M06DiagnoseDiagnosis· Module 1
Symptoms vs Problems
Late deliveries, angry customers and missing cash are symptoms. Fixing them one by one rarely fixes the business.
- Fix
- Stabilise
- Strategy
- Leadership
- ~5 min · Map
The business problem
Businesses tend to act on what is loudest: a complaint, a missed target, a stock-out. Each receives a quick fix — a new hire, a new system, a stern meeting — and the same symptom returns in a different form a few months later because the underlying cause was never identified.
Why it matters
Money and management attention are limited. Treating symptoms spends both without improving the business. Diagnosis first means each intervention is aimed at something that will actually change the result.
What you will learn
- Distinguish symptoms, problems and root causes
- Recognise common false diagnoses, such as 'we need a new system' or 'we need more staff'
- Gather evidence before deciding on a fix
- Group scattered symptoms into a few underlying problems
Core questions
- Which problems keep coming back despite being 'fixed'?
- What evidence do we have, beyond opinion, about the cause?
- Which symptoms share a common source?
- What have we already tried, and why did it not hold?
Work through the module
CaseWhat is happening?
Wholesaler, 50 people · Illustrative teaching case
A wholesaler's customers complain about wrong deliveries. Management retrains warehouse staff twice, then buys an ERP. Complaints continue. When orders are traced end to end, the errors start at order-taking: sales staff accept orders by phone and WhatsApp with inconsistent product codes, and the warehouse picks what it can interpret.
Full teaching case: The ERP That Didn't Fix Anything
DecisionWhat does the leader need to decide?
Replace the warehouse team or system again, or fix how orders enter the business?
FrameworkHow should they think about the problem?
Symptom → problem → cause
A symptom is what you observe. A problem is the failure that produces it. A cause is the condition that allows the failure to keep happening — usually a missing owner, rule, process, tool or review. Work backwards from the symptom, testing each step against evidence.
ToolWhat can they use?
Symptom-to-cause mapMap
- List the ten symptoms that cost you most time or money
- For each, write the failure that produces it
- Ask what allows that failure to recur: owner, rule, process, tool or review?
- Group symptoms that share a cause
ApplicationHow does it apply to their business?
Apply it to your own business:
- Take your most persistent symptom and trace one real example end to end
- Record where the failure first entered the process
- Check the finding against two more examples
ImplementationWhat changes?
What should change in the business:
- Stop any fix that addresses only the symptom
- Assign the underlying cause to an owner with a deadline
- Agree which evidence will show the cause has been removed
ReviewDid it work?
How to tell whether the change worked:
- Has the symptom's frequency fallen over the following month?
- Did related symptoms fall at the same time?
- Is the team now asking for evidence before proposing fixes?
After this module you should be able to decide
Replace the warehouse team or system again, or fix how orders enter the business?
And leave with: A symptom-to-cause map for your most persistent issue.
Sequence · Diagnosis