The team had been concerned about the poor quality of the reception area for some time and had raised it with the team leader a number of times, but without any satisfactory response. However, one day when the team leader was unable to attend the monthly team meeting because he was on leave, the team discussed the problem in his absence. In the course of the meeting a number of possible solutions to the problem were suggested and the team narrowed this down to two. On his return to work after his holidays the team leader was presented not with another moan about the reception area but with two possible ways of tackling it. He could see problems with one of the suggested solutions but not the other, and so he agreed to raise this at the next district management team meeting. By presenting solutions instead of problems, the team had made progress and therefore felt much happier about the situation.