[Neurons] 2026 Neurons #17 WHEN A PROBLEM IS REALLY A SYMPTOM

[Michael Hall]

From: L. Michael Hall

2026 Neurons #17

April 20, 2026

Problem Solving Expertise #17

              

WHEN A PROBLEM

IS ACTUALLY JUST A SYMPTOM

 

Historically, and even today, organizations often treat defects in
production as a problem to solve.  And while a product detect certainly
seems like a problem, especially a problem to fix, historically production
lines ignored the defects until the end of the line.  Then at that point
someone would look over things, identifies what is defective, how much of a
defect it is, and decide if it can be fixed, or should just be trashed.
This accounts for a lot of waste.  It also accounts for how that sometimes
defective products get through and are delivered to customers.  As a result
management tends to blame employees for defective products as shoddy work, a
result of incompetence, laziness, and not caring.

 

Then one day Edwards Deming began thinking about all of this in a different
way.  What he did was to frame defects as symptoms.  That then led him to
adopt an entirely different approach, an approach that gave birth to the
Quality Movement.  Seeing defects as symptoms implies that, at a higher
level, there is a hidden problem.  "What's the actual problem which is
causing the defects?"

 

For Deming, the problem was structural-one of design.  Deming saw that doing
quality control at the end of the process was too late-too late to do
anything about the defect.  As a key innovation, he suggested putting the
quality control inside the process itself (thereby changing the design of
the system).  Yet doing that implied other changes.  It implied stopping the
assembling line to check, fixing defects in real time, giving employees the
power to make decisions about stopping the line, and putting the focus on
quality rather than speed.

 

This changed the thinking of people on the production line.  Now defects
became valued data for learning, adjusting, proactive corrections, etc.  It
put a stop to the reactive fixing or trashing at the end.  Here the defects,
when viewed as a symptom, rather than a problem, shifted people's thinking
to a meta-level.  The higher frame is this: Defects tell us there's
something not working as it should in the process, and that the place to
intervene and/or upgrade is in  the process itself.  As such, this way of
thinking required a different way of perceiving, a different attitude, and a
different set of skills.

 

When we quickly and automatically label something as a 'problem,' we tend to
then jump to conclusions which may mis-direct our problem-solving skills.
What if the problem that we think we're facing is not the problem at all?
What if it is actually a symptom of an unknown problem?  Yes, symptoms can
be painful, distressful, and can create headaches and problems for you.  But
that does not mean that the symptoms are the problems.  And yes, we tend to
call them 'problems,' which in this case is a linguistic-semantic problem
that blinds us to what's really going on.

 

When you consider all of the energy, effort, and time devoted to solving
symptomatic 'problems,' that is the price we pay for not looking further
into the problem-behind-the-problem.  This is generally the problem of
everyone who thinks of a problem in terms of being an outside factor.  As
long as they see what is obvious on the outside, the manifestation of the
problem, and think 'that is the problem,' they never even consider taking an
inside perspective.  And without taking an inside perspective, one will
never discover the hidden problems-the kind of thinking which creates the
mental and emotional blocks.  In this way, the real problem stays hidden.

 

You therefore take a big and significant step in terms of problem-solving
when you understand that many times what we call a 'problem,' is actually
just a symptom of a problem.  It's not the real problem, it is an expression
of a problem and a manifestation of a problem.  It tells you that there is a
problem, but it is not the problem.  To find the problem, you have to look
inside for what is deeper and higher.  So, learn to be suspicious about
symptoms.  They certain tell you that you are in the presence of a problem,
but the problem may very well be not the symptom.

 

 

NEURO-SEMANTIC TRAININGS--- 

Interested in more about Problem-Solving?

              The 5 Minute Manager Training will occur in July in Mauritius.

                             Contact Bruneau at ... to find out the details.
bruneau at gometaltd.com 

 

              For our training in Australia - click here:

 https://the-coaching-room.mykajabi.com/michael-hall-event-2026




 

 

 

 



L. Michael Hall, Ph.D.

Executive Director, ISNS

738 Beaver Lodge

Grand Jct., CO. 81505 USA

meta at acsol.net

 

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