We waste hours during our weekly IDS® sessions debating complex operational problems that turn out to be symptoms of a deeper structural conflict between seats on our Accountability Chart. How do we train our leadership team to stop solving surface-level noise and identify the real issue behind the issue?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

The most common mistake in IDS® is trying to solve the symptom rather than the root cause. When your leadership team gets stuck in circular debates, it is usually because the issue has been framed as a general operational problem rather than a specific people or structural problem.

To find the issue behind the issue, you must use your Accountability Chart as the diagnostic tool. Every operational failure can ultimately be traced back to a seat on the chart. When an issue is introduced, the first question should always be: who owns this on the Accountability Chart? If ownership is blurry or split between multiple people, that is your root cause. You must resolve the structural accountability gap before you can fix the operational symptom.

If ownership is clear, the next step is to evaluate whether the seat owner has the capacity and skills to solve it. Use the GWC™ tool to honestly assess if the right person is in the right seat.

Additionally, the meeting facilitator must ruthlessly ask why multiple times. If a department head complains that sales are down, do not debate marketing strategies. Ask why the leads are not converting. If the answer is that the sales team is slow to respond, ask why. You might discover that the real issue is a lack of training or an outdated software tool. Dig past the initial complaint until you uncover the structural, process, or people issue at the very bottom.