Thinking critically: Asking “WHY?” is more important than ever!
Here is why…
If you’ve made a lot of decisions in your life and realized that many were counterproductive or not effective in serving the real purpose of what you did, then what I’m discussing here might be right for you. My aim here is to shed some light on what we do and the decisions we make to solve problems or create change, relative to their effectiveness in producing the desired outcome.
The world is more dynamic than ever; there are many ways to doing things and many options to choose from. Rapid changes and uncertainties require agility and adaptability, breaking the limitation of WHAT we used to do and HOW we used to do it. Knowing the WHY and clear purpose is now most essential to drive whatever we do and however we do it.
What is it that’s common to most?
Whether in business, social or even academic environments, generally, there seems to be a lack of emphasis on WHY we do things the way we do, and instead, the focus is more on the WHAT, HOW, WHERE and WHEN we do things, without really having a good grasp on WHY we do them in the first place; but this defeats the purpose (the why), doesn’t it?
Many cases are driven by the intent to do what’s right (or best), but unfortunately not many take into consideration the bigger picture or wider context. For this reason, the ability to link the business context, objectives and priorities is essential. Successful businesses and professionals I believe are those who are able to do the right thing at the right time, but more importantly, for the right reason; otherwise, it’s all irrelevant.
Ever asked for the real WHY?
If you’ve never imagined what the real WHY should look like versus how it is perceived in reality, here are some examples you might be familiar with:
“I want to start my own company; because I want to be rich and have a peace of mind”
But is it really the case? Do you have to start a company to be rich or have a peace of mind?
“Let’s build a simulation model; it provides the most accurate results”
But how accurate do you really need to be? How important/urgent is it? Is it worth the extra mile?
“Use this medication; my doctor prescribed it and it worked well for me”
But same symptoms can have different root-causes; do you really know what the root-cause is for you?
“We need a detailed Standard Operating Procedure (SOP); it’s ‘best practice’”
Well maybe not, how will it help us? How much business value will it generate? Is it relevant to our business?
“There are 3 stages in a customer journey; we can’t break it into 5”
Why not? There’s no “one size fits all” framework; just use whatever actually reflects the contextual reality of your business.
“We should do it this way; that’s how we’ve always done it”
But is it really how you should do it? Today isn’t like yesterday; and the way it’s always been done isn’t necessarily the best way.
“I have a business idea; let’s send out a survey to test it, like others usually do”
But is this what you really need now?
“It worked in the states”
But does it really mean it’ll work in Saudi Arabia? It’s a different context; and of course, it always depends.
“My friend got Coronavirus and he’s just fine, it’s not the end of the world if I get it”
But is it true that Coronavirus isn’t dangerous or is it because that friend of yours is actually immune to it?
In business contexts, just like getting caught up with industry jargon when they’re irrelevant, it’s very common that certain practices take place because of familiarity or other biases, but not necessarily based on their actual relevance or the value they’d provide in a given business context.
As in the examples above, there are many misleading triggers to such pitfalls, “keeping up with trends” can be one of them. The following is another example, perhaps a controversial one, but in more detail:
What: “we need to implement Artificial Intelligence (AI)”
How: “outsource”, “invest”, etc.
Where: “division X” When: “as soon as possible”
Why: “because it’s new and other companies are doing it”
While there’s a WHY in here, you might agree that it doesn’t provide enough justification. To elaborate on that: Many companies nowadays focus on keeping up with trends by implementations which often are immensely costly to their organizations, but don’t necessarily provide the expected return on investment (if any was calculated or correctly evaluated).
This is a very specific example, but the point to make here is that the problem isn’t with AI really, but the way in which the investment/implementation decision is evaluated, taken or even triggered in the first place. Technology in general, if not the basis of a company’s offering, is an enabler to what a business tries to achieve and how it delivers it to its customers.
Unless your product is selling AI/technological capabilities to your customer, it (and technology in general) will only enable your business to improve its operations or other aspects, depending on where it is useful and mostly needed to help deliver what you promised, better, justifying the real return on investment.
Don’t get me wrong, AI is a super powerful technology which is rapidly transforming our day-to-day lives, however, for many businesses it may lack relevance in the sense that every business would have priorities with essential and core activities which it has to focus on for the best outcomes or returns. And in some cases, the cost of implementing such technology can outweigh its benefits (if any benefit is realized), depending on the context.
Contextual elements with regards to this could be the industry, product, customer, operations, region, a company’s stage in its life cycle, availability of funds, other investment options at hand, etc. But specifically, to AI, some of its core elements include having compatible infrastructure, database and access to data, trained personnel and of course, measurable added-value.
But why is it the case in the first place?
To break out of the earlier example, traditional academia (unfortunately) puts heavy attention on the WHAT and HOW rather than the WHY, which limits students’ ability to practice reasoning and judgment. Often times practitioners face this issue with fresh graduates where they feel they were exceptional at school but don’t seem to be relevant in the workplace; this is in many cases due to their inability to judge what to do within wider degrees of freedom.
It is also unfortunate that in the workplace, many managers don’t communicate their objectives or underlying goals of what their teams are tasked to accomplish. This often results in lack of engagement, creativity and innovation, which limits their ability to support the overall objectives of their managers and organizations.
How to take it forward? Getting in the habit of asking WHY…
The key takeaway here is that doing the RIGHT thing is highly variable and relative to the specific context we are in. It is important to be aware of what’s out there from technologies, best practices and experiences, but these can only be useful if we can unbiasedly link their relevance to the situational context that we’re in. The main dilemma often is the inability of identifying the WHY or objective to be achieved. Understanding the objective, or WHY a decision needs to be made, helps evaluate different scenarios and options to achieve the same goal, as well as avoid ineffective measures and bias pitfalls.
Getting into the habit of asking “Why?” to drive actions is key to being relevant and thus effective. Having a clear purpose (WHY) helps out in putting the right framework and developing the right solution to any problem. So the next time you are asked to agree on or do something, please take a step back and try to see why you are supposed to do it and what is it that is supposed to be achieved; it’s very likely that you’ll find another option which is better in achieving the same goal. If you encounter this, I consider my job done.
Should you require further support with your business in evaluating key business decisions, please feel free to make an appointment so that I can further help you, based on your specific needs, or learn more about how I help businesses (and potentially yours) reach their utmost potential.
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