The one question all good business leaders should ask

There is a story about a little girl who was watching her mother cook fish. The mother cut off the fish’s head and tail before throwing it in a frying pan.

The little girl wanted to know why her mother did that. The mother replied, “I don’t know, that’s how my mom taught me.”

So the little girl went to her grandmother and asked her why she cut off the fish’s head and tail before she cooked it. The grandmother replied, “I don’t really know, it’s how my mother always did it.”

Even more curious now, the little girl went and asked her great-grandmother why she did this. The great-grandmother thought for a moment and said, “I did that because I didn’t have a frying pan big enough to fit the fish with the head and the tail still attached, so I cut them off.”

There was no good reason the mother and grandmother cut the fish’s head and tail every time, but because they had never questioned the process, they never thought to change it, or if changing it would make it better.

Let us now come to Kenya Police. The Police during the colonial era were not necessarily to keep law and order for the State, but to subdue the natives and ease the passage of the colonialists in their bid to exploit the colony.

To do this, they recruited hefty people from the so called “warrior tribes” who were physically endowed and could be called upon to intimidate and crush those who were “big headed”. They would be useful in running after thieves and visiting violence on the natives to instil fear.

Unfortunately, that has not changed. The recruiters still ask whether you have all your teeth and can close one eye. They also insist that you must be tall and able to run.

All this, yet many serious crimes thrive on the use of Internet courtesy of information and communication technology. These include identity theft, human trafficking, terrorism and money laundering. A policeman who can run faster than Usain Bolt but is not financial and tech savvy is useless for the purposes of crime detection and prevention.

Similarly, if a police force is not equipped with proper forensic and other scientific investigative technology, or is not managed by well trained, qualified and motivated staff, it will remain a pedestrian outfit whose only capacity is running after demonstrators, robbers and petty criminals. Unfortunately, that is where our police service finds itself, unable to investigate and prosecute suspects of crimes like rape and defilement by using DNA.

This scenario plays out all the time in companies. Not asking “why” keeps employees from doing the necessary brainwork required to improve at work. The results are answers that amount to fluff. Problems aren’t identified and the proper corrective actions are not developed.

Asking the powerful question “why” forces people to think deeply. They can then peel back the layers of excuses and get to the root cause of the problem. For example, if employees have failed to meet a goal and are asked “why” questions rather than “what” or “how”, they might give responses like, “I didn’t prioritise my time”.

So, the boss must then go farther and ask, “Why didn’t you prioritise your time?” When the employees say they have too much on their plate, the boss, once again, must ask, “Why?” With the real problem revealed, the boss can now take appropriate action, perhaps setting up time to help them prioritise their many tasks.

Think back to your favourite teacher, someone who made a difference in your life. Did he or she give you all the answers? No. Did he or she make you look for the answers? Yes. Did this teacher hold you accountable? Absolutely. These are the ways great leaders help people learn, cultivate the potential of those around them and enable growth.

Most good leaders and good teams are constantly asking, “Why is that process the way it is? Why are we getting those results? Why did we succeed? Why did we fail? Why did sales go up? Why did sales go down? Why is the market changing?”

I’m sure you would say like the little girl’s mother, “We’ve always done it this way”. Unfortunately, even if you’ve always done something that way, it doesn’t make it right.