Episode 528 - "The First Domino: Where Today's Problem Started"

This episode teaches leaders how to identify the real starting point of workplace problems so they can prevent major issues long before they happen. You will learn a simple but powerful way to trace every outcome back to its original cause.

Host: Paul Falavolito
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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
Helping leaders motivate their people to a higher level of
performance through strong human relations, team building, and GOLA giving.
This is the seven Minute Leadership Podcast with your host
Paul fella Aledo.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
Hello everyone, and welcome to the seven Minute Leadership Podcast.
It's episode five twenty eight. Today we're talking about something
every leader needs to understand long before the problems hit
your desk. It's the idea of the first domino. Every
issue you face has a moment that kicked it off.

(00:42):
A decision, a message of miss detail, a lack of clarity.
Atone someone misunderstood a standard that slipped once and quietly
signaled that slipping was acceptable. The first domino always falls
long before the last one crashes to the floor. So
let me walk you through this in a way you

(01:04):
can use every day. Picture a long line of dominoes
stretched across your conference room table. The last one represents
the outcome you're dealing with right now, a customer complaint,
a safety violation amidst deadline, a fight between co workers,
someone quitting out of the blue, or a full blown crisis.

(01:27):
When you only look at that last domino, the one
that slammed down hard and made the noise that everyone noticed.
It's easy to think the problem happened today, but it
never happens today. It started way earlier. It started with
the first domino. Maybe the first domino was a leader

(01:48):
who assumed their team understood an instruction instead of verifying it.
Maybe it was a team member who did not speak
up when something felled off. Maybe it was a manager
who changed a standard one time and told themselves it
wouldn't matter. Or maybe the first domino was you ignoring

(02:09):
a small feeling that something was not right, but telling
yourself you would deal with it later. And here's the
part most leaders miss. The first domino is usually small.
It never looks dangerous, It never feels like the start
of anything. It looks harmless, forgettable, and easy to skip over.

(02:29):
The problem is that once it falls, nothing stops the line.
Every domino after that is simply reacting to what hit it.
So the question today is simple, are you paying attention
to the first domino? Because if you want to stop
problems from reaching your desk, you can't wait until the

(02:49):
last domino hits the ground. That's where leaders get buried.
You must walk the line backwards. You start with the outcome.
Then trace it back to what set it in motion.
Let me give you an example. You find out two
crew members are arguing and it's affecting the whole shift.
The argument is the last domino, But what was the first?

(03:12):
Maybe someone rolled their eyes during a call review. Maybe
someone sent a short text that came across in the
wrong tone, Maybe someone joked a little too hard in
front of the wrong audience. Or maybe it had nothing
to do with the event at all, and the real
first domino happened six months ago when those two stopped
trusting each other and no one noticed. This is why

(03:37):
strong leaders are investigators, not detectives in a police sense,
but investigators of cause and effect. Every problem has a fingerprint,
Every issue has a trail, Every outcome has an origin.
And here's the part you can use immediately when something
breaks in your organization. Don't ask what went wrong? Ask

(04:01):
what was the first domino? And how far back does
this line really go? And sit with that question. It
changes everything. When you start thinking this way, you begin
spotting dominoes earlier. You catch the tone that doesn't feel right,
You catch the one time as standard dips. You catch

(04:23):
the team member who seems disconnected. You catch the policy
that is drifting from how people actually practice it, and
you stop reacting at the end of the line and
start intervening at the very beginning. And leaders who catch
the first domino are the ones who prevent the big collapse.

(04:43):
They save time, energy, stress, and resources. They build a
team that knows problems will be addressed early, consistently, and calmly.
So here is today's action step, the thing you can
use as soon as you finish this episode. Take one
problem from the past month, big or small, it doesn't matter.

(05:05):
Now trace it backwards. Ask yourself what the first domino
really was. Ask yourself who nudged it? Look at what
small things started the chain. Then ask one more question,
could this have been prevented? And if so, what would
you change next time? So this is how leaders get better,

(05:29):
not by reacting to the collapse, but by understanding the
cause of it. Not by being the firefighter, but by
being the architect of the room. The fire never starts
in the first domino decides the last one. Your job
as a leader is to spot it, steady it, and

(05:50):
keep the line standing. This has been the seven minute
Leadership Podcast, and as always, I thank you for listening.

Speaker 1 (05:59):
For more fell of Alito podcasts, visit Paul Fellovalito dot
com