When you are fighting the proverbial fire

When solving a problem it is often a good idea to determine just what the problem is. Finding the reach and span may not be as necessary if you are able to find the core issue. For example if you find that your produce is not reaching the market in a timely fashion, looking for the original issue that starts the cascading failure is more important that locating each area where a problem occurs.

In many situations if you are able to determine the core issue the solution becomes clear and while not always east to implement at least you know where to spend your effort. The problem is when we are not able to locate the actual issues so we spend our time attacking symptoms. One such example could be when it is hard to find parent volunteers to assist at a school function. The core issue is very difficult to pin down so an attempt is made to simply fill positions. And while this appears to work filling those positions becomes more and more difficult.

My point is that regardless of your problem the best way to find a solution that will gain traction and solve the problem is locating the actual core issue. But what is a good way to find said problem? Don’t get distracted by the symptoms. Look behind the complaints or slow downs. Look for connecting issues or situations. Talk to people who are tangentially associated. Is it a bad worker or poor training? Is the entire crew affected by a bad apple or do they all need retraining? And while gossip might hold some truths it is also plagued by assumptions and mistranslations.

True solutions come from good questions and focused effort not only to locate the core issue but also in determining the best way to solve it when it is located. Don’t just put out fires find the reason they are starting in the first place.