We’ve all been in situations where we’ve found something that needs to be done/fixed/corrected/etc.  Our kneejerk response to finding these things is to point them out, to tell our manager/coworker/spouse that we found a problem.  This isn’t a bad thing... After all, we’re flagging a problem for others, and that’s the second step to getting it solved (number one being identifying there’s something wrong at all).  Indeed, many folks don’t even take the first step of identifying things that need fixing, which itself is a fascinating topic.

The weakness with this approach however, is it’s passive.  We’re telling everyone “Hey, I found something broken”, and nothing else.  There is certainly value in this, since now others are aware of the thing, however, you’re basically just making work for other people.  Now that it’s a known problem, your manager/team/parents/whoever, need to figure out what to do about it.  Suddenly someone else now has move work on their plate… work that you basically gave to them.

Instead of pointing at a thing and saying it’s broken, instead point out how you’re going to fix the problem.  For example, instead of “We scheduled the wrong flights for our vacation”, try something like “I noticed our flights were for the wrong dates, I’ve already emailed the airline to get them changed”.  Or how about instead of “All of these new hire records have the wrong hiring manager”, try “I’ve found that 54 new hires have the wrong hiring manager, here’s a list of their correct ones that I’d like to update”.

I always try to think through what I would like to get if the problem was brought to my attention and work backwards from there before I send out any communication.  Is there background info I should be including?  Are there statistics or other numbers that would be helpful (e.g. the total number of errors, people impacted, etc)?  Are there other folks that should be informed or brought into the discussion?  These questions help me shape what I pass along, and help shorten the time from “see thing broken” to “thing is fixed”.

This approach lets others know about the danger, and also demonstrates you’ve thought it through and have a fix in place.  You’re both saving them time by presenting a fix, and also demonstrating your initiative/skill/etc in fixing it.  By presenting both at once you’re also giving them an opportunity to weigh in… maybe they have a different fix in mind, or some new approach they could teach you. Regardless, you’ll end up in a more positive spot overall… either having solved the problem yourself, or gaining something valuable as a result.