Why?

WHY

Why Ask Why?

Why? What is your first reaction to this word? Did you automatically think of some naysayer acquaintance of yours with a negative attitude who is always asking why me? Or, did you think of an inquisitive child asking why because they lack the knowledge to understand something and are merely trying to learn things as they develop?

If you chose the pessimistic implications of the word why, and you carry this interpretation with you throughout your career, you are using the word why as a weapon, for witch hunts, and to backfit a justification for a pre-ordained conclusion. If you start asking the question why and you see people cringing and shying away from the question it is a good indication that your audience has experienced the negative implications of the word why; and the unchanged behaviors, processes, and business outcomes as a result of this false inquiry. I like the term false inquiry. The word why by its very nature is an inquiry, the asker is seeking something they do not know. The false part comes in when we ask why as a stage theatric to confirm a predetermined conclusion.

If you chose the child’s perspective, I applaud you! This childlike approach to the word why is what we should all strive to take forward throughout our careers if we truly want to expand our knowledge and grow the businesses that we are engaged in. Asking why with genuine curiosity leading to the gaining of more information, from which further inquiry yields even more information. If we take all of this newly acquired information and then use it to drive positive change, we get improvement. This perspective on the word why, advances knowledge, and through that knowledge, improves people, business processes, and business outcomes. This positive perspective is what makes this one simple word very powerful.

Let’s explore a little deeper on the positive power of why, the mechanics of why, and some ways to eliminate, or at least reduce, the amount of “window dressing” that comes with the answer to the question why?

Why as a Structured Inquiry

If we want to truly drive the negative aspects out of the question why we need to apply some structure around how we use this line of inquiry. For it is the structure that will help us to avoid jumping to conclusions and keep us focused on underlying causation. There are a couple of time-tested methodologies that are built upon why. We can look at Six Sigma analysis, and Five Whys Root Cause Analysis.

Six Sigma

Without going into the volumes of texts written about Six Sigma and statistical analysis in general; I would summarize that these methodologies strive to take the negative human element out of the equation by relying heavily upon mathematical statistical analysis. This mathematical analysis is a tried and true method of process improvement that yields great results when applied to highly repeatable mechanical processes where the variables can be adjusted independently to yield the best outcome. This methodology starts to breakdown with the introduction of more variables, less precision in the control of the variables, and the introduction of human behavior into process. To further compound the issue of the introduction of variables add to the pot transactional one-off processes (individual sales under unique contract structure), the number of people interacting with the process, and if that wasn’t enough, add geographic and cultural differences and norms.

So, if we are people that are engaged in businesses that rely on a great deal of human interaction what are we to do? Do we give up on finding the truths buried in our businesses? We should not give up; but, rather look at another methodology that is not grounded in mathematical analysis.

Five Whys Root Cause Analysis

Five Whys Root Cause analysis is a logic driven inquiry into an issue to strip away the surface symptoms of an issue and thus reveal the underlying root cause that started the entire chain of events. Why five? The theory goes that if we start with an issue and ask why, then take that answer and ask why again, and continue this process, by the time we get to the fifth why we almost always have our root cause(s). If we were to sketch this out it would look like a tree diagram.

I have used this methodology on some very complex issues and can tell you that in my experience, working with teams of people that are comfortable with this level of inquiry you can often get to the root cause by the third why. I have inserted the statement “with teams that are used to this level of inquiry” to stress a point. If you ask why and the response comes back cloaked in a long essay or lengthy diatribe you have probably just encountered someone protecting a personal interest of some sort.  If the process is to yield an improvement it requires honest inquiry (no witch hunts) and honest response (no one looking to be the star of the next Watergate).

 I would like to pause here for a moment to stress that while we are talking about analysis of events that have occurred (most would presume negative events) this analysis can be applied to strategic and tactical plans to determine the true drivers and probability of success, as well as, asking the same why questions from the customer perspective to truly understand the value that the proposed strategy would ultimately deliver to the customer ( your marketing department will thank you for this later).

Performing a why analysis on any given “what” will yield root causation as well as prompt more lines of inquiry that will help you take action. Asking why five times will also help you to answer the other five big questions (what, who, where, when, how). Let’s take a closer look at these.

Five More Lines of Structured Inquiry

What

 The what is obvious; before you can even contemplate a why question you must ask yourself the what question. What is the problem, the strategy, the tactical deployment plan, the value proposition; I think you get the point, if you can’t define the what none of the answers to the why will be specific enough to yield a root cause. Any what statement must follow the cardinal rules of scope definition; that is that the scope must be quantified and qualified, the 2 Qs.

Who

The who question is important; because, people make products and provide services as opposed to processes. Remember the who question cannot be a witch hunt, but should focus on the organizational structures engaged in the what that is being investigated; as well as their state of readiness to accomplish what is asked of them. For the purposes of this discussion readiness can be thought of as correct staffing (quantity and skill), training, any unique tooling. And last, but not least, all of the people that comprise the who must have the authority or be empowered to carry out the required tasks and actions.

Where

Where is an equally important question that often impacts the other six questions. Where do these actions take place is it in a controlled factory environment, an alpha or beta test site, a limited geography or is the goal world wide dominance. This question of where should ideally be a subset of the big what because scale is a subset of what; remember the 2 Qs.

When

When is all about time, schedule, frequency, iterations which ultimately yield speed to market. We should be careful when establishing timeline and should examine a forward pass as well as a backward pass to determine timelines that are aggressive and achievable. Timelines that do not satisfy the aggressive & achievable measure in balanced harmony are almost certain to become one of the root causes of your future failure analysis.

How

Once you have put the answers to the previous 5 questions in place you can start to look at the how. The how essentially boils down to the tactical implementation plan. Tactical implementation plans incorporate all of the discovery learned through the other 5 questions into one comprehensive set of procedures, processes and rules that guide the entire team.

The following graphic provides an overview of the process:

The Power of Why

Looking back at our previous discussion that all started with asking why, it is easy to see that asking why with genuine curiosity, and as a means to learn something new, provides us a gateway of discovery that will help us not only resolve issues but can be proactively applied to new strategies, organizational structures, and market plans. And, if we conduct this line of inquiry with integrity and honesty and expect the same from our peers, we can expect the answers to these questions to help us improve our businesses. This form of structured thinking has value from the board room all the way down through the organization. It can be used to strengthen strategies, develop robust tactical implementation plans, and resolve issues with existing business performance.

I hope that you enjoyed my exploration into the power of the word why; but more importantly I hope that it sparks your curiosity and causes you to ask yourself “why”. And, if you ask yourself the why questions with integrity; hopefully you will be honest with your answers to yourself. Let me know your thoughts on the power of the word why and the five follow up structured inquiry questions.

Frank Suhan

https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/frank-suhan