The Crucial Leadership Principle: Solving Before Succeeding

As a leader, your primary goal might seem crystal clear: to drive results. Yet, there's a foundational principle that often gets overlooked in the pursuit of success – the art of diagnosis. It's like embarking on a journey without knowing the destination; you might move forward, but you're not truly getting anywhere.

The Problem-First Approach

Imagine this: you're a captain of a ship sailing towards an unknown island. Your crew is eager to reach the shores and claim victory, but you haven't even established the coordinates or the route to get there. Without addressing the fundamental questions of where you're going and how you'll get there, the chances of success are bleak.

Similarly, in leadership, before you can even think about driving results, you must engage in a rigorous process of problem diagnosis. Understanding the underlying issues that hinder progress is like plotting your course. Only then can you be certain that the efforts invested will lead you in the right direction.

The Pitfall of Ignoring Diagnosis

It's not uncommon for leaders to dive headfirst into the "doing" phase – trying to achieve outcomes without identifying the obstacles. This is akin to treating symptoms without understanding the root cause of an ailment. While you might see temporary improvements, the long-term sustainability of these gains is questionable.

Consider a business struggling with declining customer satisfaction. It's tempting to launch marketing campaigns or offer discounts to boost sales. However, if the core issue lies in subpar customer service, these quick fixes won't lead to lasting results. By investing time in diagnosing the problem – in this case, analyzing customer feedback and interaction data – the leader can implement systemic changes that genuinely enhance customer satisfaction.

The Art of Measurement

Solving the problem is only half the battle; measuring progress is the other crucial component. After all, how can you determine success if you haven't defined what it looks like? Measurement metrics serve as milestones, guiding your efforts and helping you track whether your solutions are driving the intended outcomes.

Returning to the analogy of the ship captain, even after the destination is set, it's vital to have navigational tools to ensure you're on the right path. Similarly, leaders must establish clear performance indicators that resonate with the problem at hand. If it's a productivity challenge, the measurement might revolve around output per employee. If it's a quality concern, metrics might center on error rates or customer feedback scores.

The Holistic Approach to Leadership

By placing problem diagnosis before result achievement, leaders adopt a holistic approach that enhances the overall effectiveness of their leadership. This process isn't about slowing progress – it's about ensuring that progress is meaningful, sustainable, and aligned with the organization's goals.

So, the next time you find yourself or your team fixated on outcomes, take a step back. Ask the fundamental questions: What's the problem we're trying to solve? What's causing this issue? Once you've deciphered these puzzle pieces, proceed with clarity and a sense of purpose. Your leadership journey will transform from mere movement to deliberate progress, from fleeting success to enduring accomplishment.

References:

Harvard Business Review. "Stop Jumping to Solutions!" Available at: https://hbr.org/2012/07/stop-jumping-to-solutions
Forbes. "Why Problem Solving Should Come Before Decision Making." Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2017/03/24/why-problem-solving-should-come-before-decision-making/
McKinsey & Company. "The case for behavioral strategy." Available at: https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/strategy-and-corporate-finance/our-insights/the-case-for-behavioral-strategy
MIT Sloan Management Review. "Diagnose Before You Prescribe." Available at: https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/diagnose-before-you-prescribe/
The Leadership Quarterly. "Problem-solving versus problem-diagnosing: Debiasing strategies to improve decision quality." Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1048984316302020