Ignore the problem, no worries, your competitor likely has it already solved

Most organizational problems are invisible to leadership, often hidden behind workarounds and normalization of issues.

How many problems are visible in your company? A well-known study from 1989 called the "Iceberg of Ignorance" identified that top executives were aware of only 4% of an organization's frontline problems. Supervisors saw more, middle managers more still—but the people closest to the work saw nearly all of it.

The other 96%? Invisible to executives, yet still there. Or sometimes not even recognized as problems at all because the workarounds have become the norm.

However, your customer feels it directly and almost immediately, and guess what they are not going to tolerate it. So they complain ... but how long does it take for a Customer Complaint translate into meaningful corrective action? A Design Change? My guess is way too long ...

But no worries, competitors always looking to seize increased sales and market share will have it figured out for you ... so you can play catch-up.

Enter the Engineers who see problems as opportunities to provide novel solutions to customers, which can lead to creating whole new markets.  But, often, engineers can struggle to communicate the problem, opportunity (a whole new market?), and potential solution. But the original problem still persists we need an immediate corrective action that does not look like a solution created with Duct Tape and Baling wire. But this happens once we see or are told a problem exists.

You can't solve a problem you can't see.

Why do so many problems stay invisible to leaders? Ultimately, it's because leaders—from senior executives to frontline managers—haven't created the conditions for the people who see them to make them visible.

We have spoken often about the benefits of Daily Management, here is a venue for your operation side Team Members to voice concerns about problems ... but do you really listen to them.

I recently witnessed a Palace Revolt, a relatively new product was introduced. It had been designed by a sub-contractor and blessed by internal engineering only to land on the shop floor as a bundle (big bundle) of problems. Of course, the product was touted as the greatest solution to mankind so ... sell, sell, sell. Slight issue was that it was near impossible to build. Key word is "near impossible" so management told operations to work harder and meet your numbers ... great executive support.

I had a discussion with the Operations Manager to call a meeting with Leadership and Engineering and to bring all of her assemblers and make the case for refusing to continue to build the product until it was properly designed. She wanted a sense of urgency to help her.

The ultimate response ... "yup it is kinda bad design"

But the concept is now out in the market ... so the race is on who is going to fix it first? The originator? or the competitor?

I learned very quickly when running my car assembly plant, when a team member shares a problem, he sees that problem in front of his face with every new vehicle entering his pitch, and all he is thinking ... "why has management not corrected it yet?.

Remember your competitor is only a "mouse click" away and your customer is making decisions faster and with less loyalty to any brand. So what are you doing to reduce buyer stress?