Recently I visited one of our communities, where a group of boys who had finished the 12th standard were undergoing a year of orientation programmes in preparation for entering the novitiate. The superior of the community told me that, in spite of all the efforts made by him and the other members of the staff, the students were not making much progress intellectually and in their studies. I was quite surprised to hear that, since the institution was well equipped with all the infrastructure that was needed and had also a rather qualified staff. While talking to the priest in charge of studies in that institution, he told me that the superior was a very good farmer and much interested in farming. So, irrespective of whether it was class time or study time, he would take the boys to the farm and make them do all kinds of work under the pretext that the boys should be given an all-round formation. Therefore, the boys did not get much time to study. They did not also feel that study was important, since study time was sacrificed for work. The superior did not pay much attention to the opinions expressed by the other staff members.
In the last two months, we have been dealing with some guidelines for giving corrections. Last month we talked about the importance of having a win-win approach. This month, we shall talk about a simple technique for analysing a problem and finding out its root cause, so that steps can be taken to remedy the situation. It is known as the “Five Whys Technique.” This is basically a technique for solving problems. We are applying it here to the context of giving corrections. Through giving corrections, we are actually trying to “solve” a problem.
Asking More Whys
The 5 Whys Technique consists in stating a problem and asking why it happened. We have to make sure that the answer we give is objective and is not based on our biases or prejudices. The question ‘why’ is repeated four more times. As we keep asking the question ‘why’ we will arrive at the root cause, the real cause of the problem. Once the root cause is found, we can take steps to remedy the situation.
Fr Jose Kuttianimattathil SDB
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