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In the 1930s, a catalyst of the Japanese industrial revolution, Sakichi Toyoda, the founder of Toyota Industries, invented a technique that would help businesses dig deeper into potential problems and get to the root of what is happening and why.
This technique is mostly utilized in manufacturing and industrial companies but has become part of the “six sigma” curriculum. For those of you who do not know what Six Sigma is, it “is a disciplined, data-driven approach and methodology for eliminating defects in any process.”
Within the six sigma curriculum, you Define the process and the problem, Measure the current performance, Analyze the process for issues and root causes, Improve on those actions, and Control those improved actions. Within the “Analyze” part of this process, you will find the technique that Sakichi created and how it is utilized effectively.
With that little tidbit of information, you are probably thinking what the heck this has to do with me?
Well if you would stop being so impatient I’d tell you!
The technique that Mr. Toyoda created is called the “5 whys,” and yes, it is just that simple. In a nutshell, all you are doing is asking yourself why, 5 times.
But it is much more than that, so much more. It’s not that you answer each one of those Why questions with a “because” or with a “I don’t want to” or “I wanted to.” The beauty in this technique lies in the answers you give each and every time.
It’s like when you tell your kid to stop doing something and annoyingly they keep asking you why, until you get fed up and yell at them “because I said so!!!” In the beginning, you started with actual answers, you possibly even thought of other answers instead of just regurgitating the same answer over and over again until you couldn’t think of anything new.
That, in essence, is what we are looking for here. We are looking at a problem we want to have solved, and asking ourselves “why”, why this happened; answering that why with a different more in-depth answer each time, 5 times.
For example:
I am unhappy because I wanted to lose 10 lbs but ended up gaining 5 lbs.
1.WHY did you gain 5 lbs?
Because I ate McDonald’s 5 out of the 7 days.
2.WHY did you eat McD’s 5 out of 7 days?
Because I was hungry
3.WHY were you hungry?
Because I didn’t make anything to eat
4.WHY didn’t you make anything to eat?
Because I was lazy and wanted to sit around instead of making good healthy food to eat.
5.WHY are you lazy?
Because I’m weak mentally.
Each time we asked why, we got a little bit more detailed information to finally figure out what the root problem is. I am sure you could ask yourself “why” 20 times, but you want to limit yourself, not to make it too tedious to the point you are just searching for answers.
In the example we found out that the root problem wasn’t just that you ate at McDonalds 5 out of 7 days, it wasn’t because you were hungry. If you are completely honest with yourself (and I hope that you are) and actually said that you were mentally weak, and that is why you gained 5 lbs instead of losing 10 lbs; that will greatly increase your chances of making a lasting change. Now you have the ability to work on your mindset with a greater likelihood that you will fix your problem, than if you were thinking that McDonald’s is the problem and try to simply avoid McD’s; which we all know means that you’ll just find something else as bad to fill its spot.
This technique has the ability to work for any problem you have or for anything you want to make better. Don’t limit yourself, if you are looking for growth and to become better, this is a great technique to have in your arsenal.
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