Management Monday – problem solving

This weeks management Monday post comes from Emma John:

Problem Solving

There are so many ways to work as a team to solve a variety of issues within the dental environment

Lets look at my favourite…brainstorming which I think is great for team building as well as to solve the all important problem

Brainstorming with a group of people is a powerful technique. Brainstorming creates new ideas, solves problems, motivates and develops teams. Brainstorming motivates because it involves members of a team in bigger management issues, and it gets a team working together.  Brainstorming needs to be structured and it follows some basic rules.

To brain storm initially  you will need a flip-chart or something similar . This is important as Brainstorming needs to involve the team, which means that everyone must be able to see what’s happening.

1. Define and agree the objective, everyone needs to understand the aim of the session
2. Brainstorm ideas and suggestions having agreed a time limit beforehand as this will keep you on track
3. Categorise ideas as individuals will come up with random ideas which may be able to be linked as the session continues
4. Discuss and evaluate the ideas and results
5. Prioritise all the options
6. Agree upon an action plan and all important timescales and individual responsibilities
7. Keep your team motivated by monitoring the action plan and giving feedback

I often find myself adopting the brainstorming process with my own team and those I teach as if done correctly you can involve everyone which frequently raises the level of moral, which is so vital.

Emma John