Why Why Why Why Why.
🤔 Never thought we could learn how to run a root cause analysis from the kid in the back seat of your car, did ya?
I'm working through a college-level textbook on Operations Management - and the book referenced root cause analysis - to figure out what the true problem is.
🤕 Oftentimes, we grab a box of bandaids and run around patching the symptoms of bigger issues, shocked when - you guessed it - the bandaid fails and you're stuck grabbin' more bandaids and spending more time well, band-aiding.
😀 But here's the good news.
❌ You're doing it wrong.
Hear me out. You're diagnosing the wrong problem. You're diagnosing the symptom of an underlying issue. And unless you figure out how to find that deeper issue, you won't see any long-term results from your short-term fix.
🕵️ So how do we find the root cause? Welcome the 5-Whys. No - I didn't make this up, it was actually in the 400-level textbook. You ask why five times - at the fifth "why," you've probably found the real issue, and now you can get started on fixing it.
Let's play this out:
Issue: 🤕 My USPS shipped cookies arrived broken to their destination. 😭
1️⃣ Why? USPS handles packages roughly.
2️⃣ Why was USPS able to break them? I didn't package the cookies with bubble wrap.
3️⃣ Why didn't you use bubble wrap? I didn't want to spend more money on packaging or insurance.
4️⃣ Why did you want to spend more on packaging and insurance? I didn't charge enough for this order to account for that additional cost.
5️⃣ Why didn't you charge enough for the order? I don't know my costs, so my pricing didn't reflect the additional packaging required.
✅ Ah - so the root cause is inappropriate price points for shipped cookies.
So - challenge: Why your business.
Ask why - and keep asking. "Why are my clients showing up late?" "Why is no one leaving me reviews?" "Why are my classes not filling up?" Ask why - and then keep on asking. You'll be surprised (and delighted) with where ya end up.
Did ya oot cause analyze your biz? Tell us where your 5-whys landed ya. Feel free to start a thread in the Sugar Cookie Marketing (Group).