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Good problem solvers tend to be more resilient because they don't spend mental energy focusing on issues they cannot resolve. Many people fix only on the symptoms of problems, which means they keep recurring. Skilled problem solvers look for underlying systems and processes to develop strategies that resolve issues for good.
One of the best problem-solving tools is Root Cause Analysis. This tool helps people answer the question of why a problem occurred in the first place. It seeks to identify the origin of an issue using a specific set of steps to find the primary cause.
Root Cause Analysis assumes that systems and events are interrelated. An action in one area triggers a response in another, and another, and so on. By tracing back these actions, you can discover where the problem started and how it grew into the symptom you're facing.
For most problems, you'll usually find three basic types of causes:
Physical: Tangible, material items failed in some way (for example, the copy machine stopped working).
Human: People did something wrong or did not do something that was needed. Human causes typically lead to physical causes (for example, no one conducted maintenance on the copy machine, so a critical part broke).
Organizational: A system, process, or policy that people use to make decisions or do their work is faulty (for example, no one person was responsible for maintaining the copy machine, and everyone assumed someone else was conducting maintenance).
With Root Cause Analysis, you look at all three types of causes. It involves investigating the patterns of adverse effects, finding hidden flaws in the system, and discovering specific actions contributing to the problem. This analysis often reveals more than one root cause.
Here are three simple techniques that can help you conduct a Root Cause Analysis:
Five Whys
Toyota Industries developed the "5 Whys" technique in the 1930s. The method is remarkably simple: when a problem occurs, you want to explore the causal chain. You drill down to its root cause by asking "Why?" at least five times. Here's a simple YouTube video on how the "5 Whys" was used to identify the cause of a problem at Toyota.
Fact vs. Opinion
When problem-solving, identify the difference between what you believe (opinion) and what can be proven true or false (fact). Ask yourself, "do I have evidence to back that up?" and "Do I really know that to be true?" While your knowledge and experience are useful, distinguish between what you think may be happening and what you can confirm as fact. Once you can differentiate between fact and opinion, you'll be able to develop more effective strategies to solve a problem. Check out this YouTube video on the difference between fact and opinion.
Current Reality Tree
A Current Reality Tree focuses on cause and effect to identify the root cause of a problem. You start by listing the undesirable effects (UDE). These are assumed to be symptoms of a deeper common cause. Then you construct a graph attempting to link any two UDE using cause-and-effect reasoning. For example, if the first UDE is that the copy machine jams a lot, you then look for another UDE that caused this to happen – e.g., employees don't know how to use the copier properly. Another UDE could be that there is no training on how to use the copier. Keep linking UDEs until they converge on a single root cause. This YouTube video provides a good overview of the Current Reality Tree.
What helps you get to the root of a problem?
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