At its core, the role of a manager is to manage people and problems so that the company can deliver value—whether it’s through products, services, or information. That means solving the issues that arise in pursuit of strategic goals and helping team members navigate challenges along the way. In essence, managers are facilitators of solutions.
While C-suite leaders focus on vision and strategy—imagining the future, anticipating trends, and setting inspiring goals—managers are the ones responsible for making it happen. They handle the day-to-day hurdles, both people-related and process-related, to bring that vision to life.
Problem-Solving Starts with Asking the Right Question
There are countless models and frameworks for solving problems, but the heart of excellent problem-solving lies in a singular skill: Getting to the core of the real issue.
This is often the toughest part. Why? Because when problems arrive, they rarely come neatly labeled. They’re messy, confusing, and sometimes overwhelming. We find ourselves asking, “What’s the actual problem here?”
That’s because symptoms often masquerade as the problem. It’s easy to get distracted by what’s visible—missed deadlines, poor quality, or staff conflict—and mistake those symptoms for the root cause. But if you only fix symptoms, the issue returns. You’ve just slapped on a band-aid.
A Neuro-Semantic Tool: The Well-Formed Problem Pattern
In Neuro-Semantics, there’s a simple but powerful tool called The Well-Formed Problem. This is a structured conversation that helps leaders:
- Clearly define the real problem
- Distinguish symptoms from causes
- Reframe the situation systemically, not just linearly
- Clean up vague or emotionally charged language
As the saying goes, “a problem well-defined is half-solved.”
What One-Minute Managers Actually Do
Instead of rushing in to play “The Answer Hero,” the one-minute manager takes a different path: They ask questions.
She doesn’t assume she knows the answer—she listens, observes, and guides. Her questions are crafted to cut through noise and zero in on what truly matters. Two key questions she often uses (adapted from WFO #1 and #14) are:
- “How does this stop you from achieving your goal?”
- “What specifically are you trying to achieve? What does success look like?”
These questions bring clarity. After all, you can’t have a problem without a goal—a problem is just something blocking the path to a desired outcome.
The manager continues with more focused inquiries:
- “What have you tried so far?”
- “When did you try it?”
- “What worked, even partially?”
- “What didn’t work, and why?”
Empowerment Through Facilitation, Not Rescue
It might take several rounds of questioning to get to the real issue. But over time, with skill and experience, a manager can hone in quickly and precisely.
All of this is grounded in one core belief: The person with the problem has the capacity to solve it.
The manager’s role is not to fix everything, but to unlock that capacity. If the manager always jumps in with answers, they risk creating dependency. But when they guide problem-solving as a collaborative process, they’re cultivating self-reliance and capability.
One-Minute Manager = Meta-Coach in Action
In many ways, the one-minute manager mirrors the role of a Meta-Coach:
- They don’t solve the problem for the person,
- They solve it with the person,
- So, the person can learn to solve future problems on their own.
With the right questions, supportive framing, and belief in the person’s inner resources, a one-minute manager enables growth, ownership, and action.
And that, ultimately, is the mark of great leadership—not just fixing things, but building people who can fix things themselves.
Curated by Danielle Tan.
Reference:
- [Certified_meta-coach] 2025 Morpheus #29 WHEN ONE MINUTE MANAGERS SOLVE PROBLEMS by L. Michael Hall, Ph.D. Executive Director, ISNS.
