Leaders regularly solve the wrong problem.
It’s why they stay frustrated.
It’s why the business stalls.
I was recently talking with a COO.
The company was experiencing high customer churn. Proudly, he told me he had identified a production problem as the root cause.
He explained his solution.
“I’m going to increase staff so I can increase the number of audits, and then I can catch more problems.”
“Yes, but you’ll only have better data about your production issue. It won’t actually solve the problem.”
He looked bewildered.
He didn’t need more auditing.
He needed a better production process and more training – on the FRONT SIDE. This would address the errors before they happened and stop the revenue churn.
Solving the wrong problem would have just shown how poor our delivery was. It wouldn’t have reduced churn or improved the customer experience.
👉 Successful leaders discern the actual problem to be solved.
I’m a big fan of action. But only after thinking.
Take a minute. Think about the most painful thing you’re experiencing in your company.
Are you solving the right problem?
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