THE POWER OF WHY: A STRATEGIC DECISION-MAKING LESSON FROM A TODDLER

Written by Jessica Murray

Sometimes, your kids can provide valuable reminders about business best practices.

Recently, we’ve entered the era of “why” with our toddler—providing an unexpected reminder of how curiosity drives strategic problem-solving. A significant proportion of our statements or requests are met with the simple, one-word question: “Why?”

Then, we confidently answer, only to be met with…you guessed it: another “Why?”

This cycle continues a few times until our daughter either understands or we flip the question back on her—leaving her momentarily puzzled. The latter is always amusing, but it’s not the point of this post.

In Edition 005 of Empower’s newsletter, I introduced the Five Whys framework and explained how it can be used to uncover the root cause of a business challenge.

My toddler’s current developmental stage has re-focused my attention on why this method of “probing” is important. It’s also made me think about the consequences of accepting situations at the surface level and the impact that has on progress and strategic direction.

For instance, take this one straightforward example from last year.

I worked with one of our partners to prioritize strategic, revenue-generating initiatives to help the business accomplish its 12-month goals. The team put forth a lot of fresh ideas, but we didn’t have the capacity, resources or time to do everything. We had to narrow our focus.

Can you relate?

In one team meeting, we focused specifically on this idea: bringing in an outside expert to conduct a workshop on a topic valuable to the membership community. We could charge extra and generate a new revenue stream during the months we hosted the workshop.

Here came my first “Why?”

Why do we think our members would pay to participate in this workshop?

After gathering perspective and historical context, we agreed there would be a willingness to pay.

Then my second “Why?”

Why can’t someone on our staff conduct the workshop?

The answer made sense. No one on the team had the certification or experience, which is key for this type of content and experience. As a result, we needed to hire an outside expert (i.e., higher cost and lower margin) to proceed.

This led to the third “Why?”

Why do we believe we can generate enough revenue to make this extra expense worth it?

This is where the conversation got interesting. As we examined the numbers and reviewed other workshops that generated higher revenue with better margins, it became clear—not just to me, but to the whole team—that maybe we shouldn’t pursue this initiative. It was shaping up to be more of a distraction than a meaningful driver of revenue and profitability.

There were probably five or more total probing questions during this entire discussion, but I won’t go into all of them. The point, however, is that had we not engaged in this dialogue, the team may have spent precious time, energy and resources on an initiative that wouldn’t have moved the business closer to its goals.

Instead, we made a more strategically aligned decision, narrowed our focus to core competencies and have seen success with members enthusiastic about the other offerings we launched over the past several months.

The lesson?

Be more like an inquisitive toddler. Apply curiosity-driven critical thinking in business by asking tough questions about key decisions, strategies and initiatives.