As leaders, when we share an initiative with our teams, we’re usually very good at communicating what we want done. We’re always good at telling people when it needs to be done. (Usually, yesterday.) What we often forget to share is the why of the initiative. And yet it’s the why behind the what that motivates the team to get the job done. If you’ve ever gotten frustrated that your message as a leader doesn’t seem to be filtering down through the organization, you’re not alone. The issue might not be your messaging; it may be in the filtering. Let’s examine how the why gets filtered.
The typical org chart reflects a static structure, but the typical organization is dynamic by nature, made up of individuals, each with their own perspectives and areas of focus. As humans, we each have our own filter through which we receive and disseminate information. I’m not a coffee drinker, but I assume the more filters the brew passes through, the weaker it becomes. Your ideas as a leader suffer the same fate. We ignore the filters at our own peril.
Here are four steps you can take to ensure your ideas percolate through the organization.
First, express your own sense of the why as concisely as possible. The longer the explanation, the less likely your audience will get the message. When you explain to your team the reason for the latest initiative, your message has to be short enough that they can repeat it easily – and verbatim – to their direct reports.
I’m Catholic. Over the years, I have coached many priests on their sermons. My main message has been, “If you can’t save me in ten minutes, you’re not going to save me in 20.” In business, it’s not about minutes; it’s about words. If your message is more than ten words, you’ve increased the chance your team will paraphrase your message rather than repeat it. Once your idea has been paraphrased, you have lost control of your message. Keep it short.
Second, consider how your stakeholders are processing and internalizing your message. Each person on your team approaches the conversation from their own vantage point. Imagine your typical meeting where you introduce your key initiative for the quarter. Your finance person is sitting right next to your marketing guru. And yet, they each hear the news from the vantage point of how it impacts them and their teams and will translate it accordingly. The finance person literally only hears the information relevant to their role, not from lack of attention, but from our human capacity limitations.
The burden of crafting a message that resonates with everyone at the table falls to you. How do you explain the why of your initiative in the broadest possible terms that it resonates with the entire team? A business leader I was recently coaching framed it this way: “Everyone’s self-interest must be aligned.”
Your proposal will inherently create a variety of benefits and challenges for your team. Your job as a leader is to ensure that each member individually can see at least the glimmer of benefit for them. I’m not suggesting that you fabricate a benefit that doesn’t exist. Rather, your burden is to think broadly enough that you help all team members see the greater good of a new initiative.
This leads to the third step. As you explain the why of your proposal, ask yourself, “Whose why is it?” Are you discussing the initiative from the perspective of the shareholders? The parent company? Your entity within the organization? Your department? Your team? The individual contributor? The person executing the initiative has a very different motivator than the CEO.
Each level in the organization has a different self-interest. Can you articulate the why from each of these vantage points? Our ability to persuade others is based on how well we can talk to someone with their frame of reference in mind. As you share the why of your initiative, consider whose why you are sharing.
Fourth, marry the what to the why as clearly as possible. When we set a course for our business objectives, we articulate a goal (the what) and the rationale (the why). Both are crucial elements. Nevertheless, we need to determine how we will flex in the moment based on the shifting ground under our feet, and the relative importance of these two features.
Your business may seem impervious to the social and political vagaries of the moment, but it’s not. A slight change in meaning of how we use a particular word may alter how you market a product, share an internal HR initiative, or explain a new policy. When the ground shifts, it may impact the what or the why.
As a leader, you need to remain aware of both, so you can guide your team accordingly. Our target may shift based on the realities of the moment, or our definition of success may change based on a new strategy. If we’re the leader, we need to articulate these clearly and timely to the team. If we’re part of the rank and file, it’s in our best interest to check in with leadership when we sense a shift in the situation. While some changes to the business landscape are immediate and dramatic, most are gradual and subtle. The only way to know if the parameters have changed is to ask. When you sense a change in priority broadly, or a change in procedure that seems untethered to a clear business need, it is in your best interest to ask your leadership, politely of course, to explain any adjustments to the goal and the approach that would be helpful for you to know. The question doesn’t need to be a challenge to authority or a questioning of the ultimate goal. You ask because you want to be effective in your response. You can only do so if you know the goal you are targeting and the rationale for seeing that goal as success.