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Recently I had a conversation with a friend who was upset about some directional shifts and a looming job shuffle within his company. As I listened to the lament, I recognized that the changes he described focused on the symptoms of the issue. All of his reactions and proposed courses of action in response to the unsettling circumstances didn’t address what I could tell was something deeper.
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My friend had lost the raison d’être for his work. The connection to a higher purpose, or a deeper cause, simply wasn’t there any longer. The solution, according to my friend, was to leave, immediately. Although in the end that might play out as the right thing to do, the problem-solving coach in me couldn’t resist butting in.
“Have you ever done a 5 Whys on your work?” I asked.
“A what?” he asked. “What do you mean?”
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Comments
The Original 5 Whys on the 4 W's and 1H
Nice article and metaphor Matthew,
Rings true for us parents and how often they ask Why. As Dr Deming was lamenting how Universities almost break that Critical Questionning Technique and enquiring student mind.
I retuned to my ILO Geneva book on Work Study and also the AIAG FMEA text where as like Toyoya who copied it, the original 5 Whys are actually this: The situation is subjected to the Critical Questions drawn from Rudyard Kipling "6 Honest Serving Men" being the 4 W's and the H have a Why asked against each. As extracted from the various texts and Toyota's books:
Ask:
"5 Why Analysis" ILO Work Study & TPS) to identify what to COMBINE, ELIMINATE or SIMPLIFY courtesy of Alan Mogensen of Work Simplification Institute Grand Rapids Mic USA in days gone by.
Page 256 of The Toyota Way book by Dr J Liker is worth also noting. "5-Why Investigation of Root Cause" is step 4 of their 7 steps Toyota "Practical Problem-Solving Process"
Timely article Matthew and worth discussing with clients over the next few weeks.
Michael McLean
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