It’s essential for all supervisors and executive management to be perpetually proactive in addressing select issues as they are developing, as it only takes one employee associated with any number of scenarios for a school district to be the next newspaper article. If not addressed promptly certain issues will continue to spiral downward and can ultimately cause system-wide disruption in the delivery of services, programs and activities. A useful and relatively simple tool to quickly identify the root cause of certain operational issues or performance issues is the known as “5-Whys.”
The "5-Whys" process involves asking “Why” five times over to peel back successive layers of the onion to understand the root cause. After stepping through the "5-Whys" process you are less likely to merely disclose symptoms, which may lead to implementing only superficial solutions. The "5-Whys" process is simple but powerful in that it can quickly identify the root cause(s) to an issue without applying a formal scientific statistical process.
Do not wait for an issue to escalate that directly or indirectly could have far-reaching potential impacts on the organization because this administrative mode has frequently resulted in turnover in the district's leadership and its elected board members.