"Why?" Will Always be The Most Powerful Question to Ask in Your Business

Last week we talked about knowing your numbers and how not knowing your numbers means you don't know your business. All true things that we should keep in mind. It gets better, though, because there’s more to that story.

You see, a lot of business owners take the results as they come. For example, last week I had a business owner tell me that he doesn't look at his numbers because he is the only one who looks at the PNL, and he is the only one who ever makes decisions. “Why get too far into the weeds?” he said.

Thus we have today’s Tidbit.

If you are a sole proprietor and you are the key decision-maker, then it is even more imperative that you ask the question, “why?” when it comes to your results. Where do those end-result numbers that you see in your PNL come from??

You see, by asking the question of why you start to hold yourself accountable. Let's bring it back to elementary school where you learned about the scientific method. You would create a hypothesis, test said hypothesis, and then review the results. If the results were good, you kept on going; if the results were terrible, you would come up with a new hypothesis and repeat the testing steps until you had a successful outcome to your initial question.

In business, it is no different. You are making decisions based on the information you have and the obstacles that are holding you back. How will you know if you have made the right choice or not? The answer is quite simple: you have to get into the habit of testing your hypothesis of how to solve the “problem of business”. The best way to do this? Asking yourself the question, “why?”.

“Why is my revenue where it is?”

“Why is my profit where it is?”

“Why is my turnover as high as it is?”

”Why is my employee engagement as successful as it is?”

“Why are my competitors beating me?”

“Why is my customer service score as high as it is?”

“Why are my employees so checked out?”

By asking, “why?” for both the things that are going right and the things that could be better, you are demonstrating both a sincere curiosity about the business that provides your livelihood as well as an attitude of humility. There is a real humbleness that comes from admitting that you might not know as much as you think you do. Conversely, this practice also allows you to confirm the logic you used to make your decisions. When you know exactly why you are successful, it can be duplicated.

So, start this week by asking yourself, "why?" about everything in your business. Even if you are hitting all of your goals, you should still be curious to know why everything is coming together.

By implementing this "why?" mentality in your business, you will be able to learn more about your company. You will discover which levers you should continue to pull that impact your overall results positively while and which practices are impacting your results negatively.

Enjoy!