I’m sure you’ve been there. There’s an organizational issue, it’s identified and leadership wants to take action quickly.
What ensues is a sense of urgency, coupled with a series of meetings, task forces, and subsequent initiatives with frequent read-outs on progress. Agencies are hired, and consultants begin to pour in…all working toward that magical moment when there is the “big reveal” of that new process, new team, or new organization design that is expected to solve all the issues FAST. A path to Utopia, right? Maybe not always.
Why do we continue to see the same problems come up over and over again – we attempt to devote money, time, and effort to solve the issues … only to see them come right back? Well, we could just be solving the wrong problem each time.
Albert Einstein once said, “If I were given an hour to save the planet, I would spend 59 minutes defining the problem and one minute resolving it.” But in today’s data-driven world, where coming up with solutions and execution are highly prized skills, thoughtfulness and planning end up taking the back seat…collateral damage in a world full of urgency and fire drills. The 5-Why method is one of the best solutions to help uncover the actual root causes of issues we may be experiencing. And the bonus is it can work for your personal life, too. But before we dive into how this one works….let’s get into a bit of history.
What are the 5 why’s?
Several years ago, Don Messersmith, an esteemed emeritus professor at the University of Maryland worked on an intriguing case study that gave birth to this scientific approach of problem-solving. His unique and systematic approach peeled away at problems layer by layer revealing the true root cause of an issue and eliminating the problem from recurring.
So, the story begins with the situation whereby monuments in highly-trafficked tourist locations in Washington DC were rapidly deteriorating. Executive park management determined the deterioration was happening due to constant spray-washing necessary to clear off large deposits of bird droppings. So, o the investigation began into how to solve this problem by trying to keep the birds away from the statue. There are a few accounts of possible solutions explored (prior to utilizing the 5 Why’s method) which ranged from covering the area with a tent (which ended up blocking the sun and killing plants) to changing the light fixture bulbs to a whiter light to see if that helped at all. The proposed solutions led to additional problems and costs for the city.
The following root cause analysis led by Messersmith yielded a systematic approach to problem-solving that is now instilled into many organizational behavior courses. The 5 Why’s Method is a popular and easy way to understand the root cause and begin to solve it.
How he did it:
The 5 Why’s Method actually helps us stay focused on understanding the root cause of the problem, instead of jumping to solutions based on incorrect conclusions, which is what we tend to do when faced with problems. Those data-driven skills are at work again! The key is to be quite simple in your question and focus your answer on answering just the question asked.
Let’s take the DC case discussed and apply the method:
Statement: The first step here is to clearly and succinctly state your problem. You may realize you have multiple problems so try to determine the one that seems to have the largest impact and perhaps all others may be a symptom of it. State the obvious.
Problem Statement: Monuments are deteriorating in Washington DC
Now, you are ready for your first ‘why’. Ask ‘why’ after you read that statement and see if you can come up with your second statement.
- (#1) Ask your first Why?:
Why are they deteriorating (notice we are only asking a direct question about the problem statement presented)?
State your next statement:
Answer Statement: (remember—don’t try to come up with a solution- just answer the question in its most obvious terms). Because the parks & rec staff have to clean the monuments frequently.
Now, ask your second ‘why’ directly toward the statement you just stated above.
- (#2) Ask your second Why?: Why do the monuments have to be cleaned so frequently?
Answer Statement: To clean up unsightly bird droppings in a highly trafficked tourist location.
Got the hang of it? So let’s now follow it all through to the end:
- (#3) Ask your third Why?: Why are there lots of bird droppings on the monuments?
Answer statement: Because there is a large population of spiders around the monuments and they are a food source for the birds.
- (#4) Ask your fourth Why?: Why are there large populations of spiders around the monuments?
Answer statement: Because of the large number of insects that swarm the monuments at dusk and spiders eat these bugs.
- (#5) Ask your fifth Why?: Why are there large swarms of insects around the monuments at dusk?
Answer statement: Lighting the monument during the early evening hours provides the right environment for all of these factors to come together. (Final Solution should be your statement to the last ‘why’).
So you can easily see that the original theory prompted folks to help solve the “bird problem” but it actually was a “swarm of insects” problem. The final solution was to turn on the lights a half hour earlier and this ended up deterring enough insects and thus spiders to reduce the number and frequency of power spray-washes. And there were no old ladies who swallowed a spider in this story!
What can we learn from this? Effective understanding by using a systematic approach to root cause analysis is critical to problem-solving. It starts with a simple statement – stating the obvious and working through the layers to understand the root cause, and sometimes there may be times when the root cause is difficult to understand.
Some tips when you do this:
- Watch out for why’s that are actually separate root cause analysis modules. We also ended up getting into this trap – answer the question statement that precedes it and you should be able to continue unraveling the problem.
- Skipping a why. Often we feel like we “know where this is going” and end up skipping a few why’s that are critical in the patient peeling away of these layers to get to the final problem. We may feel like we’ve ended up with the final problem after just 3 why’s but if this is the case, more often than not, you have not solved the root cause.
- Avoid jumping to solve the problem immediately. Stick to answering the statement simply to get to your next why.
- Start simple when you practice and then as you feel comfortable and problems begin to disappear completely, then tackle the more complex ones.
Try this on your own! There are a lot of good resources out there to help you along.
https://www.isixsigma.com/tools-templates/cause-effect/determine-root-cause-5-whys/