Why-How charting is a means of thoroughly exploring the logic of the company. As a result, it helps surface an understanding of why it does what it is endeavouring to do.
The Process of Why-How Charting
The process of why-how charting is relatively simple. It starts by sticking up (usually on a sticky note) a current objective of the business. The question is then asked “Why is this our objective?” And the answer(s) to this question are phrased as further objective(s) and placed as sticky notes above the first. The sticky notes are then linked by arrows coming out from the first stick note and into the new ones. The same question is then asked of these new objectives, and the process continues.
At appropriate points other current objectives are introduced into the process. These are linked as before – but in this case the links may be made to existing sticky notes. At the end of the process there is normally a clear ‘over-arching objective’ into which all other objectives are linked. The advanced section provides a slightly more detailed explanation.
The arrows represent the why-how nature of the chart. To clarify, the arrow heads indicate why an objective exists. While the arrow tails represent how an objective is to be achieved.
it is not quite as simple as it appears
Owing to the level of insight generated by why-how charting, the process is rarely straight forward. As a result it often requires a number of redraws, as new insights are gained. But on the positive side, each of these redraws reflects new shared understanding. And that understanding will dramatically reduce conflict and confusion throughout the organisation.
Why-how charting is best undertaken by the management group. And it will take as long as is required for the group to reach agreement on the rationale for the objectives. At the end of the process, team members will have begun to understand the relative importance of their own objectives. And they will have a better grasp on how this relates to their colleagues objectives. As a result, they will have built a better basis for reconciling differences in their objectives. The image on the right is the product of one of these sessions. You may not agree with the logic, but you were not party to the discussions. And that is the actual point of why-how charting.
Benefits of Why-How charting
Why-how charting helps build a team amongst senior management. It does this by defining and agreeing collective higher level objectives. Team members can then agree that these higher level objectives are more important than their individual goals. The process can be time consuming. To date it has taken half an hour at best, and over ten hours in our most exacting session to date. The time taken depends on existing levels of communication and teamwork. But, however long it takes, it is inevitably cheaper than the cost of time spent in the alternative. By that we mean the friction and inefficiency where such understanding is confused and political.
A step-by-step guide to producing a Why-How chart can be found in Chapter 1 of How To Build A Better Business. This can be read as a pdf file on-line.