Nine Whys

Choose this exercise

Purpose: Distinguish surface tasks from foundational purpose across a working group.

Use it when: Use at the launch of a new project, team reorganization, or planning cycle when daily activities need to connect to a shared underlying reason for working together.

Skip it when: Skip when the immediate task is narrow technical problem-solving, root cause failure analysis (where Five Whys applies), or when personal motivation is not relevant to the task.

Group arrangement: Pairs merging into groups of four, ending in whole-room reflection

Timing: 20 minutes matches the original Liberating Structures source allocation.

Materials and tools

• Notepads or scratch paper (1 sheet per participant)
• Pens or pencils (1 per participant)
• Timer for the facilitator
• Visible prompt board or flipchart display

Before participants arrive

1. Arrange chairs in pairs facing each other without tables in between.
2. Write the two core prompts on a flipchart or shared display: 1. What do you do when working on [topic]? 2. Why is that important to you?
3. Insert the specific team topic or challenge into the blank.

Say this to open

We often focus on what tasks we do and forget why we do them. In this activity, you will work in pairs to uncover the deeper purpose behind our work on [topic]. One person will be the interviewer, and one will be the storyteller. The interviewer starts with, 'What do you do when working on [topic]?' Once they answer, ask, 'Why is that important to you?' Keep asking that question up to nine times or until you hit the core purpose. Then we switch.

How to run it

1. First interview 5 minutes

   Assign Person A as interviewer and Person B as interviewee. Person A asks: 'What do you do when working on [topic]?' Person B names concrete activities. Person A then asks, 'Why is that important to you?' As Person B answers, Person A repeats the question, 'Why is that important to you?' up to nine times as needed to reach the core personal motive. Person A notes key phrases on scratch paper. At the 5-minute bell, stop.

2. Second interview 5 minutes

   Partners switch roles. Person B interviews Person A using the exact same sequence, beginning with the list of activities and following each answer with 'Why is that important to you?' Person B writes down key insights. Stop when the timer sounds.

3. Foursome consolidation 5 minutes

   Each pair joins another pair to form a group of four. Each person shares the core purpose statement they discovered in one minute or less. The four look for common themes, differences, or surprises across their purpose statements.

4. Whole-room debrief 5 minutes

   Reconvene the full room. Take 2 to 3 brief reflections on how these underlying purposes should shape upcoming decisions or priorities.

Debrief questions

• What common themes emerged across the four purpose statements in your group?
• How do our underlying purposes influence the next decisions we need to make?
• Where did you notice a gap between daily tasks and what people care about most?

Finished output: A concise statement of individual purpose written on each participant's paper, with recurring patterns identified across small groups.

Remote

Create breakout rooms for pairs for 10 minutes, with a broadcast announcement at minute 5 to switch roles. Call pairs back or merge pairs into breakouts of four for 5 minutes. Have each foursome paste their top purpose statements into a shared document or virtual whiteboard before a 5-minute whole-room chat debrief.

Hybrid

Pair in-person participants with in-person partners, and remote participants with remote partners in breakout rooms. Form foursomes by grouping two in-person pairs or two remote pairs. Have all foursomes post their distilled purpose statements to a shared digital document so the whole room can view them simultaneously during debrief.

Access and participation choices

• Participants may keep private journals instead of showing their notes to others.
• Anyone who prefers not to share personal motives may focus their answers entirely on client or organizational impacts.
• Participants may pass during the whole-room sharing without explanation.

If the session gets stuck

The interviewer feels awkward asking 'Why is that important to you?' repeatedly.

Remind interviewers that repetition is the core rule. They can soften delivery by asking, 'And why does that piece matter to you?' or asking for a quick concrete example.

An odd number of participants prevents forming even pairs.

Form one triad where two interviewers take turns asking the questions to one interviewee, rotating roles across three shortened 3-minute rounds, or have the extra person act as an active timekeeper and observer.

Terms used here

• Liberating Structures: A collection of meeting formats designed to distribute participation equally across all participants.