Today’s Strategic Alignment Journal post in two sentences:

When a problem keeps returning despite repeated attempts to fix it, the failure of those solutions becomes information worth examining. Before investing in another fix, it may be time to ask whether the problem has been accurately understood in the first place.

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When the same problem keeps returning after several attempts to fix it, we usually start looking for a better solution. At some point, however, the repeated failure of those fixes should make us question whether we have understood the problem correctly in the first place.

Perhaps you have changed the process, brought in new people, introduced training, invested in technology, reorganised the team or tried several different strategies. Each response may have made sense at the time. Some may even have produced temporary improvement. Yet, months or years later, some version of the original problem remains.

The usual response is to look for another fix: Another programme. Another consultant. Another employee. Another system. Another strategy.

But every solution we choose begins with an understanding of what we believe the problem is, and if that understanding remains unchanged, different solutions can simply become different attempts to solve the same problem as we have defined it.

Consider an organisation struggling with employee engagement.

Management training is introduced because poor leadership is believed to be the cause. Engagement remains low, so another programme follows. Then incentives are introduced. Then communication initiatives. Then perhaps people are replaced.

Each intervention tells us something about what the organisation believes is wrong, yet when the problem persists, the conversation often remains focused on what should be tried next.

There is another question available:

What have we already tried, and what does the failure of those attempts tell us?

A broken fix contains information.

If several reasonable solutions have failed to create meaningful change, their failure deserves examination. Perhaps the intervention was poorly executed. Perhaps circumstances changed. Perhaps the solution addressed only one part of the problem, or perhaps the problem itself has never been accurately identified.

When persistence becomes expensive.

We can become so committed to solving the problem as we have defined it that every unsuccessful attempt sends us searching for a better solution within the same frame. More effort is applied. More money is spent. More people become involved. The organisation remains busy solving, while the original issue continues.

At some point, another solution may simply extend the cycle.

The question then changes from What else should we try? to What have all these attempts assumed to be true?

If every attempt to improve sales has focused on marketing, perhaps there is an assumption that visibility is the problem. If repeated efforts to improve customer retention focus on service training, there may be an assumption that employee behaviour is driving clients away. If every attempt to improve productivity introduces new systems, perhaps the organisation has decided that process is the issue.

Those assumptions may be correct, but repeated failure gives us a reason to examine them.

The history of our solutions can therefore become part of the diagnosis.

It shows us what we believed, what we prioritised and where we repeatedly placed our attention. Instead of discarding another failed intervention and moving immediately to the next one, we can ask what the pattern is trying to tell us. When a problem survives several fixes, the most useful next move may be to stop fixing for a moment and understand why the problem has survived despite your best efforts.

Strategic Reflection Prompt

What problem have you been trying to solve repeatedly, and what might your unsuccessful attempts be telling you about your understanding of the problem?

About Giselle

Most costly decisions begin with a wrong read of the situation.

I’m Giselle Hudson — The Pre-Fixer. I help leaders see the real problem before they act, in my writing and in my work. I don’t fix; I pre-fix. Most advisers jump to solutions before they’ve found the real problem. I find it first — the part that isn’t fully visible yet. Once we see that clearly, everything else falls into place, and confident, right action can follow.

Through my daily Strategic Alignment Journal, I explore leadership, decision-making, and the patterns that shape organizations — helping leaders make sense of complexity before they commit significant time and money to the wrong thing.

What’s the one thing about your business that frustrates you most — the thing that, despite your best efforts, you can’t seem to resolve?