Root cause analysis is a structural and powerful methodology used to solve problems. It requires to look beyond the solution to the immediate problem and understand the fundamental causes of the situation in order to prevent the recurrence of the same incident, problem or non-conformity.
I am standing by the shore of a swiftly flowing river with a friend, and we hear the cry of a drowning child. We jump into the cold waters. We fight against the strong current and force our way to the struggling boy. I hold on hard and gradually pull him to shore. We lay him out on the bank to help him recover breath. Just when he begins to breathe normally, we hear other children cry for help. We jump again into the cold waters. We fight against the strong current, and swim forcefully to the struggling girl. We grab hold and gradually pull her to shore. We lift her out onto the bank beside the boy and help her recover. Just when she begins to breathe better, we hear another cry for help. We jump back into the cold waters. Fighting again against the strong current, we force our way to the struggling boy. We are getting tired, so with great effort we eventually pull him to shore. We lay him out on the bank and again help with recovery… suddenly my friend stands up and leaves (just as we are hearing another call for help)!
I just can’t believe him! I shout at him “Are you leaving me here now, alone! DON’T YOU SEE MORE ENDANGERED CHILDREN ARE ON THEIR WAY? I need your help!”
He replies to me “Yes I see, that is why I am going UPSTREAM to get the BASTARD who is throwing them in!”
This is an adaptation of what is known as the Upstream Parable or alternatively the River Story. If you substitute the children in the parable for problems you clearly get the point of the story. We oftentimes are so busy trying to fix things that we don’t pay attention to how they are originating. Then we find ourselves overwhelmed by what’s on our plate.
If you want to solve your problems you must go upstream, identify the root cause, and tackle it there.
Root cause analysis is a structural and powerful methodology used to solve problems. It requires to look beyond the solution to the immediate problem and understand the fundamental causes of the situation in order to prevent the recurrence of the same incident, problem or non-conformity.
Organizations often respond to problems with short-term solutions and that is not the proper way to increase organizational growth. They need to look beneath the surface to the root cause of issues or problems; by this way they can formulate a preventative solution that should put an end to or mitigate the problem. By the way, organizations can avoid unnecessary costs resulting from business interruption, emergency, clean-up, increased audits, inspections and fines. Importantly, public trust can be earned which enhances business reputation.
