Episode
179 | (Day 4) The Strategic HR Sprint – Deepening Your Strategic Thinking
- Podcast
- HR Coffee Time
- Published
- Jul 16, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 705
- Processing state
not_requested
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Summary
When you spot a problem at work, how quickly does your mind start coming up with solutions? Welcome to Day 4 of The Strategic HR Sprint, a free five-day experience to help you build your confidence and skills in being strategic in your HR role. 👉 Join the sprint for free and access all five episodes, worksheets and resources here: https://brightskyhr.co.uk/sprint One of the most important parts of being strategic is taking the time to understand what is really driving a challenge before deciding how to respond. It is easy to assume that the answer is training, a new policy, more people or better pay. But if you have not explored what is really causing the challenge, you could invest time and energy in an idea that only treats the symptoms. Getting to the root cause helps you make better decisions about where HR can have the greatest impact and identify actions that are more likely to create lasting improvements. In this episode, you’ll learn how to stay curious for longer and use a simple technique called the Five Whys to explore the challenge you identified during Day 3. In This Episode, You’ll Learn: Why understanding the root cause is an important part of being strategic How to use the Five Whys technique How to avoid treating a symptom instead of the underlying cause Why involving people who are close to the challenge can lead to better insights How to ask “why” without sounding critical or pushy Your Day 4 Activity Today’s worksheet will help you explore the challenge you chose during Day 3 and identify what may be causing it. You’ll work through the Five Whys, think about where HR could have the biggest influence and note down your first ideas for how the challenge could be addressed. You might also find it helpful to talk the challenge through with someone who s…