Need a simple way to resolve problems? The Five Whys could be just what you are looking for! It’s a problem solving technique that helps you get to the bottom of a problem quickly and easily. The technique is purported to have originated in the Toyota car making factories of the 1970s and was hugely popular because it’s really easy to learn and implement.
Why is it called the five Whys?
That’s simple – it’s called the five whys because it’s a process that asks questions and the first question it asks is why has this problem occurred? This often prompts another question beginning with a why, and so on. However, when using this method, it’s best to work your way backwards, from the obvious outcome all the way back to the root cause of the issue. If you do not immediately discover the root cause of the issue, repeat the exercise until you do.
So, for example, you own a cleaning business and your biggest client, a huge corporate called Bowers Corp, is unhappy. Using the Five Whys method to address this problem might lead to a conversation like this:
- why are Bowers Corp unhappy? Because we didn’t finish the cleaning on schedule
- why didn’t we finish the cleaning on schedule? Because it turned out to be a much larger job than we expected
- why was it larger than expected? Because there were issues with moving furniture
- why did issues with furniture create a problem? Because we didn’t have the manpower to move the heavy items
- why did we not have the manpower to move the heavy items? Because we didn’t anticipate having to move any heavy items
- why did we not anticipate moving heavy items? Because we didn’t ask about it when we quoted for the job
- why did we not ask about it when we quoted for the job? Because we have a flaw in our quoting process.
- why do we have a flaw in our quoting process? Because we’ve only just moved on to working with big corporate clients, who have large, heavy furniture to negotiate.
As you can see, the problem here seems to be a faulty quoting process. The solution then seems easy – include a question about heavy furniture and who will move it if need be. This way the next time a quote is requested the result will be accurate.
As you can see, this process allows you to work your way back from the resulting problem to the cause, enabling you to see clearly what needs to be done to resolve the problem and prevent it from happening again.
The next time you come across a problem, try the five whys and see if you can find the cause and create an effective solution. And if you have another, successful way of solving problems, please do let us know.
