Do not treat the symptom
A sales drop, warring departments, and a late report are often symptoms. Diagnosis means finding the cause that, if it moves, moves the symptom.
A symptom is the visible complaint
A manager usually enters with a symptom: sales are asleep, people are flat, meetings end nowhere. Those sentences are a good start. They are not a diagnosis.
If a ready remedy is laid on the symptom the same week, the organization gets a painkiller. Next month the symptom returns in a new shape.
Three pieces of evidence, not one quote
Rahnegasht’s diagnosis sets three kinds of evidence side by side: what managers say, what the field shows, and the data that already exists. None of them, alone, proves the cause.
The useful question is: in which process, which habit, and which repeated decision is this symptom produced?
The output of diagnosis is one sentence
A good diagnosis fits in one sentence: the cause of this symptom is this decision or this habit. If the sentence needs a list of ten, diagnosis is not finished.
Only then does a fitting remedy begin. Before that, every execution plan is a guess.
This chart is a teaching model for the argument, not a survey result.
| Symptom | Where to look |
|---|---|
| Flat sales | Brand promise, funnel, lead quality |
| Meetings that end nowhere | An unnamed decision and no owner |
| A late report | A process that creates rework |