We all have problems at work we want to solve. But there are two kinds of fixes.
The first goes after the root cause. Its advantage: God willing, the problem does not come back. Its cost: it is usually hard and takes real effort.
The second treats the symptoms the problem produces. It is quick, and it makes you look like the hero who fixed it. But every time the symptom returns, people start to doubt you as a leader.
That is when something I have seen many times begins: blaming things outside our control. No budget. Not enough people. The business never prioritised it.
Why it becomes a camel
Those reasons can be real. But there is always a fix, and it is usually the hard one. Because it is hard, it becomes the camel in the office: the Saudi version of the elephant in the room.
Everyone knows it is there, and nobody wants to talk about it. It sits in the back of your mind, and every symptom you patch drains a bit more of your energy. Stack a second, third and fourth problem on top, and you have one of the quieter paths to burnout: constant pressure, with all your energy going into just getting through the workday.
So what is the fix?
Carrying on like this makes no sense.
The fix is an honest session with every department the problem touches. Lay out the problem down to its roots, and if you do not know the roots yet, turn it into a brainstorm together. Because the problem is deep, the fix may hurt: delaying the launch of a new feature, letting go of a particular client, or changing the product itself.
A story from the field
At one point, a product I was responsible for went down three to four hours every day. It was frustrating for us before it was frustrating for customers. Our fix was restarting the service, which is treating the symptom. As it kept happening, everyone started to complain.
I went to customer relations and was direct with them: I need just two weeks to rebuild part of this service. They understood, thank God, and reached out to our customers, and we agreed to take those two weeks during Ramadan. We shut the service down completely and worked on it. Two weeks later we came out with a service stronger than it had ever been.
Every one of us has a camel in the office right now, me included. Can you name yours? And what is stopping you from talking about it?
If there is a camel in your office and you would like a second pair of eyes on its roots, you can send me a note. No commitment, just an honest conversation.