Taiichi Ohno, a former senior Toyota manager, said that whenever he encountered a complex problem, he asked himself 5 “why” questions, making the problem much simpler.
We all sometimes struggle to resolve a conflict. But there is a very effective way to solve any problem. Its only drawback is that it makes you seem like a child on a long, exciting journey.
The secret to resolving conflict, according to Toyota's late senior manager Taiichi Ohno, is ‘ask “Why?” five times in a row’. This helps you reach the root cause and learn from difficulties, avoiding repeated foolish or ineffective actions.
For this approach to work, do not view conflict as negative, because according to Ohno, “Having No Problems Is the Biggest Problem”.
Ohno used concrete examples to solve problems as they arose on the factory floor. If a welding robot stopped operating, the discussion might go like this:
1. “Why did the robot stop?” The circuit overloaded, blowing the fuse.
2. “Why was the circuit overloaded?” The ball bearing ran out of oil, so it seized up.
3. “Why did the bearing run out of oil?” The robot's oil pump did not supply enough oil.
4. “Why didn't that component pump enough oil?” Metal shavings clogged the oil intake.
5. “Why was the intake clogged with metal shavings?” Because the pump had no filter.
Toyota still uses this tactic, but it has spread widely beyond automobile manufacturing. Entrepreneur Eric Ries treats it as an investment strategy in his book The Lean Startup. The world's largest investment fund, Bridgewater, also uses it as a central management principle.
This method works because it forces people to understand a problem before trying to solve it, whereas many of us focus only on how the problem looks: “This technique is especially useful because it helps us dig beneath facts and information to reach emotions and, ultimately, the values and motives that truly drive each person’s actions.”, psychologist Liane Davey said.
Imagine the following situation: You have just delivered a PowerPoint presentation and gone slightly over the allotted time. The client has prior plans and cannot hear your full proposal. You or your superior may then ask questions like these:
1. “Why couldn't the customer hear my entire proposal?” Because I did not have enough time.
2. “Why didn't you have enough time?” Because I was a little long-winded when presenting the slides.
3. “Why was your presentation long-winded?” Because I did not rehearse the night before.
4. “Why didn't you rehearse beforehand?” Because I was busy with some things with my friend and had a lot to do all day yesterday.
5. “Why did you let yourself get tied up with other things on the day before an important presentation?”
Answers to question 5 may vary. For example: ‘Because I could not determine the priorities among the issues in my work and life.’, or ‘Because I wanted to control everything, I did not ask others to help handle the remaining tasks.’, or ‘Because I knew I was not a good speaker, yet instead of asking someone else to present or help me practice, I made a complete mess of everything myself.’.
Whatever the answer, knowing the root cause of the problem is essential if you want to solve it.
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