Don't Just Bring Me the Problem — Bring the Fix

The problem in one breath

All day long people hand you problems and walk off. "The dumpster's blocking the driveway." "Homeowner's hot about the landscaping." "We're short bundles on Oak Street." Every one lands on you, bare, and now you're carrying twelve problems other men could've solved — because handing you the problem is easier than fixing it, and you trained them that you'll always catch it.

Why it happens

You made yourself the answer man. Every time somebody brought you a naked problem and you solved it on the spot, you taught the whole crew that thinking is your job and reporting is theirs. It feels good to be needed. But a company where only the owner solves things can never grow bigger than the owner's own day — and your day is already full.

The play

New rule, said out loud to everybody, in these words: "Nobody hands me a bare problem anymore. You bring the fix." Then the four parts, every time — on paper, in a text, or two minutes at the huddle:

1. The problem, plain. One or two lines. What's actually wrong.
2. Your part in it. What did you do that helped make this happen? Not to take a beating — because the man who owns his part can usually see the way out, and because when he admits his piece, nobody else feels blamed. "I didn't confirm the delivery count Friday" beats "the supplier screwed us."
3. Your fix. What you'd do if the call were yours and you couldn't phone a soul. Not three options for me to pick from — your best answer, stated flat. A plan I can react to beats a menu I have to build.
4. Who does what, by when. Turn the fix into names and dates. Not "we should" — "Danny calls the supplier at 7, I recount the load at the truck by noon."

That's it. The problem shows up with a fix attached or it doesn't show up at all. Most of the time, just writing out those four parts, the man solves it himself before he ever reaches you — which was the whole idea.

The crew variant — a bigger issue, more than one man. When it's a call that hits the whole crew — how to run three tear-offs with one dumpster, whether to eat a mistake or bill it — do two things different. First, the man closest to the work proposes the fix, not you. He's on it every day; he sees what you can't from the office. Second, you speak last. Go around, let every man give his honest read, and keep your mouth shut until they're done. Here's why: the second the boss says what he thinks, the honest takes dry up — everybody just nods along, and you lose the exact information you called the meeting to get. Talk first and you get agreement. Talk last and you get the truth. Running that call end to end — everybody's read down before anyone talks, one man assigned to poke holes — is a play of its own: Don't Let the Loudest Guy Run the Call (M5-07).

Do this this week

Tell your crew the new rule at the next huddle, in one sentence: "From now on, don't bring me a problem without a fix — what's wrong, your part in it, what you'd do, and who does what by when." Then the next time someone brings you a bare problem, don't solve it. Hand it back: "What's your fix?" One time. They learn fast.

The tool

One page, printed and stapled to the truck visor or the shop wall — the bring-the-fix form:

BRING THE FIX  —  before you hand it up

Your name: ______________    Date: ______    Job / where: ______________

1) THE PROBLEM (plain, one or two lines):
   ________________________________________________________
   ________________________________________________________

2) MY PART IN IT (what I did that helped make this happen):
   ________________________________________________________

3) MY FIX (what I'd do if the call were mine and I couldn't ask a soul):
   ________________________________________________________
   ________________________________________________________

4) WHO DOES WHAT, BY WHEN:
   ____________________  does  ____________________  by ______
   ____________________  does  ____________________  by ______

If your crew is 1099

This one travels fine to a sub, with a small reframe. You're not teaching a subcontractor how to think — you're setting a term of doing business with your company: bring problems with a proposed fix, not bare. A good sub will like it; it means fewer of your calls chewing up his day. Just keep "your fix" as his call on his scope — how he'd solve it on the work he's contracted for — not you handing his crew their assignments. On a shared-crew issue, "closest man proposes, owner speaks last" still gets you the truth; it just can't turn into you directing a sub's people.