11 minutes
Map the barrier and find the root cause Trace the barrier from what people experience to the process, ownership and default that create it, using the inaccessible team meeting as the case.
What you’ll be able to do Map a barrier from symptom to root cause across the functions that own each part of it, and distinguish root causes from contributing conditions. Compare the responses to this question and explain your choice: Which of these is the root-cause map, rather than a list of symptoms? Document a next step for Map the barrier and find the root cause: Draw your barrier map: each symptom on the left, the process or default that produces it in the middle, and the function that owns that process on the right. Check that no box contains a person’s name. From what people meet to what produces it A barrier map has three columns. On the left, the symptoms: what a disabled person meets. In the middle, the root causes: the process, template, default setting, missing standard or missing owner that produces the symptom every time. On the right, the function that owns each root cause. The discipline is to keep asking why until the middle column holds a process or an owner, not a person. “The manager forgot” is not a root cause; “the platform default is captions off and nobody owns the setting” is.
Take the inaccessible team meeting. The symptoms are an image-only agenda, captions off, no advance materials and no way to ask for access. Ask why of each. The agenda is an image because the template exports that way and no accessible template has been provided: a communications root cause. Captions are off because that is the platform default and no one has been assigned to change it: an information technology root cause. Materials arrive late because there is no standard for advance materials: a unit root cause. There is no access line because the invitation template has none: communications again. Four symptoms, three functions, and none of it is about the manager who sent the invitation.
Separate root causes from contributing conditions. Time pressure, staff turnover and a busy season make a barrier more likely but do not produce it; fixing them would not remove it. Root causes, when changed, remove the barrier for everyone who comes after. The map tells the team which functions must be part of the fix, which is often the moment a team realizes who is missing from the room.
Symptom, root cause or contributing condition? A screen-reader user cannot read the meeting agenda.
Choose a category Symptom Root cause Contributing condition The agenda template exports as an image and no accessible template has been provided.
Choose a category Symptom Root cause Contributing condition The meeting platform defaults to captions off and no one owns the setting.
Choose a category Symptom Root cause Contributing condition The unit is short-staffed this season.
Choose a category Symptom Root cause Contributing condition A colleague who needs captions has stopped attending.
Choose a category Symptom Root cause Contributing condition Several managers are new and have not been shown the invitation template.
Choose a category Symptom Root cause Contributing condition Check matches Reset No names in the middle column What you can change The team controls whether the map blames a person or names a process.
What to watch for Do not stop at “the manager forgot” or “the staff did not ask.” Do not confuse busy seasons and turnover with the defaults and templates that actually produce the barrier.
Your next step Review your map and replace every person’s name with the process, default or missing owner behind it.
The inaccessible meeting, mapped Symptom: image-only agenda Root cause: the agenda template exports as an image; no accessible template is provided or required.Owner: communications, with the unit adopting the template.
Symptom: captions off Root cause: the platform default is captions off; no one is assigned to set and lock the default.Owner: information technology, with the accessibility lead confirming the setting.
Symptom: materials the morning of Root cause: no standard for advance materials exists in the unit’s meeting practice.Owner: the unit leader, adopting a written standard.
Symptom: no way to request access Root cause: the invitation template has no access line or contact.Owner: communications for the template; the unit for using it.
Not a root cause: the manager The manager used the templates and defaults the organization gave them. Change those and the next manager gets it right without being reminded.
Asking why until it is a process “The agenda was an image”
Why? The template exports that way. Why? No accessible template has been provided or required. Owner: communications.
“Captions were off”
Why? That is the platform default. Why? No one has been assigned to set and lock it. Owner: information technology.
“Materials came the morning of”
Why? There is no advance-materials standard. Owner: the unit leader.
“Nobody asked for access”
Why? The invitation has no access line or private contact. Why? The template has none. Owner: communications, with the unit using it.
Carry this forward A symptom is what a person meets; a root cause is the process, default or missing owner that produces it every time.
Most barriers have two or three root causes in different functions, which is why single-function fixes revert.
Asking “why” until the answer is a process or an owner, not a person, keeps the map honest and useful.
A completed sort of symptoms, root causes and contributing conditions; one knowledge check; a barrier map for your team’s barrier.
Draw your barrier map: each symptom on the left, the process or default that produces it in the middle, and the function that owns that process on the right. Check that no box contains a person’s name.
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