A Culture of Problem Solving

This applies to all Bramlett & TOP employees, VAs, and agents.

( Great read here. Mentally replace "manager" with "co-worker".)

We operate under two basic assumptions:

There is no such thing as a dumb question.
Everyone here is intelligent and can solve most problems on their own.

These look like competing assumptions, but they complement each other quite nicely. No one likes to make mistakes and look silly in front of a client, so #1 is essential. Everyone wants to improve and attain as much autonomy as possible, so #2 is also crucial. We reconcile these assumptions with the following:

There is no such thing as a dumb question, and every question is also a learning opportunity.

To solve any problem, there are three questions to ask yourself: First, what could I do? Second, what could I read? And third, who could I ask?

Any time you run into a difficult problem, follow these steps:

What can I do? Create a proposal for your solution.
What can I read? Attempt to find company docs and/or google the problem.
Who can I ask? A co-worker(s) can definitely help! Here's where you can find out who to ask.
Ask that co-worker(s) for help and communicate #1 & #2 to them.

Example #1

A VA is tasked with communicating ECAD instructions to a seller. The seller responds with a question about their own home's ECAD requirements. The VA doesn't immediately know the answer, so they do the following:

What can I do? Find the correct information and communicate it to the seller.
What can I read? The VA searches the wiki for the information.
Who can I ask? If the VA doesn't find the info in the wiki or still needs confirmation, so they determine that they should ask another VA or the LC for the correct information.
The VA then messages another VA or the LC with this message:

Our seller at {PROPERTY ADDRESS} needs to know {EXPLAIN PROBLEM}. I think the correct answer is {PROPOSE SOLUTION}, and I've checked the wiki at {INCLUDE LINK} to find this information. Can you please let me know if this is correct or if there's a better solution?

Example #2

An agent runs into a difficult outside agent who is insistent that her client's ESA animal does not require a pet deposit. The agent has communicated our petscreening.com policy to the agent, but the outside agent disputes the policy. The agent isn't sure how to proceed, so the agent does the following:

What can I do? Propose a concise email response to the outside agent's last message.
What can I read? The agent searches the wiki for scripts to use.
Who can I ask? The agent decides to send a company-wide message to agents@bramres.com for solutions.
The agent then sends a company-wide message:

I'm representing a landlord, and a leasing agent is being very difficult about {EXPLAIN PROBLEM}. I've already done {EXPLAIN WHAT'S BEEN DONE}, and I'm planning to {PROPOSE SOLUTION}. I looked through the wiki for {EXPLAIN HOW THE WIKI WAS SEARCHED} and can't find more info. Let me know if anyone has any ideas!

In both scenarios, the person seeking help has first tried to solve their own problem which helps that person gain knowledge and experience. This also communicates to their co-workers that the person seeking help values everyone's time. The act of proposing a solution increases efficiency because the problem solver may quickly confirm that the proposal is correct or they can quickly dismiss it without the need to mentally create that solution. The person seeking help has also pointed out a weakness in our own documentation, so the problem solver can attempt to improve the documentation to increase efficiencies for future help.