We think we are great at IDS®, but we keep listing the same operational issues week after week. How do we train our leadership team to identify the fear-based or structural issue behind the surface-level problem?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

When the same issues keep appearing on your issues list, you are not actually doing IDS®. You are identifying symptoms and discussing them, but you are failing to solve the root cause. This usually happens because your team is trying to avoid discomfort. The surface issue might be a missed sales target, but the root cause is often that your sales leader is refusing to use the CRM, or they lack the capability to manage their team.

To get to the issue behind the issue, the meeting leader must ask hard, open-ended questions. Start by asking what the real problem is. When someone gives a surface-level answer, dig deeper. Ask why that happened, and who is ultimately accountable. Look at your Accountability Chart. Often, an unresolved issue is actually a People Issue. Either someone does not GWC™ their seat, or there is a structural overlap where two people think they are in charge of the same outcome.

Do not let your team hide behind process or systems when the issue is a lack of accountability. If a discussion goes in circles for more than five minutes without a clear root cause, stop the conversation. Force the team to step back and ask: what is the underlying fear or conflict we are trying to avoid? Name the elephant in the room. Once you identify the real issue, solving it is usually fast and permanent.