Root Cause Investigations: The Importance of Listening
So far in our training series, we have learned about problem statement, fact gathering and comparisons.
This month, we are going to connect the dots by actually listening to what our data is telling us. That is going to lead us to the clues that will uncover the root cause of our problem. Turns out, it’s really not any different from what your favorite investigator does on TV.
They are asking what’s different, changed or unique about our comparison data vs. our investigation facts.
Specifically, we are going to apply our four M’s:
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Manpower
Material
Methods
Machinery
Something has likely changed in one of those ares that gave us our unfavorable results. As investigators we need to explore each of these in the areas of our 4W’s that we spoke of: the What, Where, When and Weight.
We need to ask what has changed in the area of manpower in terms of the “what”. Did we add new workers, did someone miss critical training because they were on vacation? We ask the same type of questions with each of the M’s within each of the W’s. Following this discipline will help us to uncover clues.
The Biggest Challenge for Teams
Oftentimes, teams want to give up after they find one or two clues. Or sometimes they will quit when they decide they found “their” likely cause. A team leader has to be persistent.
The biggest mistake that teams make is that they get confused about how they document their clues. This is critical. The information you record must always be true of the “IS” data - your investigation facts. Not of the “IS NOT” data - your comparison data. To ignore this will confuse your investigation, frustrate your team, and often keep you from finding the root cause.
Stay tuned for next month’s session, we’re getting closer to finding our true root cause!
