Addressing Root Cause versus Symptoms

Identify Root Causes Before Solutions

Oftentimes companies attempt to address symptoms by putting a solution in place before the root causes are known. Company leaders and business owners need to resist this temptation!

For example, one of my relatives had blood in his stool. The urgent care provider reviewed when the phenomenon started occurring and how often it occurred. But they never asked other questions like “are you feeling pain anywhere, did you change your diet recently, did experience a fall or injury recently, etc…” Thus, the urgent care facility just assumed that blood in stool was from some common event that happens to individuals that are old and prescribed some type of generic antibiotic. After the bleeding continued, we went to a hospital and requested a specialist who would dig into determining the cause. The specialist asked a lot of questions, mapped out a timeline, identified pain points, took various samples and performed a deep evaluative analysis. In short, there was a tear somewhere in the intestines that would not close/heal. Think of the potential outcome for this relative had not the specialist identified and addressed the root cause.

Definitions of Symptoms and Root Causes

Simply, a symptom is a sign or indication of a root cause, but it is not, by itself, a cause. Most often, symptoms lack specificity and are difficult to categorize. It is very difficult to develop solutions to directly address symptoms. In contrast, a root cause is the real reason for a business or performance problem. Root causes are specific and can be easily categorized. Solutions can be implemented that either mitigate or eliminate the effects of a root cause.

Moving From Symptom to Root Cause

As noted above, when businesses encounter a symptom, it should serve as a prompt to dig deeper to get at the real root causes for an issue. And as in the example above, businesses should call in a “specialist” who can conduct some research to genuinely identify the root cause.