Albert Einstein once said:
If I had an hour to solve a problem, I’d spend 55 minutes thinking
about the problem and 5 minutes thinking about solutions.
While this approach might seem a bit extreme, we agree with the point he’s making: the key to solving a problem is to really understand it.
When you’re thinking about learning opportunities for your support staff, it’s very tempting to jump to a training solution as soon as you’ve identified performance issues. But many factors contribute to staff performance and if you’re only considering the actions you’re seeing, you may end up responding to the symptoms instead of addressing the underlying root cause. Without getting to the primary source of an issue or behaviour, it’s likely you’ll find it cropping up again and again.
So, how do you uncover root cause? By asking questions! Here are a few questions that start to dig below the surface:
When you think you’re onto the root cause of an issue, try talking to your support workers about it. Coming to a shared perspective and understanding of the root cause of an issue is the common ground that can impact performance.
If you’re seeking a training solution to a tricky problem, call us and we’ll work with you to tease out what’s really at the heart of an issue and address it head on.
When you’re thinking about learning opportunities for your support staff, it’s very tempting to jump to a training solution as soon as you’ve identified performance issues. But many factors contribute to staff performance and if you’re only considering the actions you’re seeing, you may end up responding to the symptoms instead of addressing the underlying root cause. Without getting to the primary source of an issue or behaviour, it’s likely you’ll find it cropping up again and again.
So, how do you uncover root cause? By asking questions! Here are a few questions that start to dig below the surface:
- What’s the scope of the problem? Does it relate to just a few workers or many? If it relates to a group of workers, are there factors they all have in common?
- Are workers unwilling, or unable, to perform a task in a certain way?
- Are there organizational barriers that need to be addressed before workers can apply their learning?
When you think you’re onto the root cause of an issue, try talking to your support workers about it. Coming to a shared perspective and understanding of the root cause of an issue is the common ground that can impact performance.
If you’re seeking a training solution to a tricky problem, call us and we’ll work with you to tease out what’s really at the heart of an issue and address it head on.