#1 Root Cause of All Operation Problems and How to Solve It

At Toyota, I drew the conclusion that the number one root cause of all operation problems always comes down to the same thing. 👇

Someone didn’t know what they were supposed to do, when they were supposed to do it, or how they were supposed to do it.

In my work now leading teams through process improvement, I observed the same trend.

This might seem obvious to some, but it’s truly the central reason to problems in process improvement today.

There’s a common misconception that different problems have different origins and that all problems are unique. This isn’t the case.

This lack of clarity creates a ripple effect on the operations and processes of an entire organization. It can cause:

• Duplicate efforts: When roles and responsibilities are unclear, many employees may end up working on the same task or problem. This results in wasted time and effort. A report published by Asana reveals that employees waste more than 10% of their time or an average of 4 hours and 38 minutes duplicating efforts per week.
• Lack of employee ownership and accountability: Expecting a deliverable and it not being completed is a typical scenario in companies where roles are not clearly defined. It can lead to…