We regularly solve issues during the IDS® portion of our Level 10 Meeting™ and assign To-Dos, yet the same structural problems keep appearing on our Issues List three or four weeks later under a slightly different name. How do we stop this resurrection of supposedly solved issues?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

If the same operational issues keep reappearing on your Level 10 Meeting™ Issues List week after week, you are not actually solving them. You are applying temporary band-aids to deep wounds. This usually happens because the team is rushing through the Identify phase of IDS® and jumping straight into solving a minor symptom instead of the root cause.

To stop this resurrection cycle, you must slow down the Identify phase. When an issue is raised, do not let anyone suggest a solution until everyone agrees on the real problem. Ask "why" multiple times. If a department head says our delivery is slow, that is a symptom. Why is it slow? Because engineering is delayed. Why are they delayed? Because the sales team is inputting wrong specifications.

Once you identify the root cause, create highly specific, bite-sized To-Dos with clear accountability. Every To-Do must have one owner and be completed within seven days.

If the issue still returns three weeks later, you either assigned the To-Do to the wrong seat on the Accountability Chart, or the person in that seat lacks the capacity to solve it. Bring the issue back to IDS® and address the accountability breakdown directly. Never accept a superficial fix that just pushes the pain down the road.