Step Every problem leaves a distinctive fingerprint. Compare the Is Happening with the
Is Not Happening. What is unique or distinctive about these two columns?
What changes, if any, have taken place related to these distinctions?
Step List the potentialcauses that could explain much, if not all, of the data.
Step Test each potential cause against the data, trying to rule out those causes that do
not satisfactorily explain the data.
Step For the most probable cause(s), gather additional data that would confirm or dis-
confirm the cause before taking action.Charles Kepner and Benjamin Tregoe, in their groundbreaking book, The New Rational
Manager,summarized the process this way:
Reprinted with the permission of Kepner-Tregoe, Inc. All rights reserved.
HOW TO USE THIS LEADERSHIP TOOL
“One kind of problem that taxes our ability to ask the right questions is the problem that drifts in
like fog, very gradually, until visibility has dropped to near zero. Some gradual change in conditions has
occurred, and by the time the situation has become serious enough to gain everyone’s attention its critical
elements may be lost to view.”
—Charles Kepner and Benjamin Tregoe, THE NEW RATIONAL MANAGERBy way of example, the leader of a Corporate Services group recently negotiated a new contract
for photocopiers. People had liked the previous name-brand copiers, but the cost savings on
the new copiers were just too attractive to pass up! Recently, more and more complaints have
surfaced about the new copiers. The leader chalked up the first few as “just the usual com-
plaints,” but the complaints have kept coming. A series of technicians have adjusted the most
208 SECTION 7 TOOLS FORPROBLEMSOLVING, DECISIONMAKING, ANDQUALITY