#471  from Innovative Leader Volume 9, Number 6          June 2000

Fixing The Problem, Not The Blame 
by Bill Werst

Mr. Werst is president of Growth Associates (Hood River, OR; www.growthassociates.org/), an international consulting firm specializing in practical and lasting organizational improvement. He may be reached at 541-386-1117 or bilwerst@gorge.net. He has just completed Common Sense Managing: Simple Actions That Produce Results (Spirit Press, Portland, OR, 1999).

Beneath the scorching sun the settlers struggled to reach shelter. Within sight of their destination, a wheel fell off their wagon. As they stood around the wagon, an exhausted Calvin Bragg asked: “Who was supposed to check the hub?” Ezra Hopkins queried: “Why didn’t someone check it?” Ezekiel Smith demanded: “Yes, who was supposed to check?” Calvin immediately replied: “Not I!”

This little known, but often repeated, historical event was never recorded. While they argued over why the wheel fell off, and whose fault it was, hostiles fell upon them and erased their page in history. 

This situation continues to repeat itself despite what should have been learned from history. When a wheel falls off a contemporary wagon, Scott, Tina, and Bill immediately call a meeting and begin the process of attempting to discover why it fell off and who is responsible--while the competition creeps up on them. Today we have a name for this process: blamestorming!

Blamestorming: A time-consuming, nonproductive, interactive group discussion of why a mistake was made and who made it.

Focusing on why a mistake occurred and who is to blame is a waste of time. The larger the mistake, the less likely anyone will take responsibility for making it. Fear of repercussions makes great debaters of many of us. It’s probable that even George Washington would have lied if he feared he would get the ax. Focusing on why it happened and whose fault it is does not fix the problem. It fixes the blame.

Fix the Problem, Not the Blame

Why do most people and organizations pursue blamestorming rather than problem solving? Habit. Mom and Dad, the primary trainers of future managers, ingrained blamestorming in us. Their first reaction to an in home disaster typically was: “Who did this?!?”

The follow up to “Who did this?!?” is the stern statement: “Now, tell me the truth!” Telling the truth was lauded. Unfortunately, it was hardly ever positively reinforced. Getting two whacks instead of three is not positive reinforcement. Spending one millennium in our rooms instead of two does not count as positive reinforcement either.

So we learned to deny, hide, and improve our communication skills in blaming someone or something for the disaster. While honing these skills, we grew up to become the people who work within and manage organizations. Consequently, blamestorming became ingrained in our organizational cultures.

People naturally and comfortably form into blamestorming committees. They may not know how to fix the problem, but they are masterful at blamestorming. Meanwhile, hostiles in the guise of competition continue to make positive advances.

What Needs To Be Done

Common Sense Managers manage problems by immediately seeking a solution. They save valuable time and resources by skipping what’s wrong, why it happened, and who caused it. They direct their resources toward determining what needs to be done to fix the situation.

Common Sense Managers have two distinct advantages when handling problems.

•  They know why their organization exists--to earn a profit by satisfying and keeping customers.       

•  They know how their organization is going to get there--their operational plan.

Problems are simply handled as deviations from the plan. Therefore it is easy to address what needs to be done to:

•  Get back on track as efficiently as possible.

•  Inform customers of any possible adverse impact.

Customers don’t care:

•  Whose fault it was that their machine malfunctioned.

•  Why their order was shipped late.

•  What’s wrong with their supplier’s organization.

Customers simply want to know that their product will arrive on time and in accordance with their quality and price specifications. Concentrating on what needs to be done to fix the situation and get back on track as quickly as possible is the most efficient way to resolve a problem.

While this is being done, Common Sense Managers also address what needs to be done to prevent a reoccurrence of the problem. Common Sense Managers address problems as opportunities to further improve their organization’s effectiveness. When you concentrate on what needs to be done, the who, why, and what’s wrong take care of themselves.

The next time you walk into a blamestorming session, interrupt with: “What do we need to do right now to meet the customer’s needs?”

You may have to repeat the question several times and even write it on a chart pad. The more intense the potential impact of the issue, the greater the tendency to go back to whose fault it is. Stick with the above question. Persevere. Eventually people will form a new habit. As simple as this concept is, it will likely take several months for it to become accepted practice. Old habits, even bad ones, are hard to change.

Conclusion

When approaching the wagon wheel problem, we have the choices to ask:

            “What’s gone wrong that caused the wheel to fail?  Why did it fail?  Who caused it?”

                        or

            “What do we need to do to get it back on the wagon and keep it at an acceptable level?”

Only one of these approaches will do something immediately about repairing the wagon.

Only one of these approaches will do something about keeping the wheels on the wagon.

Will this approach keep the wagon rolling forever? No. Organizations are controlled by people who are not perfect. People do not design perfect procedures, processes, or performance criteria. Therefore, there will always be opportunities for improvements. Focusing on what needs to be done enables us to seize these opportunities.