Today, we have a guest blog post from Lauren Taylor who is interning with Sauers Consulting Strategies. She references (in this blog) the 5 Why's Communications Model that she read in my Everyone Is in Sales book and gives her view on it. Lauren is an incredibly talented senior at a great high school and serves among many other things as the Student body President.
By Lauren Taylor:
When children are young they have the habit of asking “Why?” Often as parents it is easy to become annoyed with the nonstop stream of questions. “Daddy, Why is the sky blue?” “Why do I have to go to bed now?” Why? Why? Why?
Why did we ever stop? The simple question of “Why?” teaches us as parents to better communicate with our children and teaches us as adults to not settle for a simple answer. “Why” made us functioning members of society yet we gave up the habit.
Why?
It made us feel childish and we hit the age where we thought we knew it all.
Consider how our communication would be if we simply reverted to the use of why? Why is a trigger word that forces us to open up and explain. In the case of communications one must be able to successfully explain his or her point of view to others.
My favorite style of communications uses The 5 Why’s Communications Model. By asking yourself or others “Why?” you are able to reach the source of the question or the problem and gain results. This method not only helps us to focus our conversations but gain a better understanding of others.
So try it sometime and don’t ask me why.
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