I don't know how many of you on this call are parents. Parents, including myself, generally remember the time when their children start talking and having conversations. From then on they usually ask 'Why?' it's an endless process. You give an answer and then you get the 'but why?' I think a lot of parents ultimately reach the point where they say, "Because I say so. Just do it."
I came across an article which, on reading, made me think that there was a great management principle tucked into that engagement that we have with our children. This article was in Inc entitled 'When and How to Micromanage' by Joel Spolsky. He says he had to work with somebody called Ryan Carson to produce a series of technical conferences for software developers.
When they got to the city where they were to have this, they realized that they were going to have problems. The conference hall was tucked into the back of some corner of a strip mall; the list of audio-visual requirements that they had sent to these people had got to them only the previous day and the staff was quite defensive about it. They didn't have anything ready. So Joel Spolsky and Ryan Carson went hunting around for the gear they needed and finally got it. They just about got everything ready and he stood up to give the talk, worried about the video that wasn't so good, the audio that was making funny sounds, stage monitors that were buzzing, the fan noise from the amplifiers oddly placed right next to the stage – all of this was just a crazy experience.
He says, "At the end of it, we sat down and said, 'What do we do about this? What do we learn from this? How did this happen?' We went through the '5 whys' exercise with the staff." The '5 Whys' is a problem-solving technique developed by Toyota in the 70s to improve its manufacturing process. It is attributed to Taiichi Ohno who brought it into Toyota's scientific approach. The principle is that by repeating 'why' 5 times, the nature of the problem as well as its solution becomes clear. The whole idea is to get to the root cause and the 5 iterations of asking 'Why' will generally get you there. We have issues, we have a problem, we have something that didn't go the way it was supposed to. The thing to do is to sit down and say, 'Ok, let's find out why didn't this happen?'
Spolsky goes on to say, "We sat down and began to do this. Our problem was that we couldn't switch video fast enough. `Why? Because we were using a cheap switch purchased at an office superstore. Why? Because we assumed the venue operators would provide a high-quality switch, which they didn't. Why? Because the venue didn't have our list of A-V requirements. Why? Because we didn't get it there in time. why? Because Carson felt that the people who should have got it didn't have a standard checklist of procedures for each conference, i.e. what to do one month before, one week before, one day before, etc.
Solution: better checklists, a suggestion that they promised that they would follow up on."
It's so interesting that when we use a leadership tool that has been honed in companies like Toyota and all across the world; it's something that is so very basic to us. There is wisdom in just asking questions and that wisdom comes from different sources. People who use this, talk about getting everybody into the room including the person who had the problem, because you can't deal with the problem if that person is out of the room. Bring them all in and ask questions till you get to the root cause of the problem. The whole idea is to find out the nature of the problem and then the solution becomes clear.
Going back to the kids, when they ask the question 'why'; after the first couple of times, we begin to get irritated. We say, "Yeah, because it's like this or like that. Finally it's enough, shut down the conversation"
But I was looking at Science News and when preschoolers ask questions, they say they want explanations. A study done by researchers at the University of Michigan in 2009 on child development found that children seek explanations. They use specific conversational strategies to obtain that information and when they ask 'why', they're not merely trying to prolong conversations; they're trying to get to the bottom of things.
I thought, 'How similar!' if we were to use the 'Five Whys' approach, the whole idea is to get to the bottom of what had happened; to find the problem and then to find the solution. I wonder whether we are open to solutions coming at us from various sources that we never even think of.
The Bible has a verse (Psalms 8:2) Out of the mouths of babes and unweaned infants, You have established strength because of your foes, that You might silence the enemy and the avenger.
In other words, form these kinds of sources; God gives us wisdom and strength that will silence enemies. Enemies need not be people; it can be a situation, a circumstance. Yet, when we begin to ask the 'why' question, then we begin to find the answers also from unnatural sources, sources that we never expected.
I was at a conference some time back and observed the speaker say that he had a very complex problem in the office. He called other business associates and ran this human resources problem by them. They couldn't come up with any solution. Seeing his agitation when he went home, his wife asked him what the problem was. He brushed her off saying that it was an office problem. She said, "Tell me." he said, "No, it's a complex problem. You wouldn't understand." He talked down to her because she was just a teacher and didn't have corporate experience. But she just smiled and said, "Tell me what the problem is."
So very reluctantly he laid it out for her and said, "This is the stuff that happened and all that. I've talked to different business associates and they have not been able to come up with a solution." She said, "Why don't you do this?" when he listened to her solution, he found that it was the perfect solution.
This brought home the fact that wisdom comes to us from very unlikely sources, but sources that God places around us to help us go through the daily issues in our life. While we may think about getting a strategy team together, a problem-solving team together and asking the 'why' questions in our businesses and offices, I wonder whether today we can look around and say, "There are people around here who I never pay attention to, but who may have wisdom." Maybe as we start looking around, we will find ourselves being given more wisdom than we thought we had because of the people who are around us.
Out of children comes wisdom. Out of people all around us, God has placed wisdom for each one of us; that when we need it, it is available for us. But we need to look out through different lenses than we are used to. Ask the 'why' questions to people all around us and maybe the answers will come from sources we never imagined could give us solutions. I pray that that will be true for you today.
God Bless Us All.
I came across an article which, on reading, made me think that there was a great management principle tucked into that engagement that we have with our children. This article was in Inc entitled 'When and How to Micromanage' by Joel Spolsky. He says he had to work with somebody called Ryan Carson to produce a series of technical conferences for software developers.
When they got to the city where they were to have this, they realized that they were going to have problems. The conference hall was tucked into the back of some corner of a strip mall; the list of audio-visual requirements that they had sent to these people had got to them only the previous day and the staff was quite defensive about it. They didn't have anything ready. So Joel Spolsky and Ryan Carson went hunting around for the gear they needed and finally got it. They just about got everything ready and he stood up to give the talk, worried about the video that wasn't so good, the audio that was making funny sounds, stage monitors that were buzzing, the fan noise from the amplifiers oddly placed right next to the stage – all of this was just a crazy experience.
He says, "At the end of it, we sat down and said, 'What do we do about this? What do we learn from this? How did this happen?' We went through the '5 whys' exercise with the staff." The '5 Whys' is a problem-solving technique developed by Toyota in the 70s to improve its manufacturing process. It is attributed to Taiichi Ohno who brought it into Toyota's scientific approach. The principle is that by repeating 'why' 5 times, the nature of the problem as well as its solution becomes clear. The whole idea is to get to the root cause and the 5 iterations of asking 'Why' will generally get you there. We have issues, we have a problem, we have something that didn't go the way it was supposed to. The thing to do is to sit down and say, 'Ok, let's find out why didn't this happen?'
Spolsky goes on to say, "We sat down and began to do this. Our problem was that we couldn't switch video fast enough. `Why? Because we were using a cheap switch purchased at an office superstore. Why? Because we assumed the venue operators would provide a high-quality switch, which they didn't. Why? Because the venue didn't have our list of A-V requirements. Why? Because we didn't get it there in time. why? Because Carson felt that the people who should have got it didn't have a standard checklist of procedures for each conference, i.e. what to do one month before, one week before, one day before, etc.
Solution: better checklists, a suggestion that they promised that they would follow up on."
It's so interesting that when we use a leadership tool that has been honed in companies like Toyota and all across the world; it's something that is so very basic to us. There is wisdom in just asking questions and that wisdom comes from different sources. People who use this, talk about getting everybody into the room including the person who had the problem, because you can't deal with the problem if that person is out of the room. Bring them all in and ask questions till you get to the root cause of the problem. The whole idea is to find out the nature of the problem and then the solution becomes clear.
Going back to the kids, when they ask the question 'why'; after the first couple of times, we begin to get irritated. We say, "Yeah, because it's like this or like that. Finally it's enough, shut down the conversation"
But I was looking at Science News and when preschoolers ask questions, they say they want explanations. A study done by researchers at the University of Michigan in 2009 on child development found that children seek explanations. They use specific conversational strategies to obtain that information and when they ask 'why', they're not merely trying to prolong conversations; they're trying to get to the bottom of things.
I thought, 'How similar!' if we were to use the 'Five Whys' approach, the whole idea is to get to the bottom of what had happened; to find the problem and then to find the solution. I wonder whether we are open to solutions coming at us from various sources that we never even think of.
The Bible has a verse (Psalms 8:2) Out of the mouths of babes and unweaned infants, You have established strength because of your foes, that You might silence the enemy and the avenger.
In other words, form these kinds of sources; God gives us wisdom and strength that will silence enemies. Enemies need not be people; it can be a situation, a circumstance. Yet, when we begin to ask the 'why' question, then we begin to find the answers also from unnatural sources, sources that we never expected.
I was at a conference some time back and observed the speaker say that he had a very complex problem in the office. He called other business associates and ran this human resources problem by them. They couldn't come up with any solution. Seeing his agitation when he went home, his wife asked him what the problem was. He brushed her off saying that it was an office problem. She said, "Tell me." he said, "No, it's a complex problem. You wouldn't understand." He talked down to her because she was just a teacher and didn't have corporate experience. But she just smiled and said, "Tell me what the problem is."
So very reluctantly he laid it out for her and said, "This is the stuff that happened and all that. I've talked to different business associates and they have not been able to come up with a solution." She said, "Why don't you do this?" when he listened to her solution, he found that it was the perfect solution.
This brought home the fact that wisdom comes to us from very unlikely sources, but sources that God places around us to help us go through the daily issues in our life. While we may think about getting a strategy team together, a problem-solving team together and asking the 'why' questions in our businesses and offices, I wonder whether today we can look around and say, "There are people around here who I never pay attention to, but who may have wisdom." Maybe as we start looking around, we will find ourselves being given more wisdom than we thought we had because of the people who are around us.
Out of children comes wisdom. Out of people all around us, God has placed wisdom for each one of us; that when we need it, it is available for us. But we need to look out through different lenses than we are used to. Ask the 'why' questions to people all around us and maybe the answers will come from sources we never imagined could give us solutions. I pray that that will be true for you today.
God Bless Us All.
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