Remove fear to engage people

Deming memorably noted that in his experience, around 94% of problems and possibilities for improvement related to some aspect of the operational or management processes, with only 6% due to other factors, which may include bad weather and bad luck as well as individual errors. The best approach to understanding and addressing problems is therefore to view people as the solution, not the problem, and begin by asking ‘How did the process let this happen?’, rather than ‘Whose fault was that?’ This avoids fear and blame and engages people positively in the quest to solve the problem; it directs focus to the likeliest root cause and avoids the risk of alienating people, creating defensiveness and deflecting the focus from the source of the problem.