Nine Whys to an Elevator Speech

Posted by nnlmneo on April 3rd, 2017 Posted in: Blog

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I know we already have a great post on doing elevator speeches.  But today I want to share an experience I had this week that made me think about another way to think about how approach elevator speeches, or basically what to say to someone about your project when you only have time for a sentence or two.

On Tuesday I presented a workshop at the Robert M. Bird Health Sciences Library at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. Each attendee was working on a logic model for a real-life project they were planning.  The first step in logic models is determining your long term outcomes (as our Shop Talk readers may know, the NEO is all about determining your outcomes).  In Tuesday’s class we were using an exercise called Nine Whys  (from Liberating Structures) to figure out the long-term outcomes of the projects.  In this partner exercise, you explain your activity and your partner asks “why is that important to you?”  After you answer, the partner asks “why” again (much like my 4-year old daughter does).  You keep going back and forth, answering the question of why, until you feel that you have really reached the core of why the thing you are doing is important.

One thing I like about this assignment is that a lot of us think that it’s self-evident why something we’re doing is important.  But it might only be self-evident to those of us doing the same jobs.  So while it’s important for the logic model to state clearly how our activities tie to the long-term outcomes, it may be just as important for us to connect the dots for everyone we talk to about our projects.

In the workshop, attendees went around the room and described their project.  In general, people showed a lot of enthusiasm for their projects.  Then we formed partners and enacted the Nine Whys exercise. I then asked everyone once again to state their activity followed immediately by the last answer to “why”  (e.g. “I’m going to do ___ because ____.”).  Each person made an incredibly powerful statement – it was as if their enthusiasm had turned into power.

When I heard each successive statement, I thought “these are so powerful. If I was a stakeholder, I would want to know these things.” And then I thought they would make great elevator speeches.

As an example, Phill Jo, the head of the OU-Bird Health Science Library’s Access Services, described a plan she had to reorganize the Access Services area.  During the first Why, we found out that access services staff members were far apart from each other, and part of her plan was to move them closer together. The next Why explained that putting staff members closer together would make communication easier and build teamwork.  Successive Whys led to increased work effectiveness, and finally to shorter wait-times for access services including document delivery, circulation, interlibrary loans, etc. (and since it’s a health science library, that could lead to better health outcomes for some patients).

Here was her sentence at the end: “We’re planning to reorganize the space in Access Services, which will lead to more effective communication resulting in providing quality access services to our students, staff, and faculty more quickly.”

If the Provost of the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center happened to be standing next to Phill at a university function (ok, or in an elevator), and in an awkward social moment said “so, Ms. Jo, what are you working on,” wouldn’t the statement above be a great answer?  If she were to say only “we are reorganizing the space in Access Services,” the Provost might think “that sounds like a lot of money. I hope they aren’t just getting expensive new chairs.”  But if Phill were to immediately connect reorganization to less time waiting for ILLs or other access services, the Provost will probably remember how long he had to wait when he was a student, and applaud her for working to improve the organization. He might even ask for more information which would start a useful and less awkward conversation.

I encourage you to try a Nine-Whys project on your activities and see if it works to help you explain your projects to people outside your professional circles (and maybe even inspire yourself).