Read the Cause Crises Are Not Managed from Where They Explode

Read the Cause. Crises Are Not Managed from Where They Explode

When your liver is not functioning properly, redness may appear on your face.

But you do not begin the treatment from your face.

Because what you see on your face is not the disease itself.

It is the result of the disease.

Companies are no different.

Crises often do not become visible where they begin.

They become visible only where they can no longer be hidden.

That is why, when a crisis erupts in a company, I first look at where it exploded.

But I do not stop there.

Because the point of explosion and the point of origin are not always the same.

A collection crisis appears on the finance desk.

But its cause may be in customer selection made months earlier.

It may be in the payment term policy.

It may be in concessions given under sales pressure.

It may be in the terms accepted just to avoid losing the customer.

A cash crisis appears at the bank.

But the cause is not the bank limit.

It is money locked in inventory.

It is receivables that have not been collected.

It is wrong pricing.

It is uncontrolled appetite for growth.

It is a decision not made on time.

A production crisis appears on the line.

But the cause is not always production.

It may be in an unrealistic delivery promise made by sales to the customer.

It may be in weak planning.

It may be in delayed purchasing.

It may be in inventory information that was not read correctly.

A profitability crisis appears in the income statement.

But most of the time, it does not begin on the cost line.

It begins where discount discipline was lost.

It begins where customer quality was not read.

It begins where the value left to the company was forgotten while revenue was being grown.

A people crisis appears in resignations.

But the cause is usually not written in the resignation letter.

It begins where the sense of fairness was broken.

It begins where what was said found no response.

It begins where the non-performer was protected.

It begins where the person carrying the load was not seen.

That is why, when I try to understand a company, I do not only look at where the problem is visible.

I try to read the chain at the end of which that problem appeared.

Because companies are not made of a single department.

A sales decision affects finance.

Financial pressure affects purchasing.

Delayed purchasing affects production.

Disrupted production affects the customer.

The customer's reaction returns to sales.

And in the end, everyone tries to put out the fire on their own desk.

But most of the time, the fire started somewhere else.

For a manager, one of the most dangerous mistakes is trying to manage a crisis only from where it exploded.

Because then you are dealing with the symptom.

You are not going down to the cause.

You pressure finance, but you do not change customer selection.

You push production, but you do not question the sales promise.

You pressure sales, but you do not establish pricing discipline.

You expect a solution from human resources, but you do not see the fairness problem.

You blame the warehouse, but you do not read the appetite for unplanned growth.

This is not treatment.

It is surface cleaning.

The company may look better for a while.

But the same deterioration appears again from somewhere else.

That is why management, for me, is not solving the visible problem.

It is reading the chain that produced the problem.

Because in companies, crises often do not become visible where they begin.

They become visible only where they can no longer be hidden.

And for a manager, the real issue is not seeing the fire.

It is being able to find the first spark.

That is why I do not try to manage a structure I have not yet understood.

First, I read the people.

Then the numbers.

Then the structure.

Then the power.

Then the decision.

Then the visibility.

And after that, I look for the cause.

Because an intervention made before the cause is read does not heal the company.

It only changes the location of the crisis.

Crises are not managed from where they explode.

Crises are managed when the place where they began can be found.