Resource: The 5 Whys

kmcneil — Fri, 20 Mar 2026 15:51:57 GMT

Last week, you named moments that quietly wear people down. This week’s discussion invited you to zoom out and think about why those patterns might be happening in the first place.

Not every challenge shows up clearly on the surface. Often, what we notice is just a symptom of something deeper.

This resource is a quick way to start getting underneath those patterns without overcomplicating it.

Try This: The “5 Whys” Reflection (10 minutes)

Think about one pattern you’ve noticed recently. Maybe it’s:

Frequent last minute requests
Low energy in meetings
Staff feeling stretched thin
Increased frustration or disengagement

Now, ask yourself:

Why is this happening?
Write your answer.

Then ask again:
Why is that happening?

Repeat this process five times.

You don’t need perfect answers. The goal is to move past the first, most obvious explanation and get closer to what might actually be driving the experience for your teachers.

Example (just to model the thinking):

Teachers seem frustrated with meetings
Why? Meetings feel like a waste of time
Why? Agendas are unclear
Why? We are rushing planning
Why? There is not protected time for leadership work
Why? Competing priorities are not being filtered

Now the problem is not “teachers don’t like meetings”
It is something much more actionable.

Optional Deep Dive (if you want more)

The “5 Whys” strategy comes from continuous improvement practices and is often used in systems thinking and root cause analysis.

A simple overview:
👉 https://www.mindtools.com/a3mi00v/5-whys

This is not about solving everything at once.

It is about slowing down long enough to understand what is really going on so that any changes you make are actually worth the effort.

topic Resource: The 5 Whys in Discussion Space

Resource: The 5 Whys

Try This: The “5 Whys” Reflection (10 minutes)

Example (just to model the thinking):

Optional Deep Dive (if you want more)