Ask Better Questions

I was recently re-introduced to the “5 Whys Exercise” – used by Toyota during the evolution of their manufacturing methodologies.

Simply ask “why” five times to get to the bottom of things.

“We don’t have the proposal ready”  Why?

“Betty didn’t get it done” Why?

“She didn’t get started ’till Monday” Why?

“I didn’t send her the draft until Friday” Why?

“The boss didn’t email approval until that morning” Why?

“She was on vacation all week.”

Try it the next time you need to figure out the real reason something went wrong – or right.