To Fix Your Problems, Find the Root Cause
It’s much too easy to deflect responsibility
Do you play pool? I sure don’t. But I know enough about the game to use it as a metaphor for the hidden reasons we don’t do what we say we will.
The object is to get balls into pockets using a big stick. However, you can’t just hit the balls into the pockets with the stick directly, you first have to get a white cue ball to smack the right ball in just the right way.
So here’s the question: What causes the balls to go into the pocket?
On one hand, the white cue ball does it. After all, if the white ball doesn’t hit the numbered ball, it wouldn’t go in, so that must be the cause. But that’s clearly not the whole story. Something else had to set the cue ball in motion, namely, the player. Clearly, it’s the force exerted by the player through the stick that starts the chain reaction.
Understanding the “root cause” of why something happens is critical for dealing with many of our problems, particularly when it comes to the problem of?distraction. The book?Root Cause Analysis, defines the term as, “that most basic reason for an undesirable condition or problem which, if eliminated or corrected, would have prevented it from existing or occurring.”What would happen if there were no cue ball? In that moment, the game could not be played. However, if the player wanted to badly enough, he or she would go find another cue ball to replace it.
Clearly, the cue ball can’t be the root cause. But what would happen if the player didn’t feel like playing? In that case, none of the resulting actions would occur.
In the game of pool, it’s obvious the cue ball wasn’t the root cause, rather it was the “proximate cause,” the last step before the resulting action. But in the game of life, it’s far harder to see the root causes of things.
We’re passed over for a promotion and blame that sneaky coworker for taking our job instead of reflecting on our lack of qualifications.
We get into a fight with our spouse over something trivial, such as who didn’t wash the dishes, and blame the conflict on the tiny incident instead of acknowledging the years of unresolved issues.
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We scapegoat our political and ideological opponents for the world’s troubles without seeking to understand the deeper systemic issues behind the problems and our own role in them.
These proximate causes have something in common, they help us deflect responsibility away from us and onto something or someone else. It’s not that the cue ball doesn’t play a role, just like the dishes or coworker, but it’s certainly not the whole story.
Without understanding and tackling the root causes, we’re stuck being the helpless victim in the illusionary world we created. We’re the ball getting smacked around without really seeing the way things work.
When it comes to the distractions in our life, we tend to blame the thing—the TV, the computer, social media, email—but these too are all just proximate causes.
I both know that like the pool player, we’ll find another cue ball if that’s what we really want. We’ll find a way to distract ourselves if that’s what we’re looking for.
There’s a root cause for distraction that lies deep within us. It’s the reason we rationalize away our actions even when we know they’re not what we intended. Unless we understand the root cause of why we don’t stay on track, we’ll always play someone else’s game.
-Nir
Nir Eyal is formerly a Lecturer in Marketing at Stanford's Graduate School of Business. His first book, Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products, is an international bestseller and taught companies how to design more engaging products. His second book, Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life, reveals the Achilles' heel of distraction and provides a guidebook for getting the best of technology without letting it get the best of us. Nir blogs at NirAndFar.com
Lean manufacturing, Six sigma, Lean management ??FDA / ISO regulated industry, Operations & Engineering consulting??cross-functional team collaboration, team leadership, Mentoring??IT Management, ERP/MRP systems, PLM
2 年For those who have adopted Lean Thinking, this is no surprise. Unfortunately a lot of times even those who practice lean concept in engineering or manufacturing fail to apply it when it is about themselves (I've been guilty of that sometimes too). Zach mentioned problem statement in his comment, but the full lean mindset can be applied here. Define the problem Look for root cause (keep asking "why" to make sure you are really at root cause) Identify potential solutions, try things out, make sure it solves the real problem Make it your new standard Most important - always find out what went wrong in the process, not who to blame. It applies to others, but also to yourself (this is what I need to do better, not just "it's all my fault")
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER /MANAGING DIRECTOR FUNOK WATER & ENGINEERING SERVICES LIMITED ,ENUGU, NIGERIA.
2 年A practical guide to success. Nice contributions!!
Founder, 10x Operating System | Data-Driven Coaching for Simplified Scaling & Strategic Growth | Empowering CEOs and Dentists | 2x Author
2 年Great insights! When we take 100% responsibility, everything that happens to us is a result of either something we did or didn’t do.
GenAI | Quantitative Risk and Digital Transformation Leader | Mindset Coach | 18+ Yrs Experience in Risk, Data & AI | Driving Business Growth with Data-Driven High-ROI Solutions
2 年Thanks for sharing this amazing metaphore and necessity to understand root cause while formulating and articulating a problem. Every unique and useful insight that solves the problem should address the root cause to derive the benefit and jobs to be done statements.