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Episode #71 - The Why: The Leadership Conversation Most Managers Skip · HR Spot

• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: Hello everybody, Linda Michaels here, and welcome back to another episode of HR Spot.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: And we have Gary Nye again today.
• 0:15
  unknown: Woohoo!
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: And we've got a fun topic.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_00: So I think we we're loving this topic.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: So this is the why.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: The leadership conversations most managers skip.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's it's a good, it's a good one.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_01: And it's stuff that managers shouldn't skip.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_01: Talking about something that sounds really simple.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_01: And it should oh boy, it should just be something they naturally do, but I think leaders get it wrong most of the time.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_01: And that is what is the why.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_01: Why are we doing this?
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_01: Why are we changing that?
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_01: Why does this matter?
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_01: And maybe most importantly, why should my employees care?
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I think that's a very interesting distinction because leaders are usually pretty good at telling employees what they need to do.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: Like, here's the new policy, here's the new procedure, here's the new goal, here's what we're changing.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: But sometimes they skip the explanation of the why.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: And I think you talked about the why on an episode or two ago.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: So, yeah, there we go.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and it, you know, it we did talk about it, and it's not the why is not because I said so, or the why is not because I'm the boss or I make the decisions.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_01: That's not the best why.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_01: So uh, you know, after that happens six weeks later, and the leader is, you know, sitting at their desk saying, why isn't anybody buying into this?
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_01: or how come they didn't do what I told them?
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_01: And the question is then, well, did you ever tell them the why?
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_01: That's the hard one.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: And that's always the best place to start.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: So we're gonna we're gonna talk about the first section, and the what is not the why.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: No, it's not a good thing.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_01: Don't get confused with the what and the why.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_01: The why is the why.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_01: The what is the what, right?
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_01: So let's start with you know, something I think we both see consistently um across a lot of organizations.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_01: And it's you know, something like the company makes the decision, and I say the company makes the decision.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_01: You can't see my air quotes, but when I do that, it's you know, the company makes the decision.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_01: You know, maybe they're changing a process, changing the software.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um, hey, they had to make a pivot and had to change schedules, right?
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_01: Now we're working a little bit longer, or we had to work on a weekend to finish a project.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um, excuse me.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe it's restructuring, but they're making a change.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_01: And maybe they ask managers to start doing one-on-ones.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, I need you to do meetings more often.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_01: I need you to connect with your team, make sure you're doing one-on-ones at least once a week with one person.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_01: Doesn't have to be one-on-ones every week with everyone, but you know, hey, do one.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and leadership communicates that decision down.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_01: But here's the key thing communication isn't necessarily understanding.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_01: It doesn't, you give them the communication, that doesn't mean they understand the why.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, that happens all the time, right?
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: So you can communicate something super clearly, but you still have people completely misunderstanding it or the direction or you or whatever it is.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_01: And uh because employees don't just hear the information, we all interpret it the way that we that we do, right?
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_01: We're we're already in a mindset of something, and you know, we talk about it in community communication trainings that we do.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_01: It's you know, you have your own mindset, you're already thinking about something, so when you hear it, you interpret it your way.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_01: And when leadership doesn't provide the context, employees create their own context, right?
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: They they make up stories that they tell themselves stuff, right?
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: And all of this is super dangerous, yeah.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_01: And like you said, right?
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_01: And then if they do talk about to a coworker, then now they get someone else's input about what the why is or how they interpret it.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_01: So it can be very dangerous.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_01: And because if if management doesn't explain why we're making a change or what the process is and why, employees are going to come up with their own explanations.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_01: They may not agree with them, and it becomes harder to get them to do things.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_01: And sometimes that explanation isn't exactly flattering to management.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so Gary, why don't you give us a recent example?
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_01: All right, let's just say the company says we're changing our our work from home policy.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_01: Beginning next month, employees will be expected in the office four days a week, and that's the what employees immediately start asking, why?
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_01: Why?
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_01: Why are we doing this?
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_01: Is leadership losing trust in us?
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_01: Do they not think that we could do the work?
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_01: Is business not bad that we need to come in?
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um, are they trying to get people to quit?
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_01: You know, sometimes that's they they right away go to you know what I do wrong, and hey, are they trying to get us to leave?
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_01: Did somebody screw something up or or what's really going on?
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and now you've you've created a vacuum just by not explaining the why.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_01: And employees will fill that vacuum with whatever they think, right?
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_01: Usually it's speculation, and again, it's that what they think, and that really is this quicksand trap.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_01: The leaders think, well, I communicated the decision, but in reality, the employees think, I have no idea what's going on, what's really happening?
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_01: Well, why does this happen?
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_01: And those are two completely different things.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: So let's jump into why the why matters.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_00: So we're gonna talk about why does the why actually matter?
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and this isn't just about making employees feeling better about your decision.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_02: And let's be let's be clear.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_02: We want to make the distinction, right?
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_01: Explaining the why isn't about making everybody happy, it's about creating the context so they can get their work done.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_01: Employees don't have access to everything leadership she's, they don't necessarily know the financial reasons or the financial situation, they don't know the customer reasons with customer complaints, and they don't know the strategic plan, and they don't know what's happening behind closed doors.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_01: And that's where leadership kind of holds that stuff, but they have the information employees don't.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_01: So when you make a decision without explaining the reasoning, you're asking employees to understand the decision using maybe 20% of the information.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and that's really an important point, right?
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_00: Where 20% of the information, that's that's when employees start making up their own story.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_02: And that's you're right, it's important, right?
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_01: And I think about it this way if if I tell you turn left, you can turn left, but you don't know why.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe I'm taking you somewhere important, maybe there's a accident or a road closure, maybe I'm trying to avoid traffic.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_01: You don't know.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_01: All you know is turning left.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_01: But if I tell you turn left because of an accident ahead, we're gonna have we're gonna save 20 minutes by taking this route.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_01: Now the instructions have context.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so there's a story, there's the why behind why you're taking a left, right?
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: And you're more likely to trust the direction when you really understand the why.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, 100%.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_02: I think you muted yourself, Gary.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_01: I did it twice.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_01: No, I think that's important, and that example I think says it all.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_01: If we if you've ever been driving in a car and someone tells you to just all of a sudden turn left, it's kind of a panic moment, right?
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_01: And you're like, oh turning left, wait, what's going on?
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_01: But it's the same thing in a business, right?
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_01: If someone just tells you something doesn't give you context, you you don't know.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, context creates the understanding, and understanding creates the possibility of a commitment.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_01: Like I think we've talked about it many times, is we want the employees to buy in, and they'll things will be way better when they buy in.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_00: So let's talk about compliance versus ownership.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: I think this what we're uh we're talking about now leads to a bigger leadership issue.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: So there's definitely a difference between employees complying with something and employees actually owning it.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely, absolutely, it's a huge difference.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_01: And and this is where I think leaders sometimes kind of trick themselves or convince themselves.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_01: They say, Well, everyone's doing it.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, are they doing it because they understand it or because they're afraid not to?
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_01: And those aren't the same thing, right?
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_00: And that's that's definitely a good distinction.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you you can get more compliance with your employees without commitment, you can get attendance without engagement, you can get people to follow a process without believing the process makes sense, but eventually all that catches up with you, and now you're kind of you've already dug yourself a little bit of a hole.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_00: So what does that ownership look like, Gary?
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I think ownership is when the employee can explain the reason behind what they're doing, right?
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_01: And especially if you have, say, mid-level managers, right?
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_01: They they just get told this is what you got to share, and they can't explain it to the next level down, or they can't explain it to a coworker.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_01: So let's use something simple.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_01: A manager tells a team we need to document uh customer issues more consistently.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_01: That's the what.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_01: That's not the why, that's the what.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_01: Now imagine that the manager says, we want you to document everything.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_01: We're asking you to do this to document the customer issues because we're seeing the same problems repeatedly.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_01: This is over and over, but we don't have enough information to identify the root cause.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_01: But we know that there's a problem.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_01: So if we document this consistency consistently for the next period of time, we're going to use that information to identify the biggest problems so that we can fix them.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_01: And that's completely different than just saying document this.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and now the light bulb goes on, right?
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_00: And this is where employees can see and understand the why behind what the manager is asking them to do, and then they can also see where their effort is going.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, exactly.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_01: I you know, we've talked about this in a lot of these is that, and this is I think a human nature thing, it's not just employees, but people want to know the why.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_01: They they feel more bought in, right?
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_01: They're not just entering data into another system or writing it down into a Word document, they're they're helping identify the problem, and then there's another piece here.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_01: The why should connect employees' work to an outcome, and it's not just do this so we get paid.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_01: The that's where it becomes meaningful is when you give them the why, like the real deep why.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_00: So then let's now shift.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_00: Don't turn the why into corporate fluff.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_00: I love it.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, yes, yes.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_00: But here's where I think some organizations get this wrong.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_00: They have their mission statement, they have their vision statement, they have their values on the wall, they have, you know, big presentation about the purpose, and then they think they've explained the why.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's uh that's something we see all the time.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_01: I think.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_01: And sometimes the why just becomes the corporate wallpaper or the signature line on your email.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_01: You know, everything we do is about excellence, or everything we do is to help the customer.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, but what does that mean on a Tuesday afternoon when I'm dealing with that angry customer because they don't have what they want?
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, exactly.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, the why has to be specific enough that an employee can connect it to the work that they're actually doing.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_01: So you can't just say we're doing this because it's aligned with our strategic value.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_01: How often does that work for you?
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_01: And that's a great way to make everybody's eyes glaze over, right?
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_02: So, Gary, what should the leaders be saying instead?
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_01: Tell people what problem you're actually trying to solve.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_01: Tell them what outcome that you're trying to create.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_01: Be specific, use details, and tell them who benefits and and what the benefit is.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_01: Tell them why their contribution matters.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's that you get them to buy in when it's they know why, again, why what they're doing is important and why it matters.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_01: That's so much more powerful.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_00: So instead of saying we're implementing this new system to improve efficiency, la di-da, who cares, right?
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, right.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_00: So instead, let's say we're implementing this system because right now our team is spending six hours a week manually moving information between systems.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_00: This should eliminate most of that work and give you that time back.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my God, that's awesome.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_01: That's exactly right.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_01: Now you've made the why something that's tangible.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_01: They know more details and they can totally buy in.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_00: So let's talk about the HR role in the why.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_00: So this is where I think HR has a really important role because HR is often involved when organizations are making changes.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_01: And I think I would challenge all HR professionals, if you're out there and you're going through this, start asking leadership one question before they communicate these major changes.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_01: What's the why?
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_01: Not what's the announcement?
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_01: You know, just give me the information and I'll write an email to pass it out.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_01: What's the why behind it?
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_01: Not what do you want me to put in this that we're gonna post?
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_01: Find out the why.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_01: Ask why are we doing this?
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_00: And Gary, if the answer isn't clear, then what?
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_01: Then you probably aren't ready to share with everybody.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_01: Because if if leadership can't explain the why clearly to you in HR, who's gonna put this out there, the employee certainly isn't going to understand it.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_01: And there's another test I like.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_01: Ask the executive, okay, now explain that to me as if I'm a frontline employee.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_01: If they can't do it without corporate jargon or just the standard, you know, values and mission, then you've got you got a lot of work to do to try to figure this out.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and that's a great HR test.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and then there's the manager layer, like we talked about, right?
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_01: That that mid-level.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_01: Because leadership might understand it, they haven't maybe quite explained it yet.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_01: But if the frontline manager doesn't get it, the message again, like we talked about, the message gets distorted, mixed up, and then you know, it's like the telephone game.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_01: If they don't understand it, they're gonna put their spin on it, and the next person's gonna put spin on it, and it's gonna be all out of whack.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, executives will say, Here's why we're doing this, and the manager hears, okay, here's another thing I have to make my employees do that they're not gonna want to do.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_01: And guess what?
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_01: The employees then gonna hear management is making me do this or making me do another thing, and that's gonna impact my day, and it's gonna give me more work to do.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so the manager is not buying it or understanding the why, and suddenly the why is gone.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, exactly.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_01: And it's never gonna make its way down to the frontline people, and the manager becomes excuse me, and the manager becomes the bottleneck with the calendar invite or with the with the memo that goes out.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_00: So then let's talk about the why doesn't mean everyone has to disagree, right?
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_00: So that's another misconception that we need to address is explaining the why doesn't mean employees have to agree with the decision.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely, and we know that they don't always, and it's important, but leadership doesn't have to get unanimous agreement for it, right?
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_01: They've already made the decision, and sometimes the decision is simply this is the direction that as a company that we're gonna go, and employees deserve to understand the reasoning.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_01: You can say, I understand that not everyone is gonna agree with this decision, but here's why we made it, and that's open and honest leadership, but you have to give them the why with some details, yeah.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_00: And I think employees appreciate and can handle the truth more, you know, than leaders sometimes give them credit for.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I totally agree, but you know, it becomes down to that why, right?
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's easier to get on board and and handle the the change when you know the why.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_01: And as a leader, you don't have to sugarcoat it.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um, in fact, yeah, you don't want to do that.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_01: That destroys your own credibility and it's gonna erode the trust.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, tell people this is gonna be difficult, or I understand.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and you could explain a little bit about what you understand, and this is gonna require more work initially, or for the short term, you know, why we get those customer information about why they're unhappy.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_01: We know there'll be a disruption, something like that.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_01: That's way more credible than pretending that there's no why or that everything is wonderful.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_01: You you have to give them that little bit, yeah.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_00: So the why isn't a sales pitch.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_00: Is that what you're saying?
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_01: You're not trying to sell them on it, but you need to give them the why, right?
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we we want them to buy in like it's a sales pitch, but don't make it cheesy because you're gonna you're gonna ruin your own cred credibility, and it's it's about the context.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, one thing I've coached leaders on is it's okay to ask them, okay, so what do you understand about what I'm saying?
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_01: You know, what did what did you hear me say?
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_01: So you can get that verification or clarification, if you will, to make sure everybody's on the same page.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_00: So let's talk about the simple leadership test.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: We can give some people listening some practical tips that they can actually use.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're a manager listening right now and you're about to announce a change, what should you what should they ask themselves, Gary?
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_01: I'd use four questions.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_01: So first, what are we asking people to do?
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_01: And that's the what?
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_01: What are we asking them to do?
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_01: And second is, why are we doing it?
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_01: What's the actual problem that we're we're trying to solve?
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_01: Third, why does it matter?
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_01: What's the consequence or what's the outcome that we're trying to achieve?
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_01: And then last, the fourth one is why should this employee care?
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_01: How does their work connect to the outcome?
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_01: And we talked about that.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_01: How does the work connect to the outcome?
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_01: You got to explain it.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so I like the four short questions.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_00: That's very simple and easy.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_00: It forces the leader then to get out of the executive perspective and think about the employees' perspective.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you know, and I think sometimes as leaders, depending on what role you're in and what company you're in, maybe you're not out there seeing what those people do.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe you're not in the field if it's a field job, or maybe you're not in the office and you see what they're what they're actually doing.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_01: It's important to think about how that's gonna affect them.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe you need to go sit by them for an hour and see how they're taking the onboarding calls or the customer service calls to help you understand how it's gonna affect them.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_01: And I think we could add one more to it is after you explained it, is ask kind of like I talked about, what questions do you have?
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_01: What do you understand?
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you can't just say, okay, we're all on the same page now, right?
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_01: Everybody, and everybody's gonna just shake their head, or does everyone understand?
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_01: Or those don't work, right?
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_01: Because I think the easy answer is, oh, yeah, I got it.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_01: But if you, you know, you tell them, I think we've used this before, is make a peanut butter sandwich.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_01: Well, they interpret it so many different ways, right?
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_01: You you have to give them the take the bread, put the peanut butter on it, do this, and yeah, you have to explain a little bit more to them.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_01: And if you just ask them if they understand, yeah, the simple answer is gonna be, yeah, I got it.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, let's go on to the next thing.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and nobody wants to be the actual person that says, I don't understand.
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_00: Nobody's gonna speak up.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_01: That's hard, right?
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_01: It's it takes a lot to say, uh, I don't get it.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_01: When you look around the room and everybody's nodding their head, they get it, and you're the only one.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes it takes a little courage to say, Hey, I I just I don't get it.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_01: Can you tell me a little bit more?
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so don't ask for agreement.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_01: Do you understand?
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_01: Ask for questions.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_01: Tell them that you you can explain more if that's what it takes.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_01: But don't just ask a yes or no, do you get it?
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_00: I love it.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_00: So you covered a lot of great uh information and insight.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_00: So, Gary, if you had to leave leaders with one thought today, what would it be?
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_01: Just one.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_01: Uh just one.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_01: Just one.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_01: Don't assume, because we know what they say about assume, don't assume that because you've explained the decision, you've actually explained the reason.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_01: Your employees experience the organization from a very different vantage point than you do.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_01: Like I said, if you need to go sit by them, go see them in the field, go sit with them at their customer service desk, or they need context.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_01: We all need context, they need to understand what you're trying to accomplish and why what they do in their role matters.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_01: Because ultimately, there's a huge difference between telling someone what to do and helping them understand why it actually matters.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I think that is a super important leadership lesson.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_00: So before you communicate the what, we need to make sure you understand the why.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, you have to make sure you understand the why.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_01: And before you ask your employees to buy into the why, make sure you've actually put time to explain it with details.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_01: Because if you don't give people the context, they'll create it themselves.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_01: And you might not like the story that they're gonna create, it's not gonna match what you're trying to create.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so that sounds like a good uh place to end our wisdom for the day.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_00: So you have a you have a challenge this week, Gary.
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_01: Oh yes, I think we're gonna start challenge you, the listeners, some more.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_01: So the next time you're about to tell your team, here's what we're gonna do, stop for a second.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_01: Hit the pause button and add.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_01: And here's the why.
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_01: See what happens.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_01: And I think just one step, just one pause.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_01: If you're an employee, not just a leader, you can ask the why, right?
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_02: I love it.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_00: That's a good final thought, Gary.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um, thank you again for joining us on HR Spot.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we really enjoy having these podcasts and hope you're gaining a lot of uh tips and tricks that that can help you in the future.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_01: So thank you, Gary.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_01: I really hope that someone's gonna reach out to us with the question.
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_01: Dang it, man.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_01: Dang it.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_01: Ask us.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, I want to hear about this.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, I got this problem at work and I need some help.
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_01: What do you want us to talk about?
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_01: Like, where do you need help?
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_01: You gotta reach out and tell us.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_00: How do they reach us, Gary?
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_01: Well, they could start off by emailing Lynda at Lynda at azhrhub dot com.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_01: They can email me at Gary at azhrhub dot com, and we'll make sure we include it in one of our upcoming episodes.
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_00: I love it.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_02: All right, thanks, Linda.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_02: Have a great day.