Your Problems are not the Problem

Stop repeatedly fighting the same dragon

Dear Leader,

I have noticed a pattern. You know how your assistant consistently misses the deadline for reports used in the leadership meeting? Your explanation to me was a mixture of “I don’t know” and doubts about her commitment.

Reminding her to “Get me the reports on time” is not helping because you are identifying a symptom rather than the ‘real’ cause. Treating emergent problems puts you into the firefighting mode we discussed last week. The result is an exasperating cycle of chronically recurring problems, compounding as your team models your approach.

I discovered an insightful book in the 1980s called “The IDEAL Problem Solver” by Bransford and Stein. In it, they reveal a systematic approach to problem solving that every leader should integrate.

I: Identify the problem

D: Define and represent the problem

E: Explore possible strategies

A: Act on the strategies

L: Look back and evaluate the effects of your activities

For now we will discuss the first 2, Identify and Define the Problem.

This is the process we used to discover the missing vision for the company. Problems like upward delegation, decisions that ran counter to company goals and decision overload all pointed back to a more fundamental issue. We could have treated the symptoms, but they would have returned.

Let’s apply Toyota’s 5 Whys methodology to the late reports from your assistant to identify the source.

Why are the reports late? Account statements are not available until 8am on the day the reports are due. Reconciliation processing takes time.

Why are statements not available earlier? Our meeting is always first work day of the month which is the same day bank statements are available.

Why do we need reconciliations to be complete for the reports? Leadership expects accurate, verified cash balances in the reports to support decision making.

Why is this level of accuracy required? When mistakes are found or transactions missed, the inaccuracy causes decisions made in the meeting to require confirmation; many times requiring another meeting.

Why are we meeting on that particular day? We don’t know, it’s just always been this way.

Result: Traditional meeting cadence creates an unnecessary stress and consistent failure in generating these reports.

It’s not always this clear, but you can see how using the 5 Whys revealed the solution without much effort. Let’s work on building this skill in you. You must step out, clear your mind of assumptions and curiously chase “Why” you are experiencing a particular problem.

When we unlock your ability to find and begin the problem solving process on the “correct” problem, your effectiveness as a leader will improve exponentially as will your respect among other leaders. Remember, clear your mind of assumptions and start asking why. Keep asking why until you reach an actionable and fundamental problem that can be corrected. I can’t express the importance of this process.

Pick one perennial problem this week and use the 5 Whys! We will review it at our next meeting.

Practice, practice, practice! 🙂

Park Wiker

P.S. Albert Einstein once said “If I had an hour to solve a problem I'd spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and five minutes thinking about solutions.”