Okay- November is here… Fall is in the air- I don’t like it. Give me warmth. Not to hot either. 80 to 85 degrees would be good- not too much humidity either. Am I asking too much??? Maybe, but I don’t think so I just want to be comfortable!!! Elections are over- Thank goodness, I honestly was so tired of all the ads and phone calls. I believe in voting, but all the negativity makes me not believe in the system any more it is broken. I am not sure if it can be fixed. I hope so- our country is in dire straights. That is all I am going to say on that matter.
On to teamwork. Teams that work together and get things done honestly ask questions. Leaders want questions asked. So how do we encourage those questions? By asking questions ourselves… Not questions that others will already know the answer to, but questions to get people to think, to learn, and to question. Examples being why questions… The five why question is a way to get to a root cause. Here is what wikipedia had to say about the 5 why’s
FROM WIKIPEDIA
The following example demonstrates the basic process:
* My car will not start. (the problem)
1. Why? – The battery is dead. (first why)
2. Why? – The alternator is not functioning. (second why)
3. Why? – The alternator belt has broken. (third why)
4. Why? – The alternator belt was well beyond its useful service life and has never been replaced. (fourth why)
5. Why? – I have not been maintaining my car according to the recommended service schedule. (fifth why, a root cause)
6. Why? – Replacement parts are not available because of the extreme age of my vehicle.(sixth why, optional footnote)
* I will start maintaining my car according to the recommended service schedule. (solution)
The questioning for this example could be taken further to a sixth, seventh, or even greater level. This would be legitimate, as the “five” in 5 Whys is not gospel; rather, it is postulated that five iterations of asking why is generally sufficient to get to a root cause. The real key is to encourage the troubleshooter to avoid assumptions and logic traps and instead to trace the chain of causality in direct increments from the effect through any layers of abstraction to a root cause that still has some connection to the original problem. Note that in this example the fifth why suggests a broken process or an alterable behavior, which is typical of reaching the root-cause level.
It`s interesting to note that the last answer aims to a process. This is actually one of the most important aspect from the 5 Why approach…the REAL root cause should point toward a process. You will observe that the process is not working well or that the process is not even existing.
[edit] History
The technique was originally developed by Sakichi Toyoda and was later used within Toyota Motor Corporation during the evolution of their manufacturing methodologies. It is a critical component of problem solving training delivered as part of the induction into the Toyota Production System. The architect of the Toyota Production System, Taiichi Ohno, described the 5 whys method as “the basis of Toyota’s scientific approach . . . by repeating why five times, the nature of the problem as well as its solution becomes clear.”[1] The tool has seen widespread use beyond Toyota, and is now used within Kaizen, lean manufacturing, and Six Sigma.
[edit] Criticism
While the 5 Whys is a powerful tool for engineers or technically savvy individuals to help get to the true causes of problems, it has been criticized by Teruyuki Minoura [Toyota way 2: back in action], former managing director of global purchasing for Toyota, as being too basic a tool to analyze root causes to the depth that is needed to ensure that the causes are fixed. Reasons for this criticism include:
* Tendency for investigators to stop at symptoms rather than going on to lower level root causes.
* Inability to go beyond the investigator’s current knowledge – can’t find causes that they don’t already know
* Lack of support to help the investigator to ask the right “why” questions.
* Results aren’t repeatable – different people using 5 Whys come up with different causes for the same problem.
* The tendency to isolate a single root cause, whereas each question could elicit many different root causes
These can be significant problems when the method is applied through deduction only. On-the-spot verification of the answer to the current “why” question, before proceeding to the next, is recommended as a good practice to avoid these issues.[2]
[edit] References
1. ^ Taiichi Ohno; foreword by Norman Bodek (1988). Toyota production system: beyond large-scale production. Portland, Or: Productivity Press. ISBN 0915299143.
2. ^ “The “Thinking” Production System: TPS as a winning strategy for developing people in the global manufacturing environment”. http://www.toyotageorgetown.com/tps.asp. Retrieved 2007-02-20.
END WIKIPEDIA
Now for a home based business we want to always find out our why to doing the business. That creates our vision our focus… I wrote out my why when I first started on my venture. Yes, I look back on why I started it keeps me going when I get frustrated. I want everyone on my team to have written their why so they can have goals to achieve and why they want to achieve them.
Now other types of questions to ask should be to open up discussions among the team members to get them to work together. Helping others to achieve success is what we are all about. If you tried something and it did not work- let others know and then discuss why it did not work and what may make it better. If you tried something and it did work then share with others so they can do the same.
Encourage new members to speak up and ask questions. They are the ones that need to learn. They are the lifeline of your business- I want them to ask me and my other members for help so they can get other points of view.
GOD BLESS
Brandy:)
