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Most of us deal under some pressure much of the time. The demands of satisfying clients, given limited resources, causes stress. Most managers deal with problem-solving regularly. Resolving the simple problems or those with which you have had experience are rather easy and gratifying at the same time.

But what happens when there are persistent problems for which there are no obvious or quick solutions? Frustration builds. Relationships get tested and performance will probably suffer. It is the job of the leader and manager to step aside and re-analyze the situation from a fresh perspective. The key to knowing when to do this is when the old methods don’t resolve the issues satisfactorily.

I used the cliché recently that “It’s tough to remember that you were sent to drain the swamp when you’re up to your butt in alligators.” If you are in a messy or complicated conundrum, help is available but you have to be willing to change, learn and grow. In reviewing a valuable text, “Reframing Organizations: Artistry, Choice and Leadership” by Bolman and Deal, I outlined some tips that are helpful to me. At Greco Apparel this past year we have gone through a major transition in refocusing the strategy of our business. Due to the recent changes in business climate, (the Recession) we have been forced to reduce costs while increasing categories of product offerings, foster growth and satisfy the needs of current clients. This was no small task and subsequently caused some internal organizational and relationship stresses.

Last week, my VP of Operations theorized that a group of our staff members were not confused, they just don’t know what to do. While this seemed paradoxical I started to think about the intent. Turning to Bolman and Deal I was reminded that ‘managers are imprisoned only to the extent that their palette of ideas is impoverished.” No one can resolve or think of all the solutions individually. Help is required from various sources including outside advisors, review of the business plan, interested co-workers, consultants and reference material that is the history of the trials and errors of others. Blending together the components required for a successful solution is artistry which the authors define as neither exact nor precise. Art is not a replacement for engineering but an enhancement. So what’s a manager to focus upon?

A basic premise for management failure is faulty thinking rooted in inadequate ideas. Learning multiple frameworks is a defense against ‘cluelessness.” Here are the four basic frames that will serve the multiple functions of maps which will aid in navigation as well as tools for analyzing the presenting problems to help formulate a diagnosis. Spend the time to delve into the problem and fully comprehend the influences at hand prior to rushing into prescribing the curative intervention plan:

First, the Structural Frame is a function of the organizations formally stated goals and objectives considering the technology and environment and conditions existing within which to achieve those goals. What are your associates trying to accomplish in what time frame with which resources? Are the correct people assigned to the right roles in the organization chart? A good formal structure will enable attainment of goals while a faulty design will cause confusion, demise or morale and loss of both money and clients.

Second is the Human Resource Frame. We should remember that organizations exist to fulfill human needs and requirements and not the reverse. How does the management design the fit between the people and the organization so that the needs of the organization, talent, energy and profitable growth for example, meet with individual’s needs of compensation and the opportunity for self-actualization during the work career? Mismatches will cause dissatisfaction while a properly designed environment will support and further the needs of both the people and the business.

The Political Frame is something that cannot be avoided. Stemming from the economic reality that resources are scarce and the decision to allocate those resources is based on some philosophy, ideological necessity or combination of these factors. Interests of people within the organization will be diverse based on personal perspectives and the goals of the particular department or company as a whole. How is your incentive system designed? How are operating metrics tabulated and measured? Does your political system allow for continuous improvement in performance and professional growth of personnel?

And fourth is the Symbolic Frame which focuses on how we normal humans make sense of the typically unorganized world around us. The organizational culture will define the values of everyday behavior and decision making. Can people think for themselves once they have been trained in the values of the organization? Do the leaders portray and provide the standards by which the whole company will be judged? What is the tolerance for straying from integrity and honesty in dealings with important stakeholders including clients, vendors and your own associates?

A wise and succinct example of culture comes to us from The Nordstrom Employee Handbook. It states “Welcome to Nordstrom. We’re glad to have you with our company. Our number one goal is to provide outstanding customer service. Set both your personal and professional goals high. We have great confidence in your ability to achieve them. Nordstrom Rules: Rule #1: Use your good judgment in all situations. There will be no additional rules.”

It usually seems to me that brilliant ideas come in packages that are very easy to understand. So much that we could have designed them ourselves. But alas, I cannot progress without the help of others who make valuable and appreciated contributions to my success. Thank you all. Let me wish Happy Holidays and a Healthy and Prosperous New Year to us all.

In many ways we have created a world of instant delivery and gratification. We’re accustomed to the eight-second sound bite and our attention span has been reduced to nanoseconds. Fed Ex has ramped up our expectations for quick delivery without much regard for the process indigenous to a particular vendor. My clients would like garments made and delivered the next day. Sound familiar? But if we can take some lessons from classic and successful leaders, we may learn, as with good coffee, that instant isn’t always the best.

I was told that the great golfer, Ben Hogan, regarded as one of the elite masters of the game, used to spend the first forty-five minutes of his practice sessions just working on his grip. For those of us who like to play golf, we could be finished four holes in that time. But you don’t see my name on the Augusta trophy. Abraham Lincoln was known to say that if he was given six hours to chop down a tree he would spend the first four hours sharpening the axe. And that’s from a guy who made a living as a rail splitter.

I have been fascinated by and recommend the Doris Kearns Goodwin’s book “A Team of Rivals,” about Lincoln and the politics of his day. Lincoln was known to prepare assiduously for his speeches. Sometimes he spoke for two or three hours without notes. He read continuously to prepare himself to make a contribution to humanity. On her deathbed, his mother said to him, “be somebody, Abel.” To make a difference in the history of mankind was his major goal. Not too shabby. He was known to be reading a book while plowing the field. With only one year of formal schooling, Lincoln became a respected lawyer and great debater on the issue of limiting the expansion of slavery, long before he ran for president. His speeches captivated a national audience.

The point is that in Lincoln’s era of no telephones, email, Blackberry’s, television or even radio, he was able to learn and communicate his powerful ideas successfully. The key was study, preparation, patience and of course a firm belief in himself and his ideals. He inspired others by his talent for story-telling, his kindness and compassion. His great accomplishments came despite the tragic and impoverished circumstances of his upbringing. But his achievements did not come quickly and without hard work.

I have suggested brain-storming to develop creative ideas in our challenging times. Working the process with your associates, vendors and clients can yield profitable opportunities. But patience is required to get the most from your efforts. James Lucas of Luman International, a leadership development firm, says that it’s a bad sign if participants reach instant consensus in staff meetings. Ideally they should consider all sides of an issue and even argue a bit before arriving at a conclusion. A leader must face reality and recognize that they tend to have the most emotional investment in their own ideas.

Don’t get delayed by the inertia of your own history. Just because ideas worked years ago doesn’t mean they are still valid. Things change rapidly. Be confident to recognize that one’s old methods may not meet the current challenges. For many years, I was only a contract manufacturer and resisted purchasing fabric to offer a full package product. But I needed to broaden my services if I wanted growth and expansion. Fortunately, changes occurred when I realized a key associate had the required competency to source fabric and we worked to develop financing methods to support the endeavor. By having the patience to make changes, we entered into new markets. If I were left to only my own thoughts and experience, my growth would have been severely limited.

Be sure to develop a framework that allows the process of creativity to blossom. The best ideas from brainstorming are not always the first offered. Valuable ideas may not be apparent even during the session. Often I have found myself to think of ideas after the meeting. Let people know they can email and revisit with each other to share ideas that manifested with time and patience after the thinking process was initiated. People think at different speeds. The goal is to get the most productive input from your available and collective intellectual capital. You are already compensating associates for their time. Enhance their value by designing and promoting a system to get the greater mental contribution of their creative thoughts.

What could be slowing your growth of profitable opportunity? As the leader, be sure that you’re not your own worst enemy, to paraphrase Pogo. Re-test your assumptions and be patient with the process of eliciting creative ideas from your stakeholders. Take time to prepare for the greater benefits to follow. Remember, those who have patience, as history teaches, will be rewarded.

And it’s more fun. You’ve heard the saying: those trying to get even will lose those trying to get ahead. Current economic reports state that we’re experiencing the worst recession since the Great Depression. While we humans feel more comfortable playing name tag and joining the negative maddening crowd with subjective sound-bite labels, let’s remember to review the objective facts. Even if unemployment reaches 12%, that means that 88% of us are employed. And we are all still consuming. While this fact does not help those recently laid-off, we are fortunate that Americans are resilient, resourceful and creative.

I began working in the clothing industry full time thirty-six years ago this month. That was the recession of 1973 to 1975. And since that time and even now there have been more recessions. Don’t let inertia stifle you. Automatically continuing past practices and policies and resisting change characterize a powerful but negative force. Instead of acquiescing to ‘woe is me,’ better to ask (if you want success) ‘where is me and where am I going?’ How can I use my experience, competencies, and capabilities to reverse any downward trends and grow profitably?

Even though we may be intelligent and creative under normal circumstances, unfortunately it takes a cataclysmic event to motivate us to move on from past practices. As part of Mother Nature, we’re not surprised to learn that intense and destructive forest fires are necessary from time to time to foster re-birth of certain species of seeds.

If your business is not as successful as you would like, you have few choices. You can stay where you are and succumb to the chorus of excuses to confirm your malaise. You can re-invest your energies from your past experiences or you can learn from the experiences of others.

In past recessions I increased my marketing efforts by calling more prospects and attending and exhibiting at more trade shows, and I am doing the same today. I sacrificed vacation time and invested that budgeted money into my business travel. The locales were not unattractive. First our company exhibited in Miami Beach at the Material World Show. We joined in with the Dominican Republic booth to save expenses.

For those of you unfamiliar with this exhibition, it’s the annual national gathering for those of us in all sorts of businesses related to the apparel and sewn products manufacturing supply chain. This list of attendees includes those in business from fiber to fabrics, manufacturers, trim suppliers, technical support services and transportation logistics. It’s all under one roof and further supported by the AAPN (American Apparel Producers Network) of which I am a proud member and currently serve on the board. We have about 300 members world wide that communicate and collaborate on various projects to serve our client’s demands. The network consists of qualified members with experience in most related fields who interact readily with a high degree of credibility. Many of us know our fellow members for years so interaction is facilitated. If we can’t resolve your issue or fill your demands, there’s an excellent chance we can refer you quickly to someone who can. Using the internet to connect our network responses to requests are typically forthcoming within minutes and not days or weeks.

Our company then moved directly to Las Vegas to attend and exhibit for the first time at the NAUMD (North American Uniform Manufacturers and Distributors) annual convention. Greco Apparel is a member of the NAUMD and I recently joined the membership committee. Even in these tough times, we attracted 56 new members this year, placing us third in growth among all professional organizations nationwide.

I found a number of parallels to the trade shows in Miami and Las Vegas. First there’s the opportunity to personally visit with your current vendors and customers. These are people you already know but may not visit too often due to the cost of travel. For the price of one plane fare you can see many contacts. Organic growth opportunities abound as you spend time with clients face to face. Second, there’s the group of people you know about but didn’t get a chance to call upon. You see their name badge and you talk. Not too difficult. Third is the category most fascinating: prospective clients and vendors that you don’t know and would not know how to reach. They walk into your booth eager with the anticipation for them to discover a new vendor who can now satisfy their needs. Whether they’re new entrepreneurs or established organizations, you won’t meet them unless you show up.

We can learn lessons from the experience of others whether it’s the same industry or taking the opportunity to benchmark from other non-related industries. In the Wall Street Journal of April 23rd, there was a whole section entitled “Strategies for Survival.” One of the articles, “Smart Ways to Cut Prices” by Diana Ransom of Smart Money.com detailed five helpful ideas, none from the apparel business but applicable nonetheless: 1) Switch to performance based pricing 2) Offer less expensive products 3) Use less costly materials. 4) Add slimmed-down services and 5) Offer extra services.

You can use your ideas or those borrowed from others. But there is no substitute for a successful attitude fortified by your energies invested in positive growth expectations. From the ancient Chinese to the current, times of crisis have always contained opportunities. This recession won’t last and it won’t be the last. Learn to be flexible and creative and you will succeed.