Identifying root causes requires courage, not just process

Executive overview

Most teams avoid their hardest issues, solving symptoms instead of causes. The first step of IDS (Identify, Discuss, Solve) demands courage — picking the real issue, not the comfortable one.

Courage isn't just a mindset; it's a speed mechanism. Teams that name the hard issue early solve it faster and unlock more growth than teams that spend sessions on easy wins.

The hardest part of IDS is identifying well — get that right and everything else follows.

Moving from safe issues to real ones

• Teams naturally gravitate to easy issues; hard ones get deferred or saved for a coach
• Calling issues 1, 2, 3 forces prioritization — most teams default to the comfortable pick
• Ask: "Are we choosing the courageous issues or the easy ones?"
• Three hard issues solved in 24 minutes beat a full day spent on symptoms
• Symptoms feel productive; root causes feel risky — that's the trap

Asking questions that break the logjam

• "What would we do if we were courageous right now?" — creates permission to take the hard path
• "What are we pretending not to know right now?" — surfaces avoided truths without judgment
• "If this were solved forever, what would unlock?" — shifts focus to impact
• "Are we solving what's most impactful — is this the right thing at the right time?"
• Questions work better than statements; they invite rather than confront

What courageous identification looks like in practice

• A salesperson volunteered her own role for elimination — the team's growth doubled within 18 months
• Naming the real issue cleared the room: once the elephant was gone, the rest of the day flowed
• One step back, five steps forward — counterintuitive in the moment, transformative in outcome
• People who are "done being a weenie" often say the thing everyone else is circling around
• The tremble in the voice is a signal, not a reason to stop

Simple vs. easy — a critical distinction

• Simple gets to the root; easy avoids it
• Confusing simple with easy leads teams down the wrong path
• The courageous path is often the simple one — the answer is usually visible if you look directly at it
• Ego, politics, history, and habit are the real blockers — not complexity
• "It's simple, it's not easy" — this is the central tension of identifying well