A Guide for Busy Managers and Leaders: Cause and Effect Map
A Cause And Effect Map is a simple tool that can help you in directing your effort when solving problems. Below we discuss:
1. Why you would use a Cause And Effect Map.
2. The Five Steps to creating a successful Cause And Effect Map.
3. The three things to remember when using a Cause And Effect Map.
Why Use a Cause And Effect Map?
• A Cause And Effect Map will help you to identify and address root causes of a problem, not just the symptoms.
• To identify situations where several causes for a problem may exist.
• A Cause And Effect Map enables a team to focus on the content of the problem, not on the history of the problem, or the differing personal opinions of group members.
5 Steps to a Successful Cause And Effect Map:
1. Define a clear problem statement
2. Brainstorm possible causes
3. Draw Fishbone Diagram
4. Ask “Why?”
5. Move to Action
Define a Clear Problem or Goal Statement for Your Cause And Effect Map
• What is the problem (utilize specific terms)?
• Where has the problem taken place?
• When has the problem taken place?
• How much? How can you quantify the problem?
• Use numbers whenever possible.
• Ensure all participants have a clear understanding of the problem or goal statement. Your Cause And Effect Map will be useless if everyone doesn’t clearly understand what problem they are attempting to fix.
Brainstorm Possible Causes to the Problem Statement on your Cause And Effect Map
• Start with “Green Light” thinking. Your Cause And Effect Map will be much more effective if you brainstorm ideas without judging them first.
• Do ahead of time or as a group. You may want group members to lend some thought in advance to potential causes, but you can still create an effective Cause And Effect Map by doing it as a group.
• Use Post-It-Notes. One alternative for your Cause And Effect Map is to have group members write down one potential cause on each of several Post-It notes. This will allow you to more easily group and move ideas between categories.
• Put brainstormed causes into potential groups. You can do this either by labeling causes, and listing causes below the label, or else they can be grouped into categories, and then create a label based on the ideas contained in that grouping.
• Apply more critical or “Red Light” thinking as you are sorting the potential causes into categories.
Draw a Fishbone Diagram and put in categories
Your Cause and Effect Map will begin to take shape when you draw your fishbone diagram, and label the individual “bones”. Here are some standard groups found on a Cause And Effect Map, but do not feel limited by these:
- Measurement
- Information (or lack there of)
- Materials
- Environment
- Training and knowledge
- Performance standards (quality, cost, etc)
- Policy
- Machinery
- Plant or facilities
- People
- Method
** Customize groups to meet the specific needs of your Cause And Effect Map
If you used Post-It notes, you can stick them on the appropriate “bones” of your Cause And Effect Map.
Ask “Why?”
• Start your Cause And Effect Map by looking at each “bone” and asking: What else could be a cause? Why does this happen?
• You will now have a series of causes listed on each “bone”. For each of those causes, you now need to ask “why”.
• Continue to ask why for each cause until the appropriate level of detail is reached.
Move to Action on Your Cause And Effect Map
Your Cause And Effect Map is nothing more than a pretty drawing, unless you choose to do something about it. In some cases, several hundred causes may have been identified, in which case you will have to select priorities.
• Look for causes that show up repeatedly across categories.
• Look for causes that show up frequently.
• Address causes you can do something about.
• Make the diagram available after the meeting for later input.
Improve your leadership skills! Visit www.wilymanager.com for more information about how to create and use a Cause And Effect Map and more Just-in-Time Management Advice
Watch our video about how to create and use a Cause And Effect Map:
Learn More About Creating And Using A Cause And Effect Map