The One Thought That Causes Every Organization To Fail

Unpacking the tendency to find a solution without fixing the underlying problem

“Why hasn’t this problem been fixed?” I asked. “It’s been going on for years.”

I was sitting down with a mentor. We were discussing a problem that I was experiencing and trying to resolve. I had a few ideas but wasn’t sure what to do. It was an institutional problem — not one that I created, but rather one that had existed for some time.

“That’s easy,” my mentor quickly said. “Someone chose a solution that didn’t fix the underlying problem.”

Avoiding Issues

There is always an easy solution to every human problem — neat, plausible, and wrong.
— H.L. Mencken

I could not understand how someone else could see this same issue and not try to fully and finally fix it. I wanted to confront the problem with aggressive action. I wanted to cut through the confusion and inaction and just solve the problem. I felt the pain of letting the problem linger.

Why didn’t someone else fix this before me?

My mentor explained: people before me saw the problem, but found a way to deal with the problem for themselves only, and then moved on. It was a way to avoid the issue rather than confront it head-on.

It struck me as selfish, though that may be a bit harsh. Still, it’s painful to think about a group of people who avoid solving a problem after they figure out a way to live with it.

Seven Ounces Further

My mentor continued, “In most organizations, there is a tendency to find solutions that don’t fix the underlying problem. Yet, it doesn’t take much work to solve the actual problem. It only takes an extra seven ounces of pressure — just a little more effort.”

He explained that fixing the underlying problem doesn’t take much work, time, or energy. But it does take a little bit extra. It is a little easier, at the moment, to use the temporary solution rather than the permanent one. But fixing a problem with a temporary solution as a strategy results in a permanent problem.

It only takes a little more effort to ditch the temporary solution and fix the underlying problem. But the thought that allows the temporary solution is the one that causes an organization to fail.

If You’re Upset, Other People Are As Well

“If you’re experiencing the problem, then so are others in the organization,” said my mentor.

He was right. The problem had been institutionalized. No one had taken responsibility to fix the problem, so it stuck around and plagued the organization. If I was upset, then so were others, even if they never spoke up.

“So what do I do?”

“Well,” he said, “You have a choice. Address the problem, like others have — with a solution that gets you by, or exert that extra few ounces of pressure, and attempt to fix the institutional problem.”

I didn’t like his answer, but he was right. Someone has to make the system work better, if the system is ever going to work better.

Leaders Don’t Just Find Solutions, They Solve Problems

All problems, personal, national, or combat, become smaller if you don’t dodge them, but confront them. Touch a thistle timidly, and it pricks you; grasp it boldly, and its spines crumble.
—Admiral William F. “Bull” Halsey

My mentor’s solution was not complicated. “We need more leaders,” he said, “who are willing to do the extra work to solve a problem, rather than just work on a temporary fix.”

Everybody needs to have their eyes open to problems. The top of the organization can’t see every problem. But neither can the bottom.

My mentor’s words remind me to watch my thoughts carefully, at work and everywhere else:

“Don’t swallow the pain and hope life gets better. Look for a solution that eliminates the problem. Whenever you are tempted to fix a problem by ignoring the long-term solution, stop yourself. Is there a better way? Is there an underlying problem you can fix instead of adopting a temporary solution?”

Never forget: fixing a problem with a temporary solution as a strategy always results in a permanent problem.

Learn the one lesson that has changed my life more than any other.