Analyze the Causes of the Problem
Analyze all facets of a situation, including the personal, environmental, and psychological aspects, to understand all of the factors causing a problem. Often, leaders quickly conclude that problems involving an employee are the employee's fault—that the employee did something to cause the problem. This is usually not entirely true. Problems are caused by how employees view their environment, their cognitive style and personality, the way they interact with others, the way others treat them, the rewards offered by their job or the company, their managers' behavior, the conditions in which they work, and many other factors. Solving a problem is seldom as simple as changing just one factor. Managers often discover this the hard way by replacing an employee and expecting the problem to go away; it rarely does.