If You Could Fix One Thing About Your Team Tomorrow...

I ask this question in almost every initial conversation with a CEO: "If you could fix one thing about your team or organization tomorrow, what would it be?"

The answers are remarkably consistent. Sometimes people lead with hiring: "I could hire three really good senior engineers and we'd unlock everything else." Sometimes people lead with retention: "If I could keep my top ten people from leaving, we'd be in great shape." Sometimes people lead with speed: "We move too slowly. If we could move faster, we'd beat our competitors to market." Sometimes people lead with culture: "People work in silos. If we could break down the walls and collaborate better, everything would improve."

But here's what's interesting: after you dig into the real problems, the stated problem and the root problem are almost never the same thing.

Someone says they need to hire better senior engineers. But when you look at their hiring process, they're not really set up to attract top engineers. They're not selling the opportunity well. They're not moving fast. They're not offering market compensation. So they can hire some people, but they can't really hire who they want. Or they say they want to be faster, but when you look at how decisions get made, there are six layers of approval for anything meaningful. Speed isn't possible without fixing decision-making architecture.

This is valuable because it means that usually, the one thing you should fix isn't what you think it is.

Here's what I recommend: do this diagnostic before you go rushing into transformation.

First, articulate the problem clearly. Not "we have a talent problem." But specifically: are people leaving? Are they not growing? Are they not performing? Are they not aligned? Different root problems require different solutions, and you need to know what you're actually dealing with.

Second, measure it. How many senior people left last year? What was the impact on your revenue? What does the engagement data actually show? What do exit interviews tell you? You can't fix something you're not measuring.

Third, look for the root cause. Don't stop at the first answer. A person leaves your company. The stated reason is compensation. But did they really leave because they were underpaid or did they leave because they were underpaid and didn't see a path forward? Did they leave because compensation was low or did they leave because they felt undervalued and this was the evidence? Talk to people. Really listen. The root is usually deeper than the surface symptom.

Fourth, consider what fixing it requires. Maybe the solution requires hiring. Maybe it requires rebuilding a team. Maybe it requires reorganizing. Maybe it requires changing how you communicate. Maybe it requires changing compensation. Maybe it requires a leadership change. Different root problems require different solutions and different levels of effort.

Fifth, ask yourself what's actually in your control. This is where a lot of people get stuck. They identify that they can't compete on compensation with larger competitors. That's real. But what are the other levers? Maybe it's opportunity. Maybe it's impact. Maybe it's learning. Maybe it's working with people you respect. Maybe it's the chance to build something that matters. If you can't beat the Big Company on salary, you have to win on other dimensions. What are those dimensions for your organization?

Sixth, think about sequencing. Some things need to happen before other things. You can't really retain people until you've hired the right people. You can't really scale culture until you've fixed your organizational structure. You can't really move faster until you've fixed decision-making. What's the right sequence?

Here's what I usually find after this analysis: the thing someone thinks is the problem often isn't the highest-leverage thing to fix. Someone says they have a hiring problem, but really they have a retention problem, which is why they feel like they can't hit their numbers. Someone says they have a culture problem, but really they have a structure problem, which is why communication breaks down. Someone says they need better management, but really they need a different organizational structure that puts the right people in the right roles.

Once you figure out what you're actually solving for, the path forward becomes clearer. And more importantly, you don't waste effort fixing the wrong thing.

A lot of companies spend time and money and effort on solutions that feel good but don't address the real problem. They do culture offsite when the real problem is clarity. They do organizational restructures when the real problem is one toxic leader. They do training programs when the real problem is compensation misalignment.

Before you pick your one thing, do the diagnostic. Get clarity on the real problem. Then you'll know where to focus. And when you focus your effort on the right lever, the impact is dramatic.

That's where we usually start with clients. Not by assuming we know what's wrong. But by diagnosing what's really going on. Because the fix is only as good as your diagnosis.