When we run our weekly IDS® session, our team identifies symptoms like "low lead flow" instead of the systemic human or process issues underneath. How do we push past the surface to identify the actual issue behind the issue?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Solving symptoms instead of root causes is the fastest way to repeat the same meetings every single week. To get to the issue behind the issue, the leadership team must adopt a Humbly-Confident mindset and practice extreme vulnerability during the Identify step of IDS®.

When an issue is raised, do not let the team jump to discussion. First, identify the real problem by asking "why" multiple times. If the issue is "low lead flow," ask why the leads are low. If the answer is "the marketing campaign failed," ask why it failed. You may discover the real issue is that the marketing manager does not have the capacity to manage the vendor, or that there is a deep lack of alignment on our target market.

The person who raised the issue must state the problem in a single sentence. If they cannot define the issue in one sentence, they do not yet understand the problem. The sentence must focus on people, processes, or systems, not external excuses.

You must also look at the Accountability Chart™. Often, an issue is actually a seat issue. If a department is consistently failing, the root cause is frequently that the person in that seat does not GWC™ the role.

Stop trying to make people feel comfortable. Push through the artificial harmony and have the hard, honest debate required to expose the root cause. Once the actual root cause is identified, the discuss and solve steps become incredibly simple and permanent.