Some models of the past fade as the world changes and evolves. The 5 Why's has stood the test of time, although simplified.
The 5 Whys was developed by Sakichi Toyoda and was used within the Toyota Motor Corporation, the utopia of operational efficiency in the 1980's. The architect of the Toyota Production System, Taiichi Ohno, described the five whys method as "the basis of Toyota's scientific approach by repeating why five times, the nature of the problem as well as its solution becomes clear." It is now used within Kaizen, lean manufacturing and Six Sigma. I like to use it wider than jsut operational efficiency, like Ricardo Semler who introduced the "three whys" in decision making, goal setting and coaching.
This root cause analysis tool quickly gets beyond the surface level problem. You simply pose a problem statement and then ask, ‘Why has this happened?’ Then whatever the answer is, ask why again, repeating the process 5 times until you get to the root of the problem.
STEP 1:
The 5 Whys are so simple to do. You name the topic or the problem and simply ask, ‘Why is this happening?’
STEP 2:
Write down the answer and then ask ‘Why?’ and repeat the process until you get to the real issue. I have also done this in large groups where I have asked each group to do their own 5 Whys on the same topic. Generally, they come to the same root cause, but you will also gain rich insight into other blockers and issues table to table. Gather this data and use it to inform your strategy.
Case study
The leadership team of an engineering company wanted to introduce harsher measures on absenteeism and lateness because they felt that timeliness was slipping, and it was having a direct impact on business performance.
The team wanted to fix the problem with harsher penalties without understanding the real issue.
There was a problem with attendance.
WHY? Because people didn’t care whether they turned up on time
WHY? Because nothing happened if they were late
WHY? Because managers weren’t managing the behaviour or problem
WHY? Because they didn’t know how to
WHY? Because they hadn’t been trained to.
Boom.
The issue wasn’t that the managers didn’t have a big enough stick or harsh enough penalties. The problem was that they were unsure about how to manage. If they had stayed in fix mode, a new policy or process would have been instigated with stricter penalties, but that would not have worked. Actually, all that was required was training, experience and consistency in the current approach. They were trying to fix the wrong problem.
Now I prefer to get to the route of the problem through conversation. Some people prefer to analyse using data, images and processes. So here is the alternative. The fishbone diagram.
Place the titles, functions or processes that contribute to the problem and then explore the problems or issues that are within each heading. This helps visualise all of the component parts and helps produce a strategy or project plan.
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