“Something is wrong with the company. We can feel it, but we don’t know what that is. Find it and deal with it”

I’ve heard it more than enough at the start of my work with new companies. To achieve the goal, I ultimately use one algorithm, which always helps me to make it happen and to justify the trust given to me. In short, it's just 5 steps:

1. Dive into data

2. Listen to people

3. Be present everywhere

4. Find allies

5. Silver bullets

First, dive into data, and dive deep, until you feel you know everything possible.

Don’t settle for anything that doesn’t feel like a complete picture. Listen to your gut, keep writing down new questions and check if you have answers. If the company doesn’t have the data, get it as soon as possible: qualitative and quantitative. You can’t find the root cause by looking through blinders.

Second, listen to what people are saying.

Note that it’s not about talking to them but listening. You can’t have any genuine opinion yet and should remain open-minded and give them space to explain their issues and how they see the root cause. Listening, not talking, also allows you to notice more in the infosphere of the company: the way they react or don’t, the way they communicate, the way they deal with conflicts, which topics are hotter than others.

Third, make sure your search operates at every level of the organisation.

When something deep and dark happens, it just can’t be local. If one team is fighting constantly, it is somehow allowed by others. If there are underperformers — the cause may be hidden in management, HR, culture, whatever.?

If people don’t react to posts, they may be just burnt out enough to ignore everything. The root cause is not always this big, but you won’t find it if you start by thinking small. So talk with everyone, from top management to supporting roles, from promoters to haters.

Fourth, find allies.

Previous steps will allow you to meet people who are not only interested in resolving the issue but willing and capable of helping by hand. Make them your friends, your plans reviewers, your creative team, your everything. So they can become knowledgeable advocates for new ideas since they created them with you.

Finally, look for silver bullets.

I often say that there are none, and it’s true. It’s just a thought exercise. Looking for decisions that may influence a few issues simultaneously makes you closer to the root cause. Your silver bullet idea may be too ambitious, too big for the current situation. That’s totally fine; then you can make it your mission and split the way to it into strategies and plans.