I'm not sure how many of you have watched or even gone through a situation where you have heard a parent telling a child "I want you to do something," and the child responds by saying, "But why?" If you've been party to this kind of a conversation, you will know that the parent will often respond with "Because…" and give a reason. The child then says, "But why?" The parent then responds a little more testily, but gives a reason, whereby the child again says, "But why?" When this goes on a little too long, the parent finally replies in frustration, "Because I said so. Just do it."
When we are not in that situation, we can smile at it. But after you have gone 3 or 4 times down that road, you often think that the child is either trying to prolong the conversation so that he or she doesn't have to do what they were supposed to do, or trying to irritate and annoy you. Yet, contrary to that assumption, in an article published by Science News, researchers at the University of Michigan way back in 2009 did a study on child development and found that children actually seek explanations because they want to get information. They need to know why they are doing particular things. It helps them to process and help their conversational strategies. They are not merely trying to irritate you or trying to avoid stuff, they are actually cognitively trying to form a pattern in the way they operate and do things.
That came as a bit of a surprise to me when I read that article. Very often we hear this phrase – "Out of the mouth of babes." And from out of the mouth of babes, we understand that why actually means something. The reason I say this is because in the 70s, a man by the name of Taiichi Ohno, working with Toyota, is credited with what is called 'The Five Why's' which was a problem-solving technique that he developed at Toyota plants. It was a scientific approach wherein the principle was that if you repeated the question 'why' 5 times, then both the nature of the problem as well as its solution would become apparent. The whole idea was to get to the root cause. These 5 iterations of asking 'why' would generally get you there.
Whenever there was a problem, the company executives would sit down and ask the question, "Why did this happen?" They would get an answer. Repeating this question 4 or 5 times, they found that the fifth time the question was asked, they actually found the main reason why the problem happened. Then they could solve it.
Joel Spolsky, in an article 'When and How to Micromanage," fleshes this concept out for us. I was thankful for coming across this article, because sometimes we think, "But you can keep asking why over and over again and you can get an answer." But the key is that at one point you are able to say, "If we fix that, then all the rest gets fixed as well."
Spolsky recounts a time when he and a friend of his, Ryan Carson, were called to do a series of technical conferences for software developers. Part of this was to go to a new place that they had never been to before. They had to conduct the conference in a hall that they had never heard of. It was new. When he got there, he immediately knew that they were going to have trouble. The conference hall was tucked into the back of some corner of a strip mall. The audiovisual requirements that they had sent had got to the organizers only the previous day. The staff was quite defensive, saying that they had not had time to get anything ready.
Joel Spolsky says that they got into their car, toured the town and found the places that stocked the equipment and picked up the gear that they needed. They came back and managed to set it all up in the nick of time. But he says that as he was giving the talk, he was clearly worried that the video wasn't good, that the audio was making funny sounds, the stage monitors were buzzing, and there was fan noise from the amplifiers. It was a crazy experience and he was quite upset. When they finished the program and got back, he decided, that instead of getting upset, he would sit down with everyone and try to find out what happened. How could they avoid this in future?
So they decided to use the problem-solving technique of the Five Whys. They began to ask the questions:
1. Our problem is that we couldn't switch video fast enough.
a. Why? Because we were using a cheap switch purchased at an office superstore.
b. Why? Because we assumed the venue operators would provide a high-quality switch, which they didn't.
c. Why? Because the venue didn't have our list of AV requirements.
d. Why? Because we didn't get it there in time.
e. Why? Because Carson felt that the people who should have got it didn't have a standard checklist of procedures for each conference, what to do one month before, one week before, one day before.
They stopped there and asked what the solution could be. Obviously, the solution was better checklists. So they implemented standard checklists of all their requirements that would go out one month, two weeks, and one week before any program and he says that it's been working like a charm ever since.
Out of the mouths of babes, we keep getting the question: Why? Why should I do it? Yet, it seems to be a good management principle for us to adapt and adopt as well – to ask the question when we are faced with a problem and we want to find the solution – to say, "Why should I do this?" You've often heard me talk about asking questions. Ask the questions – When? Where? How? What? Why? These are all questions that you can ask and get answers that will help you to understand a particular situation with greater clarity.
I've often talked about a book "How" by Dov Seidman who says, "It's not what you do that's important; but how you do It." But today I want us to focus on the why. The why question will bring clarity to the problem as well as throw up a solution. Out of the mouth of babes we can sometimes get extraordinary wisdom, as Taiichi Ohno found out. And maybe today, you're faced with a situation, a problem that's been troubling you for a couple of days. Maybe it's time to apply the Five Whys principle that worked so well for Toyota, and continues to do so. Five whys – Why did this happen? Why did this happen? Why? Why? Why? Get to the heart of the problem and then be able to solve it.
My hope and prayer for you is that this would help and that you would be able to apply it and find solutions for some of the problems that are facing you.
May I offer this prayer on your behalf?
Almighty God, give to each one on who reads this post the wisdom to find solutions. Bring to mind this problem-solving exercise when needed and may the solutions come from you and with heavenly wisdom. In Jesus' Name, I pray. Amen.
Endnotes:
· Taiichi Ohno, "Toyota Global Site." http://www.toyota-global.com/company/toyota_traditions/quality/mar_apr_2006.html
• Joel Spolsky, "When and how to Micromanage." http://www.inc.com/magazine/20091201/when-and-how-to-micromanage.html
• Science Daily (Nov, 13, 2009) "When Preschoolers Ask Questions, They Want Explanations."
• Dov Seidman; President Bill Clinton. "How." Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2011.
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