The Five Why’s

By special request I am posting this article again. I will follow up with the story behind the story next week.

When I was a special education teacher I spent my summer vacations running SOAR, Summer Organized Activities of Recreation, a recreational day program I developed for kids between 6- 14. The staff for the program was chosen from a pool of local high school students who were part of VISTA, a federal program designed to help students from underprivileged homes find income producing work.

This story is about one of those students.

Connie was the best recreation counselor at SOAR. She was bright, hard working, and dependable. She had a remarkable way with the kids. While some of the staff struggled with some of the rowdier kids, Connie seemed to gain their respect immediately and could coach and counsel as well as any of my adult staffers. Our staff was small and, spending as much time as we did together, we got to know each other quite well. Connie’s story was unbelievable. At 15, she left an abusive situation at home and took her 12 year old brother with her to live with an aunt. She pretty much raised herself and her brother on her own. She made the honor roll every semester, had perfect attendance, and worked an evening janitorial job five hours a night from nine to two in the morning so that she would be home with her brother afternoons and early evenings.

A lot of the faculty took a special interest in Connie and we all went out of our way to encourage and support her in any way we could. During her senior year, she applied and was accepted to her first choice of colleges. My colleagues and I were tripping over one another trying to be sure we found every possible scholarship and resource that she might benefit from. During this time we discovered a side to Connie we had never seen. She avoided all of our attempts to get her to apply to the programs that would avail her of financial assistance. This stubbornness grew in intensity to the point where I finally insisted she sit down with me and explain herself. The conversation went as follows.

“All right Connie,” I said, “What’s going on?”

Her emphatic reply, “I don’t need help and I don’t want help!”

“Connie,” I said, “Don’t be silly, the programs were designed to help deserving people in situations exactly like the one you’re in.”

“I don’t care, I don’t want the help.” She repeated.

“Why in the world would you turn down help that would obviously make your life easier?” I asked, getting a little exasperated.

Turning away from me, she said, “You wouldn’t understand, Mr. Anderson.”

“Why wouldn’t I understand, Connie?”

“Because you have no clue what it is like be a ‘charity case.’”

“Wait a minute,” I said, my voice getting a little emotional now, “you’re not a charity case, you’re the last thing from it. You have done more on your own for your brother and yourself than anyone could have ever expected and you have earned whatever benefits we can find for you. Why can’t you see that?”

“This is not the kind of help that I want,” Connie said, now with tears welling up in her eyes.

“Why is this the wrong kind of help? It seems to me the perfect kind of help, you would not only get tuition covered, but you’d get a board and room allowance and a small stipend for miscellaneous expenses. Why, you might not even need part time work.”

Now with tears flowing she said, “That’s just the point. I wouldn’t have to work at all.”

Completely befuddled, I said, “Why, is it so bad not to have to work?”

Connie then went into a tale of woe so poignant it has impacted my life ever since.

You see, Connie was afraid to take any help. Realistically or not, she felt her parents had slipped into a state of dependency that sapped them of any desire to work at all. She was convinced her parents had given up even trying to find work because they didn’t need to and she felt she would slip into the same pattern if she let her guard down, even a little. So she refused to accept any support, even support any reasonable person would consider deserving.

I didn’t share this story to make any political statement, although it is an example of unintended consequences that is worthy of thought.

I chose this story for two reasons. First, I personally find Connie’s story to be inspiring and wanted everyone to feel the same. She’s quite a woman. Second, it is a story that demonstrates a technique I often use to discover what is really driving behavior, both in myself, and others. The technique is called the “Five Why’s,” and in essence, it suggests that, if in response to a puzzling action you or others have made, you ask “Why” (did you do that or “Why” did you say that) and repeat the process, to subsequent responses, five times (and that’s the key, five times), you quite often will get to the real motivating factor behind the behavior. It’s like peeling off the layers of skin on an onion so you can get to the core.

This same technique is often used in “systems thinking teams” who are trying to build the connections between events.

So the next time you’re trying to get to the bottom of some mysterious behavior or event, try the technique, you might be surprised by the results you get.

To learn more about “The Five Why’s” perspective see Fifth Discipline Fieldbook by Peter Senge, Richard Ross, Bayan Smith, Charlotte Roberts, Art Kleiner, Chapter titled Systems Thinking, Section 16 (Story Telling), pages 108-112.

I Challenge You

This week we come back to "you." Two weeks ago you begain drawing forth a personal vision. We continue that effort by inviting you to create your own personal vision statement. The simple exercise below will generate a statement that can influence your behavior everyday.

Your personal vision statement guides your life. Your personal vision statement provides the direction necessary to guide the course of your days and the choices you make about your career. Your personal vision statement is the light shining in the darkness toward which you turn to find your way. Your personal vision statement illuminates your way.

Obviously, I am a huge fan of personal vision statements. Write your personal vision statement as the first step in focusing your life - for your joy, your accomplishments, your contribution, your glory, and for your legacy.

Exploration to Prepare to Write the Personal Vision Statement

Use these questions to guide your thoughts.

• What are the ten things you most enjoy doing? Be honest. These are the ten things without which your weeks, months, and years would feel incomplete.
• What three things must you do every single day to feel fulfilled in your work?
• What are your five-six most important values?
• Your life has a number of important facets or dimensions, all of which deserve some attention in your personal vision statement. Write one important goal for each of them: physical, spiritual, work or career, family, social relationships, financial security, mental improvement and attention, and fun.
• If you never had to work another day in your life, how would you spend your time instead of working?
• When your life is ending, what will you regret not doing, seeing, or achieving?
• What strengths have other people commented on about you and your accomplishments? What strengths do you see in yourself?
• What weaknesses have other people commented on about you and what do you believe are your weaknesses?

Craft Your Personal Vision Statement

Once you have thoughtfully prepared answers to these questions and others that you identify, you are ready to craft a personal vision statement. Write in first person and make statements about the future you hope to achieve. Write the statements as if you are already making them happen in your life. Some experts recommend 50 words or less, but I would rather see you fully articulate the vision you want for your life and your future, than be limited by word count.

Motivational speaker and writer, Brian Tracy, states that you generally accomplish your written goals, dreams, plans, and vision. Writing them down lends power and commitment to their accomplishment.

Keep in mind that your personal vision statement can also change over time, depending upon what is happening in your life. You will be amazed, however, at how many components remain consistent over time. I first articulated this vision for my life in 1984; this personal vision statement guides my life.

My Personal Vision Statement

My own personal vision statement includes such items as reading, thinking and dreaming every day (in particular, visualizing the dreams of what I could have if I got everything I want and what that would do for me); sharing a lifetime of knowledge about people, management, and workplaces with a any audience I can come before; having a positive impact on every person with whom I come in contact; living daily a life dedicated to integrity, commitment, challenge, and joy; loving my wife and valuing my marriage; valuing a few close friends; valuing family relationships; being at all times aware of and engaged in my natural environment; traveling anywhere I can to experience the differences in people and gain insight into how they think and act; visiting historical places to gain insight and feelings about how life used to be; watching plays, concerts and movies; listening to music; listening to music that makes me cry; never having to worry about spending money on anything I want; walking outside and/or down by the lake; and riding through the countryside with my wife.

When I live and experience the components of my personal vision statement frequently, I feel inner peace and joy that knows no bounds. Your personal vision statement will have the same impact for you. Take the time to formulate answers to the above questions, and write your personal vision statement. Then, listen to your heart sing with the fullness of your articulated dreams.

Carry this with you to prode, remind, encourage and inspire.

I hope the exercise creates a tool that does impact your behavior and encourage you to share how.

“On Board!”

Last week I offered individuals an exercise which would help clarify what it is they may want to strive for in life. Clarifying where you want to go is obviously an important first step when planning a way to get there. The logic magnifies in importance for groups of people in business or organizations.

When I was in a leadership role for a small company, I used the following exercise with our top management team to underscore this fact. The bus metaphor used in this exercise is inspired by Jim Collins the author of Good to Great and Built to Last. I asked the team to imagine they were assigned the task of organizing and staffing a bus trip. The trip had to pay for itself and maybe make a little profit for them. They also were asked to consider the kinds of people who should be on the bus if it was to be a successful trip. Should the driver be aggressive or cautious, do we need a navigator, who’s going to keep track of expenses and pay for gas and maintenance, what about repairs and service, etc. I then sat back and listened to the following conversation.

Sally, our Sales VP, got things started by emphatically stating, “We need to know where we are going.” She was very goal sensitive.

Everyone agreed to that, so we were off to a great start.

Roger, our HR Director, added, “Good idea, that will also help us know who we should invite.”

Sam, the marketing manager, piped up saying, “And knowing who we should invite will help us create a marketing strategy.”

“Knowing where we are going is also going to help us determine the costs,” said Mel our CFO.

So, just as the exercise from last week, “Drawing Forth a Personal Vision” helped individuals clarify where they want to go in life, this exercise immediately led the group into a discussion of where the company wants to go. The team was off and running, quickly jumping from where they think the company should go to who should be on the bus, how do we get the right people on the bus, how do we get the wrong people off the bus, how do we move people on the bus from one seat to another.

I let the discussion go on until they were satisfied they had all the necessary personnel and a loaded bus for their trip.

I imagine you can tell where this is going, but at that point I asked the team to switch gears and think of the bus as our company and themselves as the personnel needed to run the bus. Then repeat the exercise beginning with where they think this bus (our company) is going. Is it where they think it should be going? I asked them to argue who should be the driver and why, who the navigator and why, and more tricky why should they even be on the bus and are they in the right seats (roles) on the bus.

I was asking them to challenge not only their own roles, but their colleague’s roles. I wanted them to question whether they belonged on the bus (in the company) at all.

I am sure you can see how effective this type of exercise is in understanding how important it is to have the “right” people in your company (people who share the vision and values of the company), in the right place (the place that is best for the company). It is also incredibly effective in clarifying who the wrong people would be.

You can imagine how easily this exercise could drift into emotional and possibly explosive debates if the wrong people are part of this team, so think carefully before using this technique.

I have shared this with you knowing most readers would consider this exercise too dangerous. Creating a culture in a company where this kind of dialogue can take place is what I am most passionate about. Please use the comment space below to share your thoughts and I will be happy to begin sharing my experiences with developing the art and practice of a true “Learning Organization,” one capable of developing the skills in their members to tackle an “On Board” exercise.