One of the core issues I commonly run into is difficulty in identifying the root causes of a particular issue. It is really easy to get caught up in the day-to-day functions and miss sight of what is really going on behind the scenes with the business. Trying to fix a problem that we face today may not actually be possible without addressing three other related issues yet we may spend all of our time on the one in front of us yielding no results.
Often this surfaces itself in people feeling frustration at the lack of ability to fix what they are working on. The frustration is a classic sign that a problem is deeper than believed. I’ve always found the best way to deal with this frustration is to step away from it to examine it from several sides. Take a look at it and ask:
- Who else is contributing to this problem?
- Do I actually control the ability to put a solution in place by myself?
- Are others incentivized to have this problem exist? (It is amazing how often others are benefited by having something be broken.)
- Does this problem need a solution or can I just stop dealing with this issue?
- Is there someone else around that I can bounce ideas for this off of?
Usually answering these questions gives me a good sense of what is really going on. Often internal politics cause unforeseen issues that cannot be neatly solved – even though those playing the politics are not directly involved in the issue itself.
Don’t let frustration be the answer, find the solution you need – or move on.