When we get to the IDS portion of our weekly pulse, our leadership team immediately starts proposing solutions before we have even agreed on what the actual problem is. How do we force our team to spend more time identifying the root cause?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Most leadership teams are terrible at solving problems because they skip the hardest part of the process, which is identifying the root cause. They see an issue on the list, and within ten seconds, three people are pitching different solutions. This leads to solving symptoms instead of the actual disease. To break this habit, you must enforce the strict structure of IDS. The letter I stands for Identify. The letter D stands for Discuss. The letter S stands for Solve. When you select an issue, the owner of that issue must state the problem in one clear sentence. Then, the facilitator must ask the team, do we agree that this is the real issue? Do not allow anyone to propose a solution during this phase. If someone starts saying, we should do this, the facilitator must stop them and say, we are still identifying the problem, not solving it yet. You must stay in the Identify phase until the team is aligned on the root cause. Often, the real issue is completely different from what was originally written on the board. Once the root cause is clear, the discussion is short, and the solution is obvious. Spend eighty percent of your time identifying, and the solve will take care of itself.