The 5 Whys Technique – Getting to the Root of Problems

 

Have you ever had a challenge that would not just go away? Maybe you notice it at first and tried to ignore it. At last the discomfort it caused made you to tackle it headlong and try to find a solution.

The solution seemed to work as you had some respite. Then unexpectedly, the problem resurfaces!!

What could be responsible for problems resurfacing after they have been supposedly addressed? Why do some disagreements persist after mediation has been attempted several? Why are there cold wars that develop into full-fledged confrontation?

Could it be that the problem was never really addressed? Could it be that the resolutions attempted provided only a superficial treatment?

The 5 why’s technique is Toyota’s method of getting to the root cause of tough, persistent problems. The method is one of the methods of lean manufacturing. It was developed by Sakichi Toyoda, a Japanese inventor and industrialist, the technique became an integral part of the Lean philosophy. The method became popular in the 1970s and is still in use till today.

“The basis of Toyota’s scientific approach is to ask why five times whenever we find a problem … By repeating why five times, the nature of the problem as well as its solution becomes clear.” Taiichi Ohno.

When applying the 5 Whys technique, you want to get to the essence of the problem and then fix it. Often times, in practice, the 5 whys reveal that the source of a problem is usually different from the source. Often, issues that are considered as a technical problem actually turn out to be human and process problems. Without the method, problems are often attributed to totally wrong sources- for instance, in some cases, process flaws were attributed to technology.

 

How to Get Started with 5 Whys

The 5 Whys technique may help you achieve continuous improvement at any level of your organization. Here are some basics steps you need to follow.

Form a team

Try to assemble a team of people from different departments. Each representative has to be familiar with the process that is going to be investigated.

By forming a cross-functional team, you are going to receive unique points of view.

This will help you collect enough information to make an informed decision. Be aware that this is not an individual task and it needs to be executed by the team.

Define the problem

Discuss the problem with the team and make a clear problem statement. It will help you define the scope of the issue you are going to investigate.

This is important because investigating a wide scope problem may be a time-consuming exercise with blurred boundaries. Try to be as focused as possible in order to find an effective solution in the end.

Ask Why

Empower one person to facilitate the whole process. This team leader will ask the questions and try to keep the team focused. The answers should be based on facts and real data, rather than on emotional opinions.

The facilitator should ask “Why” as many times as needed until the team is able to identify the root cause of the initial problem.

Advice 1. Don’t ask too many Whys. If you keep going, you may end up receiving tons of unreasonable suggestions and complaints, which is not the purpose. Focus on finding the root cause.

Advice 2. Sometimes there could be more than one root cause. In these cases, the 5 Whys analysis will look more like a matrix with different branches. This may even help you detect and eliminate organizational issues that have permanent negative effects on the overall performance.

 

 

So as an entrepreneur, I suggest you apply the 5 whys technique to investigate some of the problems you have been facing in business. Why is it that the moment you earn more money, it always finds an escape route? Why have you found it difficult to maintain returning clients? Why do you have difficult relationships with that one coworker?

Try this method sometimes and you would be surprised how much clarity you could get at the end of the exercise. Clarity and focus help to get more work done and accomplish goals faster.

The more focused the efforts, the better the results.

 

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