Why put ANY effort when you do not know the WHY?

Kids are smart these days. I cannot make my daughters do ANYTHING unless they know WHY they need to do it and WHAT they will gain if they do so?

. I do not blame them because there is a perfectly good reason why they ask these questions. No task or initiative that consumes time and energy should really be done unless the people involved know the ‘Why’ (the reason why they need to spend time doing the task) and the ‘What’ (the foreseeable outcome of the task).

. Sounds like a no brainer.. right? Any doubts, check with the first kid you meet on your way home! However skeptical you are, there is always a Why & What to everything. What matters is - Do you look for it?

. Go to any workplace teeming with intellectual capital and see how many Why? & What? are traded across the work floor. Candidly speaking, hardly!

. Most employees go about doing their tasks because they are told to do so. Naturally this leads to at best mediocre passion, energy, creativity, innovation which finally leads to (you guessed it right..!) mediocre results .. what else?

. The individuals toiling away all day have no clue regarding consequential impact of their effort on the final result, have no interest in recommending improvements, suggesting new ideas and no avenue to taking pride in the final result that crowns their effort. And all this because they did not bother to ask the Why & What .. does this sound like a serious compromise of impact or what??

. I have tried asking the cause of this apparent lack of inquisitiveness – fear, lack of preparedness, embarrassment, doubt and even stress are some of the candid responses I get. Map these attributes with those linked to non-performance within individuals and teams & your make a startling discovery … they match!

. I take pride in practicing & encouraging everyone in my direct and extended teams to NOT do anything unless they understand WHY they are doing it & WHAT outcomes they are doing the task. Once they do, they are on a natural high to achieve the expected outcome. I see many of them adopting this attribute and actually practicing on me..

. Not that I mind at all … leadership skills in an individual or a group environment always requires the ability to seek and explain the Why & What in every situation whether it is demanded or notI wish my daughters were more forgiving though…