Articulating the Why

I recently had a conversation with a client who wanted to figure out how to help their people do a better job of “articulating the why.” As you know, it’s a common conversation, one that has gotten a lot of attention since 2009, with the release of Simon Sinek’s book, Start With Why. And it’s not the first time I’ve had this conversation with a client. 

In one sense, it has always seemed almost silly that we have to talk about this—is it really so hard to understand that people do a better job on a task if they understand why they’re doing it? In the military, the notion of “commander’s intent” has its roots in Napoleon’s warfighting approach. It’s not a new idea. It’s a question that’s on the lips of every child who’s ever had a parent tell them to do something. We’re curious, and instructions often seem pointless to us, because we can’t see the big picture. A few seconds of explanation or context doesn’t seem like a big burden to put on a manager.

Even sillier, I’ve sometimes thought, is that people would need training in how to do it. I guess I could understand that sometimes leaders need to be reminded to do it—after all, they’re busy and they sometimes think that simple instruction-giving should be enough. But how to do it? Here’s how: “I’m asking you to do this because…” Not too complicated.

But this time the conversation went a little differently, and, after some reflection, I came up with something you might find useful. One reason leaders sometimes struggle with answering the “why” question is that there is more than one way to answer the question, and the thinking gets muddled. A second reason is that perhaps the leader hasn’t taken the time to answer the question for themselves, and so they don’t have a ready answer for their employees. 

What follows helps address both problems. It’s a tool I call “The Four Whys.”

The Four Whys

Like most good tools, it’s easy to learn and use. Very simply, you look at the task you’re assigning, and ask “why should they do this?” from four perspectives:

1.     Organizational Priority: How does the assignment you’re making connect to a larger organizational priority?

2.     Purpose of Task: What is the practical, “closer-to-home” purpose of the task? 

3.     Individual Priorities: How, if at all, does the task connect to a pre-existing priority of the individual you are giving the assignment to?

4.     Unique Qualification: What makes the assigned person uniquely qualified (skill, knowledge, history, access, availability) to complete the task?

Putting it Into Words

It might sound like this, when you put it into words: “I’m asking you to do this because…”

(Organizational Priority) … it gives the company an important insight into where we should allocate our resources in the coming year.

(Purpose of Task) … it will provide the information we need to complete our annual budget.

(Individual Priorities) … you need to anticipate what resources you’ll have available to you next year.

(Unique Qualification) … you are the only one who has access to this information.

So, when you remember to articulate the why, the steps to follow are very easy:

1.     While considering the task you are assigning and the person(s) you’re assigning it to, write down the Four Whys. 

2.     Decide which one(s) will feel most inspirational or relevant to the person you’re giving the assignment to.

3.     Say it. 

If you’re speaking to a team, or to a whole company,

you might want to share all four whys. You should consider giving multiple examples of the Purpose of the Task and Individual Priorities, as the assignment may have different impacts on different parts of the organization or members of a team. However you put it to use, stopping to think about the Four Whys should make you better prepared to “articulate the why.”