Sometimes people miss deadlines for doing assignments.  I hear many reasons why the assignment was missed, or why the submission was less than stellar.  It seems necessary to review the reasons why the assignment did not meet deadline or quality standards, not to belittle or ridicule, but to make sure that the performance does not repeat itself.  It is important to identify the root cause for the poorly competed assignment so that the end result is improved future performance.

It is at these times that I think back to my experiences investigating incidents were things had gone wrong.  I spent a few years in several units as an Army Safety Officer.  I had the experience of conducting accident investigations in which I was tasked to find the “Root Cause.”  The root cause is the basic reason that an accident occurred.   I heard many reasons why the person was not at fault for the accident.  Equipment malfunctions, too little time, not enough supervision, too little training, acts of nature and of a higher power, etc.  Often it was difficult to get agreement, although the reason for the accident seemed obvious.  I investigated an 18-year-old soldier who rolled a HUMMV over twice while driving on level ground, and he said he was going straight and between 5 and 10 mph.  I asked him what would the Army look like if we were all driving our tanks and trucks at such a slow speed, approaching the enemy, and all of a sudden our vehicles started doing barrel-rolls by themselves?   He was reluctant to see the fault in his own actions, and I was reluctant to believe that it was not going to happen again.

Feedback, both good and bad, seems effective in helping individuals see how they can improve performance.  In the case of the soldier, the feedback was harsh, but hopefully avoided similar poor performance in the future.