"Blamestorming"

I was watching TV the other day, and I saw a commercial which shows what is all too common in life. The setting was a board meeting of this company's competitor. The competitor was losing customers to this company, and the chairman asked for ideas on what to do. One person then said, "Let's have a 'blamestorming' (their word) session. I'd like to blame Ellen." The ad then ended with a message for the company.

How often do we have 'blamestorming' sessions? We sit around at work, at home, or some other organization, and blame others for our problems. It's not always other people; it can be outside circumstances or other companies. In some cases, it's God. Instead of spending the time fixing the blame, we should spend our time fixing the problem.

I know you've probably heard this before. The message can become like elevator music; it's there in the background, but it's so familiar you don't pay attention. It can be hard to fix the problem. In some cases, people are going to get hurt, so no one wants to be responsible for that. Also, there's a fear that if you don't fix it right, you'll just make it worse. However, not fixing it can be worse than fixing it wrong.

Here are some suggestions that I have. I struggle myself with this, so I'm not telling you to do anything I wouldn't do myself. I also don't do these perfectly all the time, but I find I get a better result than not following the suggestions.

1. Identify the real problem. This seems obvious, but sometimes what you think is a problem is only a surface issue, like the symptoms of a cold. If you don't find the real problem, you are only treating the symptoms, but the cold still lingers.
2. Identify legitimate outside causes. This is not a 'blamestorming' session. Sometimes there are legitmate outside causes for the problem. These usually involve government regulation, weather, medical issues. They rarely involve other people or companies.
3. What action can you take on the problem? If the problem involves another person or company, look at your own behavior. Did you make your instructions clear? Do you have the proper paperwork? If it involves medical issues, how can you compensate for that? If it involves weather, what backup plans do you have? If it involves government regulations, have you done everything the regulations tell you to do?
4. Talk to the person or company, if applicable about the problem. Show them what you have done.