Why Good Managers Keep Solving the Same Problems: Episode 4
Updated: Nov 6
By Paul Gerhardt, PhD, management professor, leadership author, and host of The Better Workplace.
You solved the problem again. What did the organization learn this time?
Episode 4 of The Better Workplace examines the difference between getting today's work moving and changing the conditions that keep interrupting it. This listening guide gives you a focused question to use before the episode and a short team discussion afterward.
Before you listen: choose one recurring interruption
Think of a handoff, missing approval, or incomplete request that has needed the same rescue more than once. Write down what happened and what someone did to keep the work moving.
Avoid starting with a judgment such as “people do not care.” Begin with an event you could explain to someone who was not there.
Three ideas to listen for
A workaround can help today and leave tomorrow unchanged
Getting a customer order moving matters. So does asking why the information was missing in the first place. Notice when the organization relies on individual effort without reviewing the process that makes the effort necessary.
Improvement needs time while the work continues
A team under pressure can postpone improvement until the backlog clears. If the same process keeps replenishing the backlog, that time may never arrive. Look for one small test that fits alongside immediate responsibilities.
Employees need a useful response when they report problems
Ask what happens after someone raises an obstacle. Is the issue examined? Is someone responsible for the next step? Does the employee hear what was decided?
The episode discusses work by Tucker and Edmondson and by Repenning and Sterman. Their research concerns particular organizational settings. These listening prompts are practical interpretations, not promises that one meeting will change performance.
After you listen: hold a 15-minute learning discussion
Use a recent, appropriate example without identifying an employee's private performance situation.
First 5 minutes: Describe the interruption and the immediate repair.
Next 5 minutes: Trace the information, approval, or resource the work needed.
Final 5 minutes: Choose a small improvement, an owner, and a review date.
In a hypothetical order-handoff example, calling a colleague supplies missing delivery details today. Testing a clearer handoff requirement may help the team prevent another incomplete order. Keep those two actions visible so completing the repair does not erase the improvement.
Go deeper when you are ready to test a change
The full guide to recurring workplace problems explains the research, a five-step process, and the evidence to review. This episode page is a listening and discussion guide; the article provides the fuller implementation lesson.
Research behind the episode
Tucker and Edmondson: Why Hospitals Don't Learn from Failures examines workarounds and organizational learning in hospitals.
Repenning and Sterman: Capability Traps explores how improvement efforts, performance pressures, and interpretations of problems can interact.
Paul Gerhardt, PhD, teaches management and leadership with a practical commitment to helping people build better workplaces. The examples and exercises in this article are teaching illustrations, unless identified as research findings.
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