The fastest way to solve a problem in your business many times is just to do it yourself or just tell your employee or team exactly what to do. So, you do that once – or often – or maybe too often! You wake up and feel like you are constantly putting out fires and in fact, your business seems to operate from one fire to another! Let’s talk more about these business fixes that fail.

The fix that begets more fixes – fixes that fail

The most obvious and likely “quickest” solution that generates short-term results may not be the true leverage point (to solve the root problem) and likely sets in motion a spiral of unintended dependencies and growing consequences that get harder and harder to undo.

There is an archetype from the discipline of systems thinking that offers insight into this very predictable pitfall in leadership. This archetype is called “Fixes that Fail” (see Figure 1).

In Figure 1 you see:

  1. There is a problem (exhibiting a symptom) – prospects are waiting on proposals.
  2. The goal is accurate proposals, but there is a gap where proposals have errors.
  3. There is a short-term fix – you yourself just correct proposals to expedite getting corrected proposals to customers.
  4. There are unintended consequences that show up over time (delayed) – e.g., you yourself get busier and busier, you have less time to address real problem, your team grows accustomed to you fixing things and they don’t learn, you try different people (turnover), but without investment in the real fix (better process and training), errors still occur regularly. This increased dependency on you even makes the problem worse (bottleneck).

Overcoming fixes that fail

What is the answer? Do you ignore any urgent need? Of course not. The key is to first recognize that you are indeed participating in a fix that fails to solve the real problem. Be aware that every time you intervene you are reinforcing this “fire to fire” culture. The second step is to address the root cause:

  • Gather those responsible for the process
  • Collaborate to identify the root cause of the errors (knowledge/training, lack of accurate data, etc.)
  • Invest in the solution (time, energy, money) to solve the root problem
  • Get out of the way and allow those involved to make it work