Every now and then I\u2019ll catch myself engaging in a business behavior that is an obvious no-no. A classic example is when I spend the entire day responding to e-mails instead of doing the things that are most important for\u00a0my company. This, I realize, is kind of like a teacher starting each day by\u00a0standing in the middle\u00a0of the classroom while her students shout questions at her all at once. Instead, she should arrive with\u00a0a lesson plan and structure her day in a way that suits her classroom’s goals, making time for her students’ preferences along the way. Similarly, I should come into my day\u00a0knowing what I want to accomplish, answering e-mail only at certain\u00a0times that take into account my overarching priorities.<\/p>\n
The fallacy that I\u2019ve seen myself falling for lately goes something like this: members of my team come to me with problems and I respond by either solving the problems, advising them on how to solve the problems, or referring them to the correct person to help them. But really, I should be looking at the root cause of each problem and putting a process in place to remove that root\u00a0\u2013 not constantly picking the leaves off the tree.<\/p>\n
I was engaged in one such leaf-picking\u00a0session recently\u00a0when it hit me: As long as the same root problems remain, I can pick leaves all day and they’re just going to keep coming back.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
It’s obvious to me now that every time a problem comes up,\u00a0I need to ask myself to identify its\u00a0root cause. By attacking the\u00a0root, I will solve all the little future problems that would have arisen from that root as well.\u00a0This lesson, which I call Root Cause Mentality, sounds rather obvious but is easily forgotten. It is something every CEO needs to master in order for their business to scale. But it\u2019s also an essential concept\u00a0for every manager, and indeed, every leader inside\u00a0a\u00a0company.<\/p>\n
Now then, how do you find\u00a0the root cause of a problem? The way I see it, you can answer the question “What is the root cause?” in 3 different ways:<\/p>\n
Answer #1: A Person.<\/strong> Let\u2019s say I’m consistently getting back web design work from my tech department that doesn’t match the work request. Thankfully, the work gets called out by either QA, a manager, or the Account Executive before it makes its way to the client. But still, a lot of time is wasted sending back work that should have never made its way out of the Web Design department. My first question should\u00a0be \u201cWho designed that?\u201d My intent is not to embarrass anyone; it\u2019s to find out what happened. There are many reasons someone might be making this kind of mistake: lack of management, lack of training, personal issues, health problems, a conflict with the company culture, or just a simple misunderstanding. Most of those issues are solvable, or simply require some patience. But it\u2019s also possible the person missing the mark\u00a0is not a good fit for the position anymore. Whatever the case is, once we address the root cause of the issue \u2013 the person who is underdelivering \u2013 everyone who depends on that person will have a better day each day and the company will grow stronger as a result.<\/p>\n Answer #2: A Process.<\/strong> My Editor-in-Chief came to me recently to say that she and the editors are often confronted with SEO issues about which there are\u00a0competing schools of thought. She had scoured our training manuals, read through my blog posts, and still wasn\u2019t quite sure how to answer the editors\u2019 questions on several topics. This is a situation where I was tempted to say \u201cOh, well tell me the questions and I\u2019ll answer them right now.\u201d But I caught myself. Instead, we decided to schedule a training covering all the knowledge gaps that the editors could think of; to record that training for future members of the department; and to update our training manual to reflect our\u00a0clearest understanding of each of the subjects covered. In other words, the root cause of the problem was that our training and education processes needed improvement. By improving those processes, we’re enabling our editors to\u00a0be better informed, make fewer\u00a0mistakes, and be more productive.<\/p>\n Answer #3: The Culture.<\/strong> If, heaven forbid, I began to notice some really big problems, such as a high number of clients feeling dissatisfied with our work; or perpetual lateness for meetings across the board; or a creeping malaise amongst the team; it would be incumbent on me to do more than zap the symptoms.\u00a0When a cultural<\/em> root cause shows its face, as the CEO, it\u2019s time to look at yourself. I\u2019d be asking what kind of culture I\u2019ve propagated lately. Have I been too lax? Too focused on results, such that I\u2019ve neglected the humanity of my team members? Too out of touch? Whatever the reason is, it would be on me\u00a0to change my\u00a0perspective.<\/p>\n While it can be tricky to identify the root cause in every situation \u2013 sometimes there are many, sometimes it\u2019s both a person and a process, sometimes it\u2019s difficult to perceive a cultural issue \u2013 I urge you to think deeper than the immediate problem at hand. If you do so, you\u2019ll be finding yourself with less and less work, and more time to focus on the exciting, high level challenges that enable your company to grow and thrive.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" My take on a way of thinking that is crucial for all leaders: a “root cause” mentality. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7046,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-694","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-company-culture","category-entrepreneurship"],"meta_box":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/redesign.fpsclients.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/694","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/redesign.fpsclients.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/redesign.fpsclients.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redesign.fpsclients.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redesign.fpsclients.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=694"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/redesign.fpsclients.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/694\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23248,"href":"https:\/\/redesign.fpsclients.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/694\/revisions\/23248"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redesign.fpsclients.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7046"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/redesign.fpsclients.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=694"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redesign.fpsclients.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=694"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redesign.fpsclients.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}