Cause and Effect Analysis

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When you have a serious issue, it's important to look for all of the things that could cause the problem, before you implement a solution.

That way you can solve the issue completely, first time round, rather than just addressing part of it and having the problem run on and on.

Kaoru Ishikawa's Cause and Effect Analysis gives you a useful way of doing this. This diagram-based technique, which combines Brainstorming with a type of Mind Map, pushes you to consider all possible causes of a problem, rather than just the ones that are most obvious.

The diagrams that you create with Cause and Effect Analysis are known as Ishikawa Diagrams or Fishbone Diagrams (because a completed diagram can look like the skeleton of a fish).

Watch this video to find out more about how to create these diagrams, and how to use cause and effect analysis to solve your workplace problems.

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