A Problem By Any Other Name Is Still A Problem

“Houston, we’ve had a problem.”

When Apollo 13 Commander James Lovell said these words to his ground controllers, he was not aware that in 40 or so years, it would be almost verboten to say the word “problem” in a business setting. Big guy managers are often times famous for saying, “If you are going to bring me a problem, bring me at least 3 solutions for it…” Big guy manager can avoid problems this way actually. Pretty clever.

And then there are the positive-thinkerites. They don’t call problems problems, they are “opportunities to excel”, or “challenges to be overcome.” Now I’m all for reframing things at the appropriate time, and I’m all for learning from challenges, but dammit, things get real difficult sometimes, problems happen. Things go FUBAR in the night and no amount of saying “problem” in the correct way is going to stop the heart from beating faster, the stomach acid to start working overtime, the insomnia to rear its head. Is shit hitting the fan an opportunity or a challenge at that point? Neither. It's a problem. The last thing someone needs when presenting a problem to his/her boss is some corporate platitude about how we view problems around here. That person needs empathy and at that point, support, guidance, and yes, maybe even the boss’s stab at a solution or at least a partnership to develop some solutions.

Call problems problems. Cut out the corporate cuteness and jargon-mongering.

Years ago I was asked by my boss at the time to have a meeting to find “synergy” (jargon at its finest) with a person who was heading up clinical education. I was heading up all the other types: leadership, staff development, etc. at the same hospital. You could say we were supposed to be colleagues. Synergy would be all over the place when these two professionals put their minds to it.

We met in her office. My first mistake. She showed me an organization chart she'd prepared for our meeting. She had merged our two departments. She put herself on top and there was no sign of me on that chart anywhere. I guess she had freed up my future to pursue other “opportunities.” At that point I had a problem. O.K. a challenge too. But a big problem first.