Root cause analysis is a common practice in office space. It’s something that you probably do every day in your life. If your door starts squeaking, you probably want to discover why it happens. If your stomach hurts, you think about what you ate that could lead to this. If you are in a crash, you want to find out what was the cause of it.

It is one of the most common things in our life, and it’s called being a logical and sensible person. But we often forget to use that sensibility in our work. Or at least – we don’t use it in the best way possible.

So, to better prepare ourselves for all the things that can happen, you need to find the root cause of it. What was the first mover that changed everything, as Aristotle would say? What made the first push that made everything follow in its footsteps?

We will find out all about this in this article. With some crafty root cause analysis templates, you don’t have to do everything by yourself. Without further ado, let’s get started!

The root cause analysis process can be too elaborated at times, and using the proper analysis tools can sometimes be crucial in getting ahead.

So, to do that, you will need the best piece of software that will show you all the things you need and allow you to implement solutions that your analysis report desperately needs.

In this case, there can only be one answer – Microsoft Office.

It is the single best solution to all your office needs and even more. You can create excellent root cause analysis tools there but also use an analysis report template to see all the contributing factors and more!

Microsoft Office is not the only best-known piece of software in the world. It’s also the most used one.

Wherever you find yourself and whatever kind of business you are running, Microsoft Office will help you out. People worldwide know how to open those files, work on them and send them back to you with no issues whatsoever.

And most importantly, it will not ruin your company’s budget anymore. With many competitors and Microsoft getting better and better at understanding the clientele, you can find Microsoft Office for an affordable price.

So, use your root cause analysis forms freely with the latest edition (or whichever one you prefer, we have a soft spot for the 2019 one, great UI!), and get into action. And if you want to find a perfect root cause template – feel free to check the ones we’ve provided below.

Root Cause Analysis Template #1

This is a basic spreadsheet focused on the WHYs concept. You can go step-by-step from what seems to be an issue to the root cause pretty quickly.

This root cause analysis approaches basic philosophy logic methods and is excellent for solving some relatively common issues. There are no multiple underlying causes or business processes; it’s a simple root of an analytical approach with cause-and-effect relationships portrayed grandly. And it’s probably something that will solve most of your problems.

You can download this template for free at TemplateLab.com.

Root Cause Analysis Template #2

Here we have something more complicated. This one is perfect for root cause analyses that go deep into the problem with a multifactored approach. It uses a sigma DMAIC methodology root cause investigation that we will discuss further in the article.

It’s for everyday use but also to conquer more advanced problems when you want to get deep into the issue. With a template like that – identified root cause will not be a problem.

You can download this template for free at TemplateArchive.com.

Root Cause Analysis Template #3

And here’s something when everything else fails. Identifying the root cause problem is essential, but doing it in style is more important.

So, we have our agency up there, event details, background summary, yes or no questions detailed in the report, and overall – a great tool. If you want to see all the factors contributing to the issue and corrective action proposed simultaneously, this free root cause template is something you may enjoy.

You download this template for free at SmartSheet.com.

Root cause analysis is simply a way of understanding all the underlying reasons why a thing happens the way it happens. And by doing so, you can draw some conclusions and provide continuous improvement with all the relevant data.

The continuous part is crucial because it allows you to solve and prevent all the problems.

You also need to analyze and process improvement with as much detail as you can put in it to be always ready to implement it.

There are a couple of ways you can approach it, some are better than others, and some are more suitable for your business per se. All of them lead to the simple root cause of an issue, which we will be combating in this article.

“Root” Values

You want to follow principles or values in creating the best root cause analysis possible. To perform a practical analysis, you need to know how to do it, and when in doubt, you can always go back to the center, leading ideas that will guide you through the process. Let’s call them “rules.”

Rule #1 – Don’t Fight Fire; Fight The Arsonist

While conducting root cause analysis, be sure to fight the fires and implement the underlying ideas.

You can always fight fire with fire, but finding the arsonist is better. The issues can multiply, and dealing with them one on one can be pretty troublesome.

The better idea is to find the cause and cut the fuel to eliminate all the symptoms. There can be one, there can be many, but you will find the reason behind everything in the end.

Rule #2 - Blame the Problem, Not the People

The first thing you can do in a company if something goes wrong is to start pointing fingers at everyone. The world has a few million years on its back, and not surprisingly, this did not work once.

It is much better to find a problem and deal with it rather than create a toxic work environment and make everyone stressed out. The best idea is to understand why something happened, not who is responsible for that. Looking for a problem can be done much more efficiently and peacefully when the problem is taken care of. People make mistakes, and it happens, but it is so much harder to build a team that will support each other.

Rule #3 - Use Logic and Facts, not Guesses

It may be tempting to connect the dots the easiest way possible and find the shortest path to success, but it’s misleading.

Even if your short-term solution can provide some relief, you may get lucky or poke the problem randomly. Collect all the data and work with facts, not feelings. Only then will you be able to prevent such occurrences in the future.

There are plenty of root cause analysis benefits for you to discover. The first is definitely – getting rid of the root cause of a problem. But not only that, you will see that using this method will bring you many direct benefits and some that you may not have foreseen.

Getting Rid of the Problem

But first things first – yes, getting rid of an issue is a significant bonus of the root cause analysis. If you can find the correct cause of your problem, you will not only deal with what’s at hand but can also plan for future issues.

Additionally, it’s a long-term solution, not a short one. It helps you not only in getting everything done but doing it the right way so that the problem would stop occurring from happening in general, not only in that particular situation.

Future Aid

Additionally, if you find out the cause of an issue, you can apply your reasoning to other problems in the future or that are happening simultaneously.

Office situations tend to repeat. There are only so many things that may transpire in the office environment that your solutions may be suitable for more than one issue.

Raising Team Spirit

The other unexpected root cause analysis is that it can build up team spirit. If the problem occurs, everyone will notice, and it significantly impacts people’s work.

People will then start blaming each other, get frustrated, causing the overall productivity to fall drastically.

Getting around that is pretty simple.

You just need to find the underlying issues and present them in a matter that will not accuse anyone but will get rid of a problem from the roots up. That way, after some convalescence period, people will act as if nothing happened and quickly get their productivity bars filled right up!

There are many ways you can conduct a root cause analysis. In this article, we will go over the most interesting and important ones. Of course, this list will not encompass all the available ways, but it’s a good starting point, at least.

Five Whys Analysis

The first on our list, and usually the most efficient in most cases, is the 5 Whys technique. It’s honestly the pure logical reasoning one as well. To every issue that comes up, ask a child-like question: Why?

The car doesn’t work. Why? Because it broke. Why? Because the engine stopped working. Why? Because…You get it.

This simple trick can get you pretty far, surprisingly, and in most cases, after the fifth “why,” you will probably be able to find the root cause of your problem. It is sometimes not challenging enough as some issues are multifaceted, and a simple explanation cannot be easily found.

Change/Effects Analysis

This one is more tricky as it dissects everything that led up to the issue. It’s excellent when five whys give you only a partial understanding of the problem. Change Analysis will then help you understand the other roots as well.

It boils down to understanding the more profound concept. In this example, you should look at the primary explanation of the problem and understand all the time/space puzzles in which the problem occurred.

For example, let’s say that your company has a pen shortage. Everyone will probably blame the maintenance team. But if you look closely, you will find out that they only have been taking care of it for a month, and pen shortages have been happening for a whole year. So, you need to find another reason why such a problem occurred.

Your next step would be determining how much power the maintenance team had over supplying pens. They don’t take care of it; they only put it out after it comes. So we need to find who takes care of ordering the pens.

And the last thing – after taking care of all those things, you need to find out if the person who orders office equipment was a contributing factor, correlated factor, or a root cause.

Maybe it was their sneaky action to free everyone from pens. Or perhaps someone steered them in that direction. Maybe it’s an overall budgeting problem that could be problematic in the future.

There are multiple explanations as to why a thing may occur.

After that, you just need to find a solution and decide what would be an appropriate action so that the problem would not happen in the future.

DMAIC

If you have ever worked in a more prominent company, you have probably heard of this one. DMAIC is an acronym that, for some people, is preventing them from sleeping at night. It means: Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control.

It’s based on the Six Sigma ideology, which means – it’s better to prevent than to fight the problem. And – they are usually right.

DMAIC is based on the concept that you must define your problems before they occur. It means then that you have to understand your issues after they happen and – before they even come up.

That is why you have to measure all the issues that come up. Is it a structural one, what could be the effects of it, and what are the potential side effects?

The next step is – analysis. See the quality of the project to understand it better and find the weak spots that can cause issues so that you can…

Improve! Solve the problem, add a solution, and get an even better final product. To do that, you will need to be in…

Control! Take care of the improved process, look at all the elements, and make sure that you will not get the same problem again. And if so, be agile to start the process all over again.

Cause and Effect

A common technique for common sense issues. The best method is to create a Fishbone diagram to see the connections between the roots of the problem.

The problem is at the head of the fishbone diagram, and you go down the skeleton path. See what branches influence it, who are the people taking care of it, then spread out to employees and managers, HR, finance, IT, etc. The more detailed a fishbone diagram is, the clearer the problem will be to you.

It may seem silly at first, but if you write everything out, left, right, up, and down, you will surely notice the root cause in a matter of seconds.

Like – why don’t we have pens? Alicia from the finance department did not have the green light to order them from Katy, who is on a mother’s leave. And here we are; those are the root causes of the problem.

You may feel like running in circles sometimes. And it’s for a reason. Finding a root cause may be all fun and games in theory, but in real life, it’s extremely difficult to find it after all.

But do not worry! There are plenty of ways that you can accomplish this task, after all. Here are some tips that may be valuable to you!

Ask Around

You feel like everything is stupid, and you have entered failure mode. Well then, it’s time to bring some fresh air to your room and find the cause of everything as soon as possible. To do it, you will need a new look at everything. Maybe even at you who does not see your transgressions.

To find a practical solution, you sometimes need to see it from a different perspective, and that is a good starting point for turning things around.

Analyze Successes

You may think that root cause analysis is only negative, but you’d be surprised. There are plenty of ways to improve business processes if you just take some time to find out why you are succeeding as well!

As they say, success has many fathers, but it’s also good to find the biological one. Perform root analysis on why you have been able to get so many things done so that you can be sure that it was your doing, not a coincidence. Because if it was a coincidence, you would quickly get root problems once more. And this time, it will not be fun at all.

Learn Your Lessons

And the last one – learn from your mistakes. It is a humbling experience, but it is much better to learn from your mistakes and not make them again than to repeat everything, everywhere, all at once.

Future problems tend to be familiar to the ones we already know, so if you see a known face, don’t just act like it’s an entirely new problem. It will be of benefit not only to you but to the whole team.

Thank you so much for checking out our article on the root causes of many problems. We hope that we helped you find your issue's root cause. Collect data, find ways to get everything done, and just try to be the best version of a problem-solver.

We understand that problems cause problems, and when it gets interpersonal, things may escalate pretty quickly. But, to combat those, it’s always essential to put a smile on your face and be methodical about every action you partake in.

You would be surprised how many things could be advanced if you just worked on them correctly.

If you want other tips and tricks on office/software/gaming-related topics, feel free to browse through our vast library.

You will be surprised how much ground we have covered in that department. As usual, if you would leave some kind of internet foodprint, we will be more than glad if you could help us out. Until the next one, then!