How To Present a Problem

Being the owner of a business, I have noticed that people often tell me what they think I want to hear as opposed to what I need to hear. I sometimes don't know there's a problem until it's too late and then I'm brought in for damage control.

I'm fine with problems. Problems are inevitable. What I'm not fine with is when problems are brought to me without any effort put forward into solving them.

Here's a simple tip on how to present a problem:

"Hi Mr. Boss, here's the problem we have and here is what I propose we do. What do you think?"

Heck, that's what I do with my clients! They are my boss. "Hello Mrs. Client. We have come across problem X but we have already implemented Y and we should be back on track by tomorrow."

Nobody can get mad at somebody who has already solved a problem they did not know existed.