Growth is a tricky thing. You hear it discussed ad nauseam in corporate boardrooms, sales meetings and marketing team huddles. While growth goals are constantly buzzing through the minds of your staff, it doesn’t mean everyone knows how to turn concepts into favorable outcomes.

I’ve been writing about growth for years. Everyone is trying to grow their companies . Sometimes, the team feels unstoppable, and growth seems almost effortless. Then, tougher times hit. The machine grinds to a halt, and the impulse is to double down on the tactics that worked when the numbers were soaring.

But there’s no denying that something’s changed because those old tactics aren’t working anymore. You go into panic mode. It must be the people, so you make changes there. Then, it’s on to switching marketing firms and tweaking your messaging.

Yet, nothing happens because you may not have taken a step back to look at your go-to-market strategy holistically. You’ve focused on the symptoms and don’t look for the true cause. If you don’t ask the questions that can identify the correct solutions, you’ll still be spinning your wheels. Here’s how to get a broader view and three questions to ask to help diagnose the problem.

You’re probably familiar with the phrase correlation doesn’t mean causation. When you’re attempting to diagnose something based on a symptom, you can’t jump to conclusions. The same sign can manifest due to a host of reasons, and doesn’t necessarily mean what you think it does. Without a holistic perspective and some troubleshooting, you might apply a more invasive or expensive solution than you need to.

A good friend of mine — let’s call him Marc— has been an avid runner for years. He’s competed in multiple races and follows a disciplined routine. He’s been experiencing knee pain lately, which has slowed him down. He says he suspects he needs knee surgery, so he’s going to see an orthopedic surgeon. Weeks later, Marc tells me he’s had the surgery and his knee feels great.

I was happy for him, but a few weeks later, he told me his knee pain had returned worse than before. I’m not a doctor, but his condition got me thinking. The surgeon he went to was top-notch, and people we both knew had great outcomes. So, why was Marc different?

I suggested that perhaps the knee was only the symptom, and there could be a deeper issue causing the pain. While I could tell Marc didn’t want to accept a different diagnosis, he saw a sports medicine physician the next day. Marc was told his glutes weren’t firing properly, and his knee was going to continue to hurt until he improved the strength in his hips and glutes. After eight weeks of new exercises, Marc was running pain-free.

Marc later joked with me about how he spent thousands on his knee surgery when all he really needed was a stronger behind. I laughed, but couldn’t help but see the parallels in the companies I work with.

One of the companies I consult with was struggling to get growth back on track. A new head of marketing had been brought in since the last one wasn’t generating enough leads. The team was going through all the motions you’d expect. They were producing new content and paid ads while tweaking their outbound strategies and buying more tools. Nonetheless, they couldn’t get anyone to convert.

Marc’s story came back to me. Were these motions the equivalent of his knee surgery? Was the problem somewhere else? So, I asked the CEO if they’d considered whether the problem may not be the tactics. I told the CEO Marc’s story, and they responded with concerns about time and the need to find the answers fast.

I asked if they’d heard of growth diagnostics, and that I’d run across a firm a few months ago that was talking about it. The idea is simple enough. Instead of going through the motions on tactics, companies need to take a step back and holistically review the entire system that feeds the tactics. In other words, audit the growth engine.

Like Marc, the CEO was quick to jump at what they thought was the solution. A logical one, but also quite wrong. By taking a holistic approach from the beginning, a lot of money and pain could have been saved. You may think you know what is blocking your growth, but you may need to consider that you might not.

I told the CEO about a company applying growth diagnostics called Forge & Fathom. From what I had gathered, the firm takes companies like CharityEngine through comprehensive reviews of the major pillars of entire go-to-market engines. The thing I found most interesting was that an insightful diagnosis could be provided within a matter of days.

The Three Diagnostic Questions

From my prior interactions with Forge & Fathom’s cofounder, Brody Dorland, I’d learned most companies don’t suffer from a lack of tactics. A lack of focus is the typical culprit instead. When the pressure is on, teams need conviction in where to invest their time, money and energy.

My conversations with Brody left me with these three diagnostic questions for any company to consider.

1. If asked, would each member of your leadership team describe the key problem you solve for your customers in the same way?

2. How confident are you that your next go-to-market initiative will produce the outcomes you need?

3. Does your website pass the 15-second “what you do” test?

Depending on the answers, you may need more than a knee surgeon. You may benefit from a full growth diagnostic test. Troubleshooting might take a little more time upfront, but it can save you from the time and expense it takes to backtrack.

Identifying The Correct Solution

Growth can become an elusive goal if you haven’t identified what’s blocking it. Running harder on the treadmill won’t work if your diet needs a serious overhaul. By looking at the big picture and asking strategic questions, you can apply the solution that does more than temporarily mask the symptom. It removes the hurdle to the sustained outcome you desire.