Are You Solving the Right People Problem?
- Leslie Speas
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
“Turnover is too high. We need to increase pay.”
“Employees aren't accountable. We need accountability training.”
“Our teams aren't working well together. We need team building.”
Maybe. But maybe not.
One of the most common mistakes organizations make when dealing with people challenges is moving too quickly from problem to solution. I see this all the time in my consulting work. The problem that is initially presented is rarely the real problem.
Leaders often see a symptom, assume what's causing it, and immediately start looking for a fix. The problem is that if the assumption is wrong, the solution probably will be too.
The presenting problem isn't always the real problem
Consider an organization experiencing high turnover.
The obvious explanation might be compensation. And perhaps pay is part of the problem.
But what if you look more closely and discover that most of the turnover is occurring in one division?
Then you dig further and find that two departments account for most of the departures.
Dig again, and one manager has dramatically higher turnover than the other managers.
At this point, it might be tempting to conclude:
We have a manager problem.
But there's still more to understand.
What if that manager:
Was promoted because of strong technical skills but never trained to manage people?
Has 17 direct reports?
Has no structure for regular one-on-one conversations?
Is evaluated almost entirely on production results?
Has generated employee complaints that leadership hasn't addressed?
Continues to exceed operational targets?
Now what problem are you solving?
What originally looked like a compensation problem became a manager problem—and ultimately revealed a larger organizational system problem.
That's why diagnosis matters.
Before you prescribe, diagnose
I use a simple framework called ROOT to help organizations think through workplace challenges.
R — Recognize the presenting problem
Start with what you can actually observe.
Try describing the problem without explaining why you think it's happening.
Instead of: Employees aren't engaged. What are you actually seeing?
Maybe employees aren't participating in meetings. Perhaps voluntary turnover has increased. Maybe deadlines are being missed, or managers are receiving fewer ideas from their teams.
Those are observations. “Employees aren't engaged” is already an interpretation.
O — Obtain the evidence
Next, separate what you know from what you're assuming.
Ask:
What data do we have?
What are employees and managers telling us?
Where is the problem occurring?
Where isn't it occurring?
What else do we need to know before deciding what to do?
Often, where a problem isn't happening tells you just as much as where it is.
O — Observe the patterns
Once you've gathered evidence, look at the situation through six different lenses:
Capability: Do people have the skills and knowledge they need to succeed?
Clarity & Alignment: Do people know what matters and what is expected of them?
Leadership: How are leaders and managers contributing to the situation?
Systems & Structure: Is the way the work is designed creating or reinforcing the problem?
Reinforcement: What behaviors are being rewarded, ignored, or tolerated?
Culture: What unwritten norms, beliefs, and behaviors may be influencing what is happening?
Most persistent workplace problems don't fit neatly into just one category.
That's exactly why jumping immediately to a solution can be so costly.
T — Target the right intervention
Only after you've done the diagnostic work should you decide what to do.
Training may be the answer.
Compensation may be the answer.
A change in structure, clearer expectations, better management practices, stronger accountability—or even a difficult personnel decision—may be the answer.
Often, the right intervention is a combination.
The goal isn't to avoid action. It's to make sure the action you're taking actually addresses the problem.
Are you solving the wrong problem?
There are some warning signs worth watching for:
The solution was decided before the problem was investigated.
People are using broad labels such as “engagement,” “accountability” or “culture.”
The problem is significantly worse in some teams than others.
You've already tried to fix the issue, but it keeps returning.
You're hearing phrases like, “We just need to…”
The proposed solution applies to everyone even though the problem doesn't.
When those things are happening, resist the urge to immediately ask:
“What should we do?”
Ask instead:
“What do we need to understand?”
That one shift can prevent an organization from investing significant time, money, and energy solving the wrong problem.
Do you have a workplace challenge that you'd like to get to the bottom of?
InfluenceHR offers a complimentary 30-minute Workplace Challenge Breakthrough session. If interested, click here to schedule. No pitch, just working through your challenge.
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