Solve the Real Problem: How Root Cause Analysis Changes Everything

by Jean-Eric Plamondon | 5 Jun, 2025 | Management Operating System

The short answer: Root cause analysis means addressing the source of a problem instead of managing the aftermath. The person isn’t always the problem. Sometimes it’s the system, and when you solve the root problem, everything downstream starts to flow again.

“Should I fire the head of my department?”

That’s how one of my client meetings kicked off.

No warm-up. No preamble. Just boom—straight to a decision that would have massive ripple effects across the entire company.

And I get it.

When things aren’t working, it’s easy to look at the most visible person and assume they’re the problem.

But my response was basically, “Can you trust the process for a minute?”

Because here’s the truth:

The person isn’t always the problem. Sometimes it’s the system.

The Symptoms Always Show Up First

In this case, the department head was actually super valuable.

Smart, experienced, irreplaceable in some ways.

But his style was total chaos. No notes. No structure. Everything done at the last minute in a state of emergency.

And because of that, his team was constantly quitting.

The instinct was to fire him.

But when we started mapping things out—creating step-by-step workflows, structuring meetings, and adding accountability—what we saw was that this individual had been managing everything by crisis.

No wonder everyone around him was stressed.

Once we implemented some simple systems, the firefighting dropped. The stress levels fell. People stopped quitting.

Turns out the problem wasn’t him. The problem was how work was approached in the department.

A Lot of Companies Treat Symptoms Instead of Causes.

When you treat symptoms instead of causes, it’s like putting buckets under a leaking roof and calling it a solution.

Then it rains harder. The buckets overflow.

So, the “solution” becomes “get bigger buckets.” Or more buckets. Or assign someone to empty the buckets faster.

But the real issue isn’t the water. It’s the leak.

Fix the leak, and you don’t need any buckets at all.

And yet, businesses spend a fortune managing the aftermath instead of addressing the source.

They spin their wheels solving the wrong problem over and over again.

The Dam and the Flood – Correlation vs Causation

Here’s another analogy I often use with clients. Imagine a river that’s been blocked by a dam. Water’s backed up. Flooding everywhere upstream. Everything looks like a disaster. We often hear “everything is a mess, we don’t know where to start.”

And then we come in, find the dam, and blow it up.

Finally, the water drains.

But now everything looks worse!

You’ve got mud. Exposed roots. Debris. Damage you couldn’t see before because it was underwater.

The reaction we sometimes get is, “Look what you did! You made a mess!”

Nope. We just exposed the mess that was already there.

This is a classic case of correlation vs. causation.

Yes, the mess showed up after the change. But the change didn’t cause the mess. It revealed it.

And now that we see it, we can actually fix it.

The Warehouse Example: Where Problems Really Start

A while back, we worked with a company that had major customer service issues.

People were calling and complaining. Orders were late. The front-line team was melting down.

On the surface, it looked like a customer service problem.

But when we traced things back, the real issue was buried in the warehouse.

It was taking nine business days to process an order and get it out the door. That’s before the shipping transit times. Meanwhile, Amazon is delivering to your doorstep in two days.

Once we uncovered this issue and built accountability and tracking into the fulfillment process, the customer complaints dropped.

Again…

It wasn’t a people problem. It was a process problem.

Expert Eyes See What You Don’t

When I started buying real estate at the age of 18, I thought I knew what I was doing. I attended seminars, read a lot of books, and looked at a hundred houses – what could a home inspector possibly teach me?

A lot, it turns out.

This guy walks into the basement and within 30 seconds, he’s pointing out bowing beams, dry rot, hidden cracks, signs of water damage and negative drainage, signs of premature mechanical failures—stuff I didn’t even know existed, let alone knew to look for.

It was a wake-up call.

And it’s exactly the same in business.

Leaders often don’t know what they don’t know.

They’re standing in a house that looks fine—but it’s one hard rain away from collapse.

Sometimes you need an experienced business advisor who’s seen enough basements to know what’s hiding behind the walls.

Fix the Real Problem

If you’re feeling stuck—fighting fires, losing staff, chasing symptoms—take a step back. Ask yourself:

What’s actually causing this?

What’s upstream from the chaos I’m dealing with?

Am I fixing the roof, or just getting better at emptying buckets?

When you solve the root problem, everything downstream starts to flow again.

And yes, you might uncover some mess along the way.

But at least now, you’ll know where to focus.

And that’s where real progress begins.

Common questions

Should I fire the person who seems to be the problem?

Not necessarily. One client asked this about a department head whose team kept quitting. Mapping the work showed he had been managing everything by crisis, and once some simple systems were implemented, the firefighting dropped, stress levels fell and people stopped quitting.

What does treating symptoms instead of causes look like?

It’s like putting buckets under a leaking roof. When it rains harder, the “solution” becomes bigger buckets, more buckets, or someone to empty them faster. Fix the leak, and you don’t need any buckets at all.

Why do things look worse after fixing the root problem?

Fixing it can expose a mess that was already there. Blow up the dam and the water drains, leaving mud, debris and damage you couldn’t see before. The change didn’t cause the mess. It revealed it.

How do I find the root cause of a business problem?

Take a step back and ask yourself: What’s actually causing this? What’s upstream from the chaos I’m dealing with? Am I fixing the roof, or just getting better at emptying buckets?