Does your strategy pass the 5 why's?
The 5 why’s technique was created at Toyota as a method to find the underlying cause of a problem, not just the trail it leaves behind.
For example:
- The sale did not go through - why?
- The email did not set sent - why?
- It was not properly scheduled …
The purpose of this is not to use the technique exactly 5 times (I have seen this mistake first hand) but to dig until you find the real reason for the sub-optimal outcome.
North Star
In our strategy method we outline a 1 year North Star that aligns all your actions. There are numerous North Stars you can pick, and it requires your judgement (a phrase becoming ever more popular with new AI technologies automating work) to select the right one.
You use the 5 why’s technique as a quick litmus test of whether the North Star you selected stands up to scrutiny. The question starts:
“Why is this more important than anything else?”
And is repeated until it is clear that the North Star has thoughtful backing.
In storytelling at Disney, during the creation of the script the ideas contained within would be subjected to why’s from different members of the team → the strongest ideas could withstand the questions, the weaker ones could not. In this industry the timeframe from writing a script to the finished product is approximately 2-4 years, so spending time up front to ensure you have a good script is a worth while investment.
A smaller scale
In our strategy method, after selecting a one year North Star we select a 2-6 week most important goal. This focuses the team’s efforts to make tangible results in the near term, that will lead to larger gains in the long term.
Similar to the above, there are many short term projects you can select, and you need to choose the one that will move the lever the most. This too needs to stand up to the 5 why’s. The questioning starts:
“Why is this outcome the biggest change we can make towards our North Star right now?”
As above this is repeated until it is clear that there is enough weight behind the selection.
Cost of delay
One trap that is easy to fall into is over analysis. These questions need to be confined to a single meeting. Delaying a decision looking for the perfect meeting can be more costly than making a sub-optimal decision - which is why we limit the short term projects to 2-6 weeks to limit any bad decisions.