What to Fix First: A Simple Framework for Prioritizing Business Problems

If you’re in a leadership role, odds are your day doesn’t unfold with perfect predictability. One minute, you’re reviewing strategic goals. The next, you’re neck-deep in Slack messages, a missed invoice, a broken process, or an employee misunderstanding. It’s like playing whack-a-mole, but with higher stakes.

The truth is, many business leaders don’t lack ambition, creativity, or even clarity of vision. What they lack is space. Not physical space—but mental bandwidth. And when everything feels urgent, it’s hard to tell what’s actually important. So we put out the loudest fire. And then the next. And the next.

The result? You’re busy all day, but the core issues never actually get solved.

So how do you decide what to fix first in business?

Step One: Identify the Fires That Keep Reigniting

We all have fires. But not all fires are the same.

Some are one-time flare-ups. A project that fell behind, for example, or a vendor who dropped the ball. Others are recurring. The same miscommunication between departments. The same late-night scramble before a deadline. The same gaps in follow-up that cost you a client.

Those recurring fires are your signal. Because if a problem keeps showing up, it’s not just a “people” issue or a “bad luck” streak. It’s a system failure.

Ask yourself:

What’s the fire I’ve had to put out three times in the last month? If the answer comes easily, that’s where you start.

Step Two: Separate the Symptom from the Root

Let’s say your sales team is missing follow-ups. It’s tempting to respond with more meetings, more reminders, more “accountability.” But that’s treating the symptom, not the root.

Dig deeper. Why are follow-ups being missed? Is the CRM disorganized? Are leads falling through the cracks because of unclear hand-offs? Is there no reliable tracking system?

Getting to the root means asking “why” at least three times. Keep peeling back the layers until you find the process—or lack thereof—that’s causing the breakdown.

Step Three: Use the Impact-to-Effort Ratio

Once you have a few candidate issues on your radar, don’t try to tackle them all. Use this simple filter:

• High Impact, Low Effort: Do these first.
• High Impact, High Effort: Plan for these, don’t ignore them.
• Low Impact, Low Effort: Handle only if they’re easy wins.
• Low Impact, High Effort: These are distractions. Leave them.

Prioritize fixes that will create a noticeable ripple effect—like one small system that unblocks ten tasks downstream. 

This is a key strategy when prioritizing business problems in fast-paced environments.

Step Four: Document the Fix, Not Just the Reaction

 If you’re noticing the same tasks or challenges repeating regularly, it might be time to write them down and turn them into a system. If that still feels like too much to manage, or if your schedule is already packed, GirlFriday specializes in streamlining operations. Our team can help you create effective SOPs that free up your time and keep things running smoothly.

Step Five: Build in a Recalibration Point

Sometimes the fix that worked in March doesn’t hold up in September. Business evolves. Teams shift. That’s okay. Just make sure you schedule a check-in—monthly, quarterly, whatever works—to ask: “Is this system still solving the problem it was built for?” 

If not, iterate. But don’t start from scratch unless you have to.

At Girl Friday Business Solutions, we often hear from leaders who feel like they’re constantly behind—always catching up, never really getting ahead. Not because they’re doing anything wrong, but because everything feels equally urgent. One of the biggest gifts you can give your company is clarity, especially when it comes to creating business problem-solving frameworks and choosing the first domino to tip over.

Next time you’re buried in fires, take a breath. Look for the pattern, not just the smoke. Fix the thing that breaks everything else, and make the fix stick.