Identify Root Cause

How Much do you Identify the Root Cause of your Health Issues?

How Much do you Identify the Root Cause of your Health Issues?

For those in the U.S. as you enjoy this holiday weekend, let’s remember what Memorial Day is about…honoring those who sacrificed their lives for our freedom. May their sacrifice be a reminder of what really matters in life. Our health being one of these things as it’s hard to accomplish our goals without our health.

As change agents, we’re frequently working to identify and address root cause of an issue in an organization. Well finding root cause doesn’t just apply to organizations, it’s very applicable to our health as well. The question is, when you have a health issue going on, how much are you utilizing your change agent skills to identify root cause?

What does identifying root cause of a health issue look like? See below for my journey to identify root cause of the DVT near my right shoulder that landed me in the ER in early April. The root cause is most likely going to shock you.

How Much do you Feel Like You're in the Movie "Groundhog Day"?

How Much do you Feel Like You're in the Movie "Groundhog Day"?

As we come out of yet another wave of the pandemic, the movie “Groundhog Day” comes to mind. For those unfamiliar with the movie, Bill Murray’s character gets stuck in a time loop and has to live the same day over and over. For some, the pandemic is no longer a concern and they are living their lives like it no longer exists. For others, this recent wave has them feeling like Bill Murray’s character in the movie “Groundhog Day”, depressed, upset, and frustrated at reliving the same experience over and over.

As change agents and leaders, it can feel like we’re stuck in a time loop at times…sometimes it’s at work, sometimes it’s in our personal life, and sometimes it’s in both. So the question is, how much do you currently feel like you’re in the movie “Groundhog Day” (i.e. stuck in a time loop)? If you are currently in a time loop, how much do you want to break the cycle?

Read on for some example time loops at work and in one’s personal life as well as what it means if you’ve been trying to break the time loop and it’s not been working.

Analyze the Process - Part 3 of 5

Analyze the Process - Part 3 of 5

Last week in the second of this five-part series, I covered measuring the critical to quality (CTQ) characteristics of the process you think is causing the problem will help ensure the change you’re making is a sustainable solution for your organization (Click here to revisit Part 2 - Measure the Process). The first step was to really define the problem using voice of the customer (VOC) and critical to quality (CTQ) characteristics (Click here to revisit Part 1 - Define the Problem). Now comes the third thing you can do to help ensure your change is here to stay in the organization.