Root Cause Analysis is a widely-recognized problem-solving mechanism that is mostly deployed for identifying the 
root cause of an ongoing fault or problem, with the intent to debug and eliminate it. In other words, it is this technique that helps people determine what exactly happened, why it happened, and what can be done to ascertain that it never happens again once it has been eliminated. Root causes can generally be of 3 types:
- Physical Cause, such as a mechanical failure, or some other cause that is tangible in nature
- Human Cause, which is synonymous with some human error that was not intended. It can usually lead to physical cause as well.
- Organizational Cause, which can be related to a system flaw, or an issue related to an ongoing process or policy that was later found to be faulty.
As a Root Cause Analysis (RCA) facilitator, an individual’s role will revolve around investigating different scenarios using the different RCA techniques. Although a few qualities that make a good facilitator stand out among the rest. These specific “skills” that one will always find imbibed within an effective RCA facilitators include:
- He will give equal weightage to all ideas: Every good facilitator will always believe that any idea, good or bad, can make an impact. AN idea which may seem trivial in the beginning may turn out to be highly valuable at a later stage. As the primary motive, it is essential to collect information about a problem by all means. Secondly, all the sources, good or bad, when acknowledged, will feel worthy and will be encouraged to deliver even better.
- He will have a dynamic attitude: An efficient facilitator will always work as the motivational force for his group, and yet keep an eye on other cause paths cropping up along the way. He will seek for concise answers, eliminating scope for unnecessary discussion and challenging the logic of the way the collected information is linked together.
- He will have analysis for every stage: It is always advised to always keep the information flowing and filtered along the way. The process must always begin with collecting information regardless of its criticality and then setting ground rules to filter it through appropriate questions and guidelines by the group members. This will make everyone accountable and will filter out good, usable information from the rest that holds little importance.
- He will be a proactive listener: A good facilitator will always have ears for multiple responses at the same time. He will have an open mind, without judging anything in the first go, and will always have a positive bias towards all. He will listen to everyone, and will always try to let them know just how effective and impactful their opinion or contribution is.
- He will never boast about his expertise: As a genuine leader, a good facilitator will never brag about his knowledge on the problem at hand. He will strive to give others the opportunity to explore their understanding and come up with possible solutions. Along the way, he will continue to create the path so that the entire group can ultimately reach a reasonable stop point.
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