One common mistake for a manager or business owner is trying to “fix” problems by looking at reports. Those reports are full of old information. They are good to know what happened, but they don’t tell the whole story.
Learn from basketball coaches
If you are a basketball coach, you won’t try to call the shots just by looking at your team stats from the office. You will go to the basketball court, where the action is. You will observe how the individual members of the team react to the defense or offense play of the rival team. If you see something wrong, you will ask for a time out to discuss a change in strategy. You are observing every move, focusing on what the team needs to do to improve their game, and win. You can not be effective in doing the same thing looking at the score only.
How to fix problems
As a business owner, when problems arise with a specific process, you need to do the same thing. Always go to the area where the action happens first. If it is a problem with customer service, observe how your employees interact with customers. If it is an issue related to the quality of the food, try it yourself. Does it look and taste as it should?
Sometimes it is not obvious what is wrong. In that case, focus your attention on the process tools, equipment, and standard work. On the food quality example, you confirm something is off with the quality but don’t know what. Focus your attention on how close is the execution to the standard work or recipe. Observe if the cooks are using the right ingredients, the right quantity, or following the recipe steps.
As soon as you find out the issue, take a temporary fix on the spot. This temporary fix will not solve the problem. To fix it, you need to find the root cause of the problem. Do not try to guess or assign a cause based on your experience, engage the team on this exercise. Once you know the cause or causes of the problem, you can plan how to fix it. To prevent a recurrence, you need to update the standard work.
Simple rules to fix problems
To succeed in your continuous improvement journey, follow these simple rules while fixing problems.
- When a problem arises, go to the place where the action or process happens first
- Check all the relevant things: equipment, tools, materials, standard work
- Take temporary solutions on the spot
- Find the root cause
- Standardize to prevent a recurrence
To acquire knowledge, one must study; but to acquire wisdom, one must observe. – Marilyn Vos Savant
