Why Does Your Business Keep Having the Same Problems?

If your team has fixed the same problem three times, what keeps bringing it back? Think about the last job someone stayed late to finish. The customer got what they needed. Your team pulled it off. Now think about the job before that. Did someone have to save that one, too?

There are two jobs here. One is to keep today’s promise to the customer. The other is to find out why keeping that promise required a rescue. On a busy day, it is easy to finish the first job and call the problem solved.

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Start with the last three incidents

Take a recurring problem your team recognises. “Communication is poor” is too broad. “The scheduling team has to call the customer back to find out when the job is due” is specific enough to investigate.

Look at the three most recent cases. For each one, write down what the customer expected, what the person doing the work received, when someone first noticed the gap, and what it took to put things right. Use the actual booking notes, emails, or job tickets. Ask the people who handled them what they knew at the time.

Three incidents give you a place to start. They do not prove that every delay has the same cause. If the cases differ, keep the differences. A job delayed by a missing part needs a different fix from one delayed by an unclear deadline.

Find the point where the work first went off course

Imagine a service firm looking at three rushed jobs. All three were accepted with the due-date field blank. The salesperson understood “Friday” to mean the day work could start. The customer meant Friday was the day they needed it finished. The scheduler first learned about the difference when the customer called.

In this example, telling the scheduler to follow up faster would leave the misunderstanding in place. The useful change happens earlier: before a job goes on the calendar, the person accepting it confirms what must be finished, by when, and whether the team can deliver.

One question can expose that gap: “When you say Friday, do you need the finished work by then, or is that when we can begin?” That answer belongs on the job ticket where the next person can see it.

Test one change where it matters

For the next two weeks, ask the booking lead to confirm the completion date with each customer before handing the job to scheduling. When the date is genuinely unknown, mark the job as provisional and name the person responsible for confirming it. A rule that forces staff to invent a date will make the records look tidier while making the problem harder to see.

Agree on a measure before the test. For example: “Of the jobs passed to scheduling, how many needed a callback because the completion date was missing or ambiguous?” Record both the count and the total number of jobs. Two callbacks in ten jobs tells a different story from two in fifty.

Compare the result with a similar earlier period. Also check whether jobs now sit longer at intake. If callbacks fall but customers wait longer for a booking, you may have moved the delay upstream. Ask the team what happened before making the change permanent.

Use this question at your next team meeting

“Which problem did we solve for a customer this week that we have already solved before?” Give the people doing the work time to answer. A colleague who repeatedly catches mistakes may be the best person to show you where the process breaks.

Leave the meeting with one sentence everyone can act on: “For the next ___ jobs, ___ will change ___; on ___ we will review ___.” A named person, a specific change, and a review date make the discussion useful after everyone goes back to work.

Frequently asked questions

What if the incidents have different causes?

Separate them. Choose the pattern that costs the most time or causes the most trouble for customers, then investigate that group first.

Do we need a new system to track this?

Start with the records your team already uses. A few lines on the existing job ticket may be enough. Add software only if the current process cannot give you the information you need.

How will we know the change worked?

Look for fewer repeat incidents relative to the amount of work, without worse outcomes elsewhere. If there are only a handful of jobs, keep observing before drawing a firm conclusion.

Alison A. Stewart
Xponential Mentor
The wealth is in the relationship™.