I love Simon Sinek. His TED Talks are must-watch. There is a lot about what Sinek teaches on leadership that I completely agree with (in particular the importance of creating trusting relationships versus fear-based ones). But the main prescription in his biggest book is to start with “why” and explain the reasons for your decision or to connect what your people are doing to the larger purpose of the organization. Sinek is not the only one who prescribes this. There is a whole industry of people who help companies develop vision and mission statements for organizations or teams, as if the one thing that separates the winners from the losers is the right “why” statement. If only it were that easy.
Starting with the “why” of the organization gets everything backward. The “why” of your organization or the “why” of the product launch or even the “why” of your customer is definitely something nice to know. It is way more motivating than saying, “here’s what I want you to do today – don’t ask me any more questions.” But even the loftiest mission statement isn’t what really gets people out of bed in the morning. Each of us is motivated by our own individual “why” and it isn’t something the leader explains to us. It’s something the leader discovers.
What to do instead? Start with: Do you have what you need? The assumption behind starting with “why” is that it’s the job of the leader to provide some bigger picture to motivate others. You are implying that without your explanation of the “big picture” (emphasizing your position of power) others might not be motivated to give their best. The assumption behind, “Do you have what you need?” is much more powerful. You assume others are already motivated and want to do great work. Your mission is to discover what, if anything, they need to perform the great work you know they will.
I’m not saying “why” isn’t important (Sinek offers many great examples of why it is). It may be that your direct support doesn’t understand the “why” and when you ask they will let you know. That’s when you give the “why.” But don’t start there.
Interesting. It’s a bit confusing though. If someone is not sure of the “why,” how do they know the answer to “do you have what you need?”
In other words, don’t they need some concept of the mission of the organization, or their role in it, before they can properly assess “what they need” to best execute on that?
Clearly we need to discuss the “why” of the organization regularly – when recruiting and orienting new team members, when we discuss new projects or new challenges, when we re-prioritize work, etc. But “do you have what you need” doesn’t require you to know or even care about the “why” of the organization. What you need may be something personal or have nothing to do with work. Sure, if the issue is work related discussing how that relates to the “why” could be very helpful. And ideally everyone cares deeply about that “why” – I just don’t think that’s where do you start.