Digs for Root Cause: Why Great Leaders Don’t Stop at the First Answer

What happens when leaders solve the wrong problem—perfectly?

In this episode of Leadership Traits Decoded, Cynthia Kyriazis and Drea Martin unpack digs for root cause—a leadership trait that separates surface-level execution from real problem-solving.

At its core, this trait is about going beyond symptoms to identify what’s actually driving an issue. Some leaders instinctively dig deeper. Others prioritize speed—focusing on action without fully understanding the cause.

Both approaches have a place. But when the root cause is missed, teams risk solving the wrong problem, wasting time, and repeating the same issues. 

The conversation also introduces a powerful reframe: constraints. Often, it’s not just about identifying what went wrong—but understanding what’s blocking progress before it happens.

The key isn’t that every leader must find the root cause—it’s that someone on the team must.

You’ll learn:

•  What it means to truly “dig for root cause” versus reacting to symptoms
•  When leaders should go deep—and when they should delegate the problem-solving
•  Why misidentifying the cause leads to repeated failures and wasted effort
•  How constraints—not just causes—shape outcomes and execution
•  Why effective teams ensure someone owns root cause analysis. 

Leaders who solve symptoms stay busy—but leaders who find root causes eliminate problems for good.

Ready to explore your leadership traits? Connect with us on LinkedIn or visit www.plllab.com to see how we transform leadership intelligence into return-driven action.

Transcript

Welcome And The Leadership Focus

Cynthia Kyriazis 0:00

Welcome to Leadership Traits Decoded. I'm Cynthia Kiriazis, Chief Experience Officer at the Culture Think Tank.

Drea Martin 0:07

And I'm Drea Martin, Chief Operating Officer of the Crucible. We are collaborative partners at Performance Leadership Learning Lab, where we transform leadership intelligence into return-driven action.

Cynthia Kyriazis 0:19

Today we're unpacking the leadership traits essential for building, investing in, and scaling successful companies. Our insights come directly from data-driven metrics within our platforms solution. So let's dive in.

Why Digging Deeper Changes Execution

Drea Martin 0:33

All right.

Cynthia Kyriazis 0:34

How are you doing? I'm doing well. How are you doing?

Drea Martin 0:38

Yeah, excited today to dig into a different tree. And I'm going to take your typical role and introduce what we're going to dive into. But we're going back into execution skills and diving into digs for root cause. And I know this one caught your eye. So before we define it, I'm curious. What about this one? Anything in particular that you wanted to make sure we get on today?

Cynthia Kyriazis 0:59

Yes, because in my coaching and consulting and debriefing, I always say, what is the root cause of this? What do you think? What do you feel is the root cause? What do you think is causing this? Because it's a it's a journey to take us all the way back to that. Some people will tell us right away and some don't. Interesting. Digging for it. So I don't know. And this is my question to you, Drea. Some people approach how they're going to execute certain things, do certain things, with in their mind understanding why they understand the root cause for their particular situation. But there are others who have many causes, of which one may or may not be the root cause. You know what I'm saying? They're not as clear or as focused about the execution. So please help us with

What Digs For Root Cause Means

Cynthia Kyriazis 1:48

that.

Drea Martin 1:48

Yeah, that's interesting. The different just how much information do you have to have, maybe before you dive into and use that? And that's part of what this really gets at. So digs for root cause is that desire to search beneath the surface and actually look for what's going on, finding the potential source or the underlying problem or issue. And I think a big thing here is what you were saying is that difference of if you know the source already, then unnecessary treat. But on the other hand, if there is some problem, some underlying issue, do you personally want to be the person who finds it? Or do you say to someone else, come back to me with the solution and then we'll move forward? And I think that's a big difference to if you have it or if you don't have a lot of this trait is to what extent is that root cause important to you, or would you rather just know what's the actionable next step and move forward without figuring it out? So it's how much the onus I think of identifying and needing to know that information. Because, like you said, especially in your role as a coach, knowing the root cause is super empowering, not only for you, but also for you to enable yourself to help your clients. But some people, especially in some higher level roles where there's not this intimate relationship with the problem where you're not trying to develop the specific person, a system broke. Maybe you don't even want to know what happened or what's going on. You just want to know, is it fixed or what has to happen for it to get fixed.

When To Delegate The Why

Cynthia Kyriazis 3:13

And then I'm asking you, in that case, I don't really want to know why, I just want to know that it's fixed. My thought is the individual they're speaking to that they're supervising, perhaps, needs to know that. Now, whether or not they need to share it, or their direct report and supervisor wants them to share it is a different situation. Because if they identify the wrong root cause, we are then looking at potential failures and time spent to go after the wrong thing. Sometimes I'll say, What do you think is the cause of that? Or I don't understand the cause of that. I'll listen for a while and then I'll go, yes, that's fine. It didn't answer this part of it though. So is it really the real cause, or is it just something that kind of triggered you? That's that's what I would try to do because I use that word root cause, so they know can't be here or there. It's got to be the thing that has triggered all of this and will help eliminate to get to where we need to go.

Drea Martin 4:14

Right. Yeah, and there's different scopes there. You're talking about kind of more the interpersonal and more an individual's experience and more kind of that side. Well, I think there's also the aspect here, and especially when people are very, very hands-off with the like fix it, it's usually a system that's broken or something technical that's broken, or there's there's definitely different areas where the root cause is maybe easier or harder to uncover. Yes. But also where the need to find it is less important. For example, in your role, if you didn't want to dig for the root cause and you didn't have kind of high levels in this trait, it would be a serious problem because you probably couldn't experience a level of depth and support others as well. Meanwhile, if you're overseeing an entire team and your focus is management maybe of the people, and then one of the systems breaks, you want the person who's in charge of the systems to be the one who goes and finds the problem and fixes it. So there's an interesting disconnect there too, I think, of just kind of what the responsibility is and how that ties to the need for a trait.

Constraints That Quietly Block Goals

Cynthia Kyriazis 5:12

Okay, that's very good. That's really interesting. Also, the other day, I saw I read a post, and one of the words this individual used was constraint. If you can identify the constraint, you will identify the outcome if you don't address the constraint. And you'd have to read the whole post to understand it, but he was talking about we talk about getting to goals all the time. Setting goals is a big part of it. There's classes on it, there's millions of books on it. But the truth is the reason that 80% of people don't hit their goal is because they didn't stop to identify the constraint that would stop it. So they could try to understand what I'm gonna do with that? Am I gonna jump over it? Am I gonna go through it? Am I gonna give it to somebody else? Identifying constraints, I think, is probably where it comes down to. Maybe root cause is not the right word. That's interesting. For my clients from my end, right? Maybe root cause isn't the good thing. Yeah. Constraint, anything that would constrain you, yeah.

Drea Martin 6:06

Yeah. And I think that's maybe a risk of if somebody has too low digs for root cause, could be especially if they if there are existing constraints and they don't take the time or prioritize diving deep enough. And that's the area where you need someone on your team to know that those constraints exist for goals to still be reached. And that doesn't have to be the CEO. It doesn't have to be head of operations, but it does have to be someone on that group so the constraints are seen, identified, and dealt with so that things can still function the way they used to function.

Building Teams That Spot Constraints

Cynthia Kyriazis 6:46

Thanks so much for sharing information on root calls. I shall remember you the next time you say it.

Drea Martin 6:52

Yeah, oh, great. Remember our podcast and tell the client about it. Yeah.

Cynthia Kyriazis 6:59

Thanks so much, Drea. As usual, you gave us a lot to think about. Well, we'll see you next time. See you next time. Thanks for listening to this episode of Leadership Traits Decoded. You'll be able to find all our episodes on the Performance Leadership Learning Lab website at www.plab.com. Or you can listen on your favorite streaming platform.

Drea Martin 7:23

We'll be back soon to explore the next essential trait. Until then, feel free to connect with us on LinkedIn if you have any questions or ideas.