What If the Problem We Are Solving Is Not the Real Problem?
Over the years, one question has become increasingly important in my work with organisations: Are we solving the actual problem, or are we responding to where the problem has surfaced?
Take absenteeism. When absence increases, the natural response is to address attendance. When performance declines, we focus on performance. When conflict develops, we manage the conflict. And when a good employee resigns, attention quickly turns to recruitment and replacement.
All of these responses make sense. But experience has taught me to pause before assuming that what we can see is where the problem began.
This matters because unresolved workplace issues cost businesses money, often in ways that are difficult to quantify.
A manager repeatedly mediating the same team tensions is spending time that could have been directed towards leading the business. Absenteeism removes productive hours. High employee turnover brings recruitment, onboarding and the less obvious cost of lost knowledge and experience. Poor collaboration slows delivery.
And when people remain at work but are operating below their usual capacity, the organisation may continue paying the same salary while receiving increasingly less of what that person is capable of contributing.
The greater concern, however, is what happens when organisations invest time and money addressing a symptom while the underlying issue remains untouched.
One struggling employee may indeed need individual support. But when several people within the same environment begin experiencing similar difficulties, perhaps there is something else worth understanding.
The issue could sit within workload, leadership, communication, unclear roles, systems, work design or relationships. Sometimes counselling is appropriate. Sometimes coaching or leadership support is needed. And sometimes what appears to be a people problem requires us to look more closely at the workplace itself.
This is something our work at BLK Corporate Wellness continues to reinforce. A presenting problem tells us where something is showing up. It doesn't necessarily tell us where it started.
For me, that is where the real value of workplace well-being begins.
Not with rushing to introduce another programme, but with understanding the organisation well enough to identify what actually needs attention. That small shift—from immediately responding to becoming curious first—can mean the difference between repeatedly paying for symptoms and investing once in addressing their source.
Perhaps that is also where organisations can protect something equally important: their people's capacity, their leaders' time and ultimately their bottom line.
Gcobisa's Leadership Reflection
The absenteeism. The conflict. The resignation. The missed target.
They may be problems that need solving. But sometimes, they are also information about something happening beneath the surface.
Perhaps the most valuable shift is to pause before asking, “How do we fix this?” and first understand, “What is this telling us?”
Because solving the right problem doesn't only support people. It protects the business.
Gcobisa Ntlabati
Founder| Managing Director |
Head Corporate Wellness Strategist | Speaker
