13160: About Five WHYs (The Outcome Frame That Solves Problems)
Hey there, hero!
When trying to understand a problem or challenge, while getting to the root of the problem and then on to the solution, we often ask “Why is this happening?”
Great question. It’s worth getting an answer, and one way to do that is to use a process that some call “about five WHYs” – asking “why?” over and over.
Begin with the general question and describe what’s happening, and then ask the question again and again, five or so times, looking for more details, drilling deeper to get more specific.
And hopefully, your drilling will get to the root cause, and eventually, the solution.
Ever use this process? Is it new to you? Getting details a challenge? Let me know in the comments below.
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Raw transcript:
Raw transcript:
I was just reminded of a process that I
learned probably about a decade ago when
I started taking NLP
courses that is known by various names
but is really really useful in
uncovering the root cause of something
that’s giving you trouble um it was
referred earlier this morning to me as
the five
yse but let’s take a look at this
because I think it’s something that can
be useful for you when you’re trying to
figure something out in this episode of
The V Heroes
[Music]
podcast when we’re presented with a
problem and we’re trying to figure out
what’s causing the problem uh what
effects the problem is having that we
don’t like how to fix the problem what
the effect is going to be once we fix it
we sometimes ask why is this happening
and that’s great but I don’t think it
goes far enough most of the time and
we tend to have this resistance to
repeating things especially as artists
we tend to have this resistance to
repeating things incessantly because it
kind of feels like copying or it feels
like it’s wrote or it’s been done before
or whatever but just bear with me a
second and see if this might work for
you if you can’t figure out why
something is happening you might want to
ask why getting more specific every time
so for example I can’t record in
audacity well why can’t you record in
audacity well when I click the button
nothing happens it doesn’t start moving
I don’t see a waveform why do you think
that is why is the when you’re clicking
the button why is it not working and you
start looking around the interface and
you notice that perhaps you don’t have
the right microphone uh selected and
it’s not even connected to your computer
but it’s still sitting there so the menu
is there but audacity doesn’t see a
device oh well I I guess uh because I
don’t have the right microphone selected
why don’t you have the right microphone
selected and then you get to the root
cause of this now there’s another bonus
application for this and it’s part of my
urging you to be world class in terms of
your complaining when you’re asking
someone to help you when you’re asking
customer support or TCH support or me to
help you with something feel free to
give me your why as opposed to something
simple like I can’t log in I get this
all the time with rehearsal pro I can’t
log in okay well why can’t you log in
what’s happening when you log in what
what what are you seeing that you’re not
expecting so dive deeper and ask over
and over and over again in the world of
NLP this is called creating an outcome
frame and it is the ability to kind of
shape and hone what it is that people
want what they feel having what they
want will do for them uh what they feel
having what they want will do for them
what will that do for them and just
diving deeper and deeper and deeper into
the problem until finally you get to the
point where you go oh I get it this is
why it’s happening or you’re sending in
a request for support you’re giving them
a lot of details and information that
would be helpful for them to be able to
help you solve your problem so it’s
called the five wise not because it’s
five times that you’re asking why every
time but it just feels like according to
the person I was talking to this morning
it feels like five is the average number
of y’s before you actually get to the
problem because you start with the
result that you don’t want and then you
kind of dive deeper and deeper behind it
until you get to what is usually the
root cause and often you solve your own
problems just by asking that why
question over and over and over again
does this make sense to you let me know
in the comments below if you’re looking
listening to me and going why would I
ask why over and over again okay that’s
fine uh but if this is something that
makes sense to you or something that
you’ve done probing deeper just to get
to the root cause of something let me
know in the comments below let me know
if this is helping you hit the like
button if you’d like to it’s the thing
that goes like this or there’s a like uh
you can be uh notified when there’s new
um episodes that come out in this in
this series and you can also subscribe
to the channel wherever you’re watching
this or listening to it we’d love to
have you as a subscriber I’m David H
Lawrence the 17th I thank you so much
for watching and for listening and I
will see you in the next
[Music]
episode
(from YouTube)
I may have done this to some capacity, but I’ll think more about it now.
Amazing that you just posted this, because I just heard about the Five Whys in this podcast from NPR’s Life Kit on how to make resolutions you can keep. They talk about SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-Bound) and under Relevant they talk about using the Five Whys to get to your values, so that your goals are based in your values. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-to-make-resolutions-youll-keep/id1461493560?i=1000639825309
When I was a restaurant manager (and a retail manager, theatre manager, etc.) I learned to do this questioning because I wanted to know how things worked and what I could do to either solve the problem myself or help the maintenance person help me. I hate wasting someone’s time. Hearing your take on it is a great reminder for me. Thank you again for helping me to remember what I know.