Root Cause Analysis can help your business organization with the following:
- Poor Sales
- Negative Employee Relations
- Safety Incidents
- Manufacturing/Equipment Failures
- Unacceptable Customer Satisfaction
What if there were knowledgeable and dedicated professionals ho were able to effectively improve your organization’s problem areas? What if these professionals could zero in, and identify and analyze these problems? And what if they could fix these problems, effectively AND permanently?
If you answered “yes” to any of these, your business may benefit from Cause Mapping.
How Can Cause Mapping Help You?
What is “Cause Mapping”? Essentially, it’s a simple, 3-step problem-solving process for defining, analyzing and solving ANY type of problem. Through Cause Mapping, individuals and groups can improve the way they analyze, document, communicate and solve problems. Cause Mapping is based on three powerful principles that provide a clear understanding of effective Root Cause Analysis
Systems-thinking: this involves the concept that the parts of a system will act differently when isolated from its other system parts, or the environment. Basically, it means that each and every part is essential to the greater whole; therefore, attention to detail is crucial.
- Cause-and-effect: considered the basis of all problem-solving. Without it, organizations waste significant time on speculation, opinion and incomplete analyses. A cause-and-effect approach is the opposite of the “stuff just happens” mentality.
- Visual communication: all images, ideas, and information you view and/or read.
When it comes to root cause analysis, you may want to think of your business as a flower. Just removing the “weed” (a.k.a. your problem) isn’t enough; you have to get to the “root” to solve the problem for good. It’s the same with work-related problems. As the Cause Mapping approach illustrates, the root is actually a system of causes. And any one of these has possible solutions to prevent the problem from occurring. Unfortunately, many organizations try to identify the root cause(s) of a problem. (How about an image of the weed/root concept?)
But that’s the genius of root cause analysis: it identifies both the obvious and the underlying causes of an issue, so that specific solutions can be implemented. A complete root cause analysis consists of:
- A clear definition of the issue
- A thorough analysis supported with evidence
- And, a specific action plan for implementing the solutions
Root cause analysis is essential for process improvement and six-sigma initiatives. However, with root cause analysis, investigations are usually conducted reactively. But the Cause Mapping method enables these investigations to be conducted proactively. This has two big benefits: 1.) it enables the development of visual troubleshooting guides on specific operations; 2.) it serves as a risk management tool, predicting future potential for failure. Once these defects are removed, processes improve – it’s that simple! And “simple” is the key to Cause Mapping; this process is based on sound principles, so there is no new terminology or acronyms to learn.
With Cause Mapping, you and your employees learn the very basics of analysis. Basically, ANY problem can be broken down into simple cause-and-effect relationships. All it takes is the construction of a Cause Map a visual representation of the problem’s cause-and-effect relationships.
A Cause Map is a lot like a street map, but it shows the relationship of causes, not streets. The Cause Map literally shows how all of the causes piece together to create the problem. The visual Cause Map provides a simple way to literally see what actually happened! Cause Maps are effective for day-to-day issues or extremely complex situations requiring very thorough and clear documentation.