As a mom of three, including a toddler, I’m deep in the “why” stage again. My youngest asks “why” about everything.
Why does it take so long to get there?
Why can’t I stay up late?
Why do I have to go to school?
It’s equal parts delightful and exhausting. But somewhere between those rapid-fire questions, I’ve come to appreciate what’s really happening: she’s making sense of her world through curiosity. Every “why” helps her connect dots, see patterns, and build understanding.
That same curiosity is at the heart of effective learning design. In learning and development, “why” is our most powerful tool. Too often, learning projects begin with a ready-made solution: a course, a deck, a workshop. But when we pause to ask “why,” we often uncover something more nuanced.
Maybe the challenge isn’t lack of knowledge > it’s confidence or motivation
Maybe it’s not process > it’s mindset
In pharma, that clarity is essential. Learners juggle complex science, data, and responsibilities. Their time is limited, and their attention is valuable. Asking “why” ensures we’re solving the right problem and designing in a way that respects both their expertise and their time.
When we start with “why,” we move past simply sharing information and instead uncover what truly drives behavior change and performance. “Why” turns a request into an investigation and often, what we find beneath the surface changes everything.
I’ve seen how a few simple “whys” can change the entire direction of a project. A client once sent an RFP to update their sales training modules because the team’s performance was lagging. The ask seemed straightforward: refresh the materials, modernize the look and feel, maybe tighten up the content. But before diving in, we asked one question: why?
That simple question opened the door to a deeper conversation. Together, we discovered the issue wasn’t outdated slides or stale modules: it was systemic. Performance gaps were tied to a mix of factors: weak clinical knowledge and lackluster selling skills, an unsustainable and unscalable training model, and business risk driven by heavy reliance on individual trainer styles.
Had we jumped straight to updating the modules, the core problems would have persisted. But by unpacking the “why,” we were able to reimagine the training approach from the ground up: one that aligned strategy, content, and coaching in a way that built consistency and confidence across the organization.
That’s what “why” does. It sharpens focus. It turns reactive fixes into strategic design. And it ensures learning isn’t just another task but a lever for change.
And as my three-year-old reminds me daily, curiosity is where learning begins. When we keep asking “why,” we don’t just design training, we design with empathy, insight, and purpose – and that’s where real behavior change starts.
