Why You Should Keep Asking Why

Online, March 4, 2011 (Newswire.com) - Why do you do your job?

Why do your team do their jobs?

When was the last time you posed such questions?

You are no doubt wondering where I am going with this. Well, according to a fascinating piece of research recently conducted by the University of Pennsylvania, just knowing why you are doing something can massively improve results.

Dan Pink's article below explains the experiments that were undertaken, and the astonishing results that were achieved.

Think Tank: Have you ever asked yourself why you're in business?

On the very first day of my very first journalism course - back in the late 1970s at a secondary school in the middle of America - my instructor told me about a magical formula called "Five Ws and an H".

A journalist's job, she said, was to explain to readers who, what, where, when, why, and how. Five Ws and an H. I don't remember much else she taught us that year. But the talismanic power of those six letters has remained with me since.

Indeed, I've discovered that the notion applies with particular force to the world of business. Just consider the structure of the modern firm. The training and development department, and sometimes even a corporate university, take care of the H - how employees do things. The human resources department, along with some outside recruiters, handles the "who".

Meanwhile, the CEO, often flanked by a few high-priced consultants, devises the strategy - the "what". The "where" and "when" of products is the domain of the logistics and supply chain team, the "where" and "when" of people the province of the facilities manager and administrative staff.

And the "why"? Well, that's handled by, er... hmmm.

You can find who, what, where, when and how in any company org chart and every MBA curriculum. But "why" - beyond occasional incantations about "maximising shareholder return" - is conspicuously absent. At most companies, it's the Four Ws and an H.

But that might be a costly mistake, according to an intriguing new line of research by Adam Grant at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School. He has found that introducing "why" - even in surprisingly modest ways - can have a big impact.

Follow the link below to read the full article:

http://www.managementnuggets.com/2011/03/why-you-should-keep-asking-why.html