Define the incident by its impact to the overall goals
Facilitator Tip #5:
The most consistent way to define an incident is by the impact it has on the organization’s overall goals. The first step in a root cause analysis is to clearly define the problem; unfortunately people typically disagree about the problem. The overall goals truly define the ideal state of the organization. Any deviation from the ideal state is why a root cause analysis is conducted. For example, the ideal state for safety is zero injuries. Any injury, big or small, is an impact to the safety goal. In a root cause analysis the facilitator can define the incident by asking if there was any impact to the safety goal. If anyone was injured the entire group answers in the affirmative and provides the specifics for that injury. When defining an incident the facilitator should ask how each of the organization’s overall goals was impacted. Don’t try to write a problem statement as a summary of everyone’s concerns and opinions. Make the problem objective; by defining every root cause analysis by its impact on the organization’s overall goals.