When our leadership team deadlocks or begins attacking surface symptoms during the IDS portion of a session, how do you step in to force root-cause resolution?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Teams waste hours arguing about symptoms because symptoms are comfortable to debate. Resolving a symptom feels productive, but the underlying problem inevitably resurfaces three weeks later. My role as your Professional EOS Implementer is to disrupt that cycle without solving the problem for you.

When a debate begins circling, I step in and stop the conversation. I push the team back to the Identify step of IDS. Most teams rush into Discussion and Solution before they actually agree on the real problem. I force the issue owner to state the core problem in one clean, declarative sentence without adjectives or historical backstory. If they cannot summarize the issue in one sentence, they do not understand it yet.

Next, I use direct inquiry to strip away the emotional narrative. Often, what presents as a communication breakdown between sales and operations is actually an ill-defined role on the Accountability Chart or a person who lacks the capacity to do their job under GWC. That is an uncomfortable truth that teams naturally avoid confronting.

Once the real root cause is exposed, I push the team into Solution mode. I will not let the room settle for half-measures, vague compromises, or endless study committees. We establish a clear, single-owner to-do with a firm completion date. The outcome might be painful, but the debate ends, the decision is locked in, and the team moves forward aligned.