Why? Why? Why?

Tuesday 8th December 2009 | 4 comments

When something goes wrong in business (or in our personal life, for that matter) we tend to spend little time on analysing the reasons, but jump straight in to find the quick fix. Of course, if we haven't worked out why the problem occurred in the first place, this approach is really an experiment that has an almost random chance of success.

So, if you do have a tricky situation where the cause is not readily apparent, try this technique:

  1. Write a short description of the problem at the top of a piece of paper (A3 if possible), e.g. 'Marketing efforts not working for product X'.
  2. Underneath draw a horizontal line with a series of vertical branches off the bottom. Asking 'Why?', complete these with, say, 5 categories of reasons, e.g. 'Price too high', 'Targeting the wrong market', 'Too much competition', 'Sales force badly trained' and 'Ad campaign'.
  3. Then add a number of branches under each of these and again ask 'Why'?. So for example, under 'Why sales force badly trained' you might write 'Not enough time spent on training', 'Trainer didn't understand product' 'Not enough resources for hiring and training sales staff'.
  4. You can go on as long as useful with this. So if you wanted a third tier, you could take 'Not enough resources for hiring and training sales staff' and write under that 'CEO does not believe marketing is useful here'.
  5. Once you have your chart in enough detail, have any other people involved prepare their own charts, then compare notes. Each team member will have their own unique perspectives and insights, and the person with the clearest eye is not always the one at the top!
  6. So, in our example, the most useful next step may be to find a creative way of persuading the CEO of the importance of sales spending - rather than abandoning the project or tinkering with the product design.

The point of all this is to drill down deeper than you might do otherwise, rather than just coming up with more and more reasons at the same superficial level. The 'Why?' is an invitation to look beneath the obvious - you may find some surprising answers (and a simpler, less drastic solution than you might think...).

Tags: business, creative, thinking, why, tips

Comments

  1. I love this Joanna - so simple, yet gets right to the bottom of it. Useful for just about any situation. Another winner!

    Posted by Grace | Tuesday 8th December 2009 @ 10:13pm

  2. Thanks Grace, glad it struck a chord. I know it works, cos I often try and skip this step - but always notice the difference when I take the time to drill down that extra layer.

    Posted by Joanna Maxwell | Tuesday 8th December 2009 @ 10:21pm

  3. Thanks Joanna,
    I love your point: If we haven't worked out why the problem occured, the solution is random. Your setting yourself up to fail almost. I look forward to trying it.

    Posted by Carly Schultz | Thursday 10th December 2009 @ 10:33pm

  4. Thanks for this, Carly, much appreciated. Let us know how it goes for you!

    Posted by Joanna Maxwell | Friday 11th December 2009 @ 7:53am

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