Latest / The IDEA SANDWICH Podcast / How Asking 'Why' Five Times Can Unlock Deeper Organizational Truths
Transcript
- Ara Topouzian: To make a great sandwich, you need great ingredients. And the same goes for your work and yourself. The way you layer them, balance them, and maybe even toast them a little. That's what makes something memorable. I'm Ara Topouzian and this is Idea Sandwich, where we mix the right layers of creativity, business, and life to make something worth biting into. Today let's talk about a leadership trap that almost everyone falls into at some point. Solving the wrong problem. Have you ever noticed how quickly people jump to solutions? A team member leaves, they raise salaries, event attendance drops, let's increase marketing. Sales are down. Let's redesign the website. Board members seem disengaged. Let's recruit new board members. Sometimes those solutions are right, but often their answers to a Problem that hasn't been fully understood. I've spent years working with boards, organizations, and leadership teams. One thing I've learned is that many challenges that appear obvious on the surface are actually symptoms of something deeper. Think about going to the doctor. You tell them your knee hurts. A good doctor doesn't immediately schedule surgery. They ask questions. When did it start? What activities make it worse? Didn't you injure it? What does the pain feel like? They're trying to diagnose before they prescribe. Leadership should work the same way. Yet many leaders feel pressure to answer immediately. Someone brings a problem to the table, and we think our value comes from solving it quickly. But sometimes the most valuable thing a leader can do is slow down and ask another question. I remember working with organizations that were concerned about. declining engagement. The initial reaction was often, we need more programs. So they created more events, more committees, more communication, more opportunities. And sometimes engagement got worse. Why? Because the real issue wasn't a lack of activity. It was a lack of connection. People weren't looking for more things to do. They were looking for reason to care. And I think that's really important to note. The organization solved the wrong problem. Here's another example. Let's say a board says meetings are ineffective. The first instinct might be to shorten the agenda. But what if the agenda isn't the problem? What if board members aren't clear on their roles? What if they haven't built trust with one another? What if they're discussing operational details instead of strategic issues? You can shorten the meeting all you want, but if you're treating the symptom instead of the cause, the frustration will still remain. One my favorite questions when someone presents a challenge is what problem are we actually trying to solve? It's a great and simple question, but it's amazing how often it changes the conversation. Sometimes the answer reveals that everyone has been talking about different problems. Sometimes it uncovers assumptions nobody realized they were making. and sometimes it exposes that the issue everyone is focused on isn't the issue at all. There's a leadership concept called the five whys. When a problem emerges, you ask why. Then you ask why again ⁓ and again. ⁓ Usually by the fifth why, you've reached something much deeper than where you started. For example, attendance is down. Why? People aren't registering. Why? They're not seeing the value. Why? The program doesn't feel relevant. Why? We haven't asked members what they need. Now we're getting somewhere. The solution isn't more marketing, the solution is understanding your audience. That's a completely different problem. the leaders I admire aren't necessarily the smartest people in the room. They're often the most curious. They don't rush to conclusions. They ask thoughtful questions. They create space for understanding before action. Because action without understanding can be very expensive. It consumes time, it drains resources, and sometimes it creates new problems. While leaving the original one untouched. So the next time you're faced with a challenge at work, in your organization, or even at home, pause before jumping to the solution. Ask yourself, what's happening? Why is it happening? And most importantly, what problem am I actually trying to solve? You might discover that the real issue is different than you first thought. And that's often where the best solutions begin. Thank you for listening to Idea Sandwich, because sometimes one good idea can change the way we see everything else.