\u201cI can\u2019t believe they think that\u2019s a good decision.\u201d<\/p>\n
Have you been in that situation\u2014when your senior management makes a decision that, from your perspective, makes no sense? Most people have countless examples come to mind.<\/p>\n
One situation, in particular, turned out to be a significant teachable moment for me.<\/p>\n
I was leading a team of truly talented software developers. We were good and we knew it. There were some organizational changes decreed from on high that didn\u2019t make sense to us. In my youthful ignorance, I set up a meeting with a leader about three levels above me. He accepted the invitation.<\/p>\n
In the discussion, I boldly explained how his recent announcements were upsetting people in the department. I went so far as to say, \u201cBob, you\u2019re not making the \u2018What\u2019s in it for me\u2019\u201d clear.<\/p>\n
Bob was quiet at first. Then he responded with a statement I\u2019ll never forget. \u201cAndy, sometimes it\u2019s not about you. It\u2019s about \u2018what\u2019s in it for us.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Check. Mate.<\/p>\n
I walked out of his office\u2014humbled\u2014learning a critical lesson.<\/p>\n
Yes, explaining the \u201cWIIFM: The What\u2019s In It for Me\u201d is important when we communicate our plans. When we make project decisions or deliver announcements to the troops, they are likely filtering our messages through self-interested lenses<\/a>. They want to know what this means to them. To their promotional opportunities. To their mortgage payment.<\/p>\n In Robert Cialdini\u2019s classic Influence: The Power of Persuasion<\/em>, he explains how the word \u2018because\u2019 is critical when trying to influence someone. Too often, we as leaders wrestle with options for an issue and then render a decision. But when we communicate it to our teams, we fail to get their buy-in because we neglect to explain the reason behind the decision.<\/p>\n Cialdini asserts \u201cbecause\u201d is the most influential word in the English language. Further, the \u201cbecause\u201d doesn\u2019t even have to be that persuasive<\/a>!<\/p>\n But the magic isn\u2019t in the word<\/a>. It\u2019s in the explaining. He states, \u201cA well-known principle of human behavior says that when we ask someone to do us a favor we will be more successful if we provide a reason. People simply like to have reasons for what they do.\u201d<\/p>\n Make the WIIFM clear when you can.<\/p>\n But sometimes it\u2019s not about what\u2019s in it for one particular person or team.<\/p>\n The announcement about layoffs? The outsourcing of work to service providers? The reorganization that leaves me with yet another new boss?<\/p>\n There are situations where it\u2019s more difficult to pull out a WIIFM. Some decisions are more about the What\u2019s In It for Us<\/em>.\u00a0 Maybe it\u2019s the value to our organization as a whole. Or our customers. Or another part of our company.<\/p>\n One executive told me \u201cthis is the first company I\u2019ve worked at where one department would be willing to give up a dollar of budget if another would benefit by more than that.\u201d You may not work at such a company, but if that\u2019s the reason behind a decision, explain it.<\/p>\n Perhaps you\u2019re not the person communicating the Why<\/em>. Rather, you\u2019re on the receiving end, as I was. You\u2019re scratching your head in disbelief, like me. What\u2019s the lesson for us?<\/p>\n You could<\/em> schedule a meeting with the leader three levels up. A large helping of humility might be a good breakfast choice, if you do.\u00a0Even if you just ask your boss or project sponsor, it\u2019s worth seeking out the Why<\/em> behind their decision.<\/p>\n Later in my career, I had a boss who previewed an upcoming reorganization with his direct reports. I asked him, \u201cWhat would you say are the primary benefits of this reorg?\u201d<\/p>\n Interestingly, he couldn\u2019t answer the question. It illuminated the fact that before announcing the reorg, we had better sharpened up the message or reconsider the wisdom of the change.<\/p>\n It started with a Why<\/em> question.<\/p>\n If the Why<\/em> isn\u2019t clear, seek it out. My last example notwithstanding, there\u2019s probably a reason. Remember that it may not satisfy your need to know What\u2019s In It for You<\/em>, so be prepared to accept What\u2019s In It for Us<\/em>.<\/p>\n As I look back on the humbling discussion with the executive years ago, there\u2019s one last lesson I\u2019d like to share. I left his office that day benefiting from a teachable moment. But I wonder if he did.<\/p>\n What I mean is, he didn\u2019t follow his own wisdom. The plans they were rolling out had a reasonably compelling What\u2019s In It for Us<\/em>. But for all my complaining about the lack of WIIFM<\/em> and his wisdom about WIIFU<\/em>, his earlier announcements didn\u2019t deliver. They did not even come close to communicating the Why<\/em> behind the decisions.<\/p>\n When we find ourselves thinking we\u2019ve dispersed highly valuable wisdom to someone on our team, let\u2019s make sure we don\u2019t miss any leftover lessons for ourselves.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t screw up a perfectly good decision. Learn from my teachable moment\u2014and his.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cI can\u2019t believe they think that\u2019s a good decision.\u201d Have you been in that situation\u2014when your senior management makes a decision that, from your perspective, makes no sense? Most people have countless examples come to mind. One situation, in particular, turned out to be a significant teachable moment for me. I was leading a team… Continue Reading →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[97,119,109,118,93,77,113],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p488Wj-6v","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.leadershipintherealworldblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.leadershipintherealworldblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.leadershipintherealworldblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.leadershipintherealworldblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.leadershipintherealworldblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=403"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.leadershipintherealworldblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":404,"href":"https:\/\/www.leadershipintherealworldblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403\/revisions\/404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.leadershipintherealworldblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.leadershipintherealworldblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.leadershipintherealworldblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}When The WIIFM Is Not as Clear<\/h2>\n
Asking About the Why<\/h2>\n
One Last Lesson<\/h2>\n