How to Coach Yourself and Others Essential Knowledge For Coaching | Page 310

the process, the further off your root cause is going to be. At that
point, it won't matter if you ask "why" 5 times or five million
times.
If you want to avoid these problems, try modifying the
questioning process as follows. Once you've finished your initial
line of questioning, go back to your answer for the first "why"
and ask some other questions.
1.
2.
3.

4.

5.

What proof do I have that this cause exists? (Is it concrete? Is
it measurable?)
What proof do I have that this cause could lead to the stated
effect? (Am I merely asserting causation?)
What proof do I have that this cause actually contributed to
the problem I'm looking at? (Even given that it exists and
could lead to this problem, how do I know it wasn't actually
something else?)
Is anything else needed, along with this cause, for the stated
effect to occur? (Is it self-sufficient? Is something needed to
help it along?)
Can anything else, besides t