PROBLEM SOLVING
I like to say, “Life without problems is just like sailing without wind”. Imagine you are sitting on the deck of a sailing boat with no wind. Or you are having a life with no problem. Would not it be dull and tasteless? Breezes are quite pleasant actually just like some minor problems we go through in life. They are salt to the steak and butter to our bread. We even enjoy it. But storm and hurricane would be hard to bear just the same as some difficulties we face in life.
When problems do come, how do we handle them? We might take it easy just like a slight wind has blown by. Or we may take cautions when the wind gets rough. Many times we just have to park our boat and run for a shelter until all are calm. What did I do when I had my bad days? I remember one problem when I was caught in a serious church conflict. It took me some few years before the whole crisis was resolved. The longest problem I have ever solved is my problem of infertility which took me almost 20 years before my wife gave birth to our twin.
Problems may be different, but my principle in solving them is always the same. I call it SRAC. SRAC (Stillness, Retreat, Advance and Charge) is generally my 4 steps in coping with problems of all levels.
When problem attacks, my first reaction to it is staying still. I normally try to be quiet; stays put and keep a low profile. The reason is I do not know exactly what the problem is. The best way out at this particular moment is to wait and see. It may be a short while, one hour or a week. But I would not do anything to the problem at this time. I remember 10 years ago one morning, a full truck load of police men came into our factory which was under my management. They came with a search warrant for an indictment of murdering the then Bangkok vice Governor.
That was a serious issue. I was instructed to follow the police back to the station for further interrogation after they had searched the whole place thoroughly. As usual, I simply remained quiet. I asked for and granted one week leniency before I report to them. I did not even call my lawyer. I just wanted to have time of my own to digest and find out first what on earth was going on? I started to make phone calls, ask question, and check record. But I could not find out who in the factory would be the person to kill the vice Government.
I started to get suspicious the next morning when two security guards did not turn up to work. I found out latter that one of the wives who were working in other section of the factory did not turn up to work too. The picture became clearer to me. The whole process of repose took me one full day. I started to move on.
My next move is to make a retreat. This is time for me to gather information, set up problem solving tactic and strategy. But before anything, I would as I always do, sit down and pray. In this specific case, I asked God give me wisdom to handle incident so as not to affect the running of the business. After that I arranged an appointment with the lawyer, met with him and got all the legal advices I needed for the case. I was prepared for the next step.
I then advanced to meet with the police, gave them the information required, and obtained necessary documents for the lawyers to follow up the case. I was quite prepared when I met with them. I got all the certificates, documents, witnesses, company seal, etc. my lawyer told me I should take along. I learned what to say and what not to. I was at the station for about three hours and everything was cleared for the company. I had never had to go back for the same problem again.
My final step is to charge. I use the word charge because I normally do this with seriousness in a timely manner. I would not allow things to drag here which I do in the earlier problem solving processes. I want the problems to wrap up.
And so, once I was back from the police to my office, I called a meeting to discuss and find ways to resolve the problem. Two people from the personnel were assigned to clear all matters related to the two security employees involved in the murder. They made some visits to the Labor and Social security departments the following days. I was reported that all were cleared with the two government agencies and we could shake off our hands with the case by the end of the day.
SRAC is not a panacea in problem solving but it is a very good guideline. Yet, I do not use it to guide all my problems solving. When there is strong wind, I simply take caution and continue sailing. But when the gust blows, SRAC always helps me.