self Development As A Tool For Achieving Career Advancement – A Practical Guide Based On Experience) came away with new insights.
Hopefully, you’ll find the above convincing enough to make you treat what I’ve proposed in this piece with the seriousness it deserves.
Your career might just depend on it!
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