Today’s Strategic Alignment Journal post in two sentences:

When something stops producing the result we expect, our instinct is often to start fixing. Before deciding what needs to change, it may be more useful to identify what changed first.

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When anything stops working, our attention usually goes straight to the problem.

• Revenue is down.
• A project is late.
• Customers are complaining.
• A team that once worked well is struggling.

The temptation is to ask: How do we fix this?

A more useful question to ask, may come just before that one: What changed?

Perhaps the people changed. The workload increased. A process that worked at one scale no longer works at another. Expectations shifted. A supplier changed. A new policy was introduced. Or several small changes accumulated until the system began producing a different result.

We can spend a great deal of time trying to repair the present without understanding how we got there in the first place.

Looking for what changed gives us a point of comparison. It helps us separate what has always been true from what is different now, and gives us a stronger basis for deciding where attention needs to be.

Strategic Reflection Prompt

Think about something in your organization that is no longer producing the result you expect. Write down what was different when it worked better, then list what has changed since, including changes in people, process, workload, resources, expectations, timing or circumstances.

Now look at the list and ask: Which changes happened before the result began to shift? These are the places inviting a closer look before you run off in search of a fix.

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?