Simon Sinek has a wonderful quote that he uses in most all of his writing and videos:
“People don't buy what you do, they buy why you do it."
Being a consultant who helps organizations to plan and execute large-scale change initiatives, Sinek’s point truly resonates. You see, I have witnessed, first-hand, the kind of resistances people are willing to stage in order to block change -- including down-right refusal to even give it a try!
So, yes, people need to understand why.
Consider this, your vision for the change typically describes “the what,” and your belief in the value that comes with instituting that change is “the why.” Your people want to understand “the why” because it helps them to determine their own answer for the fundamental question every human being has when confronting change, which is quite simply:
“What’s in it for me?”
You have to answer that question sufficiently to gain buy-in and commitment.
That said, your belief in the value that can be had must be rock solid for people to embrace and support your vision for change. This means that you've got to cultivate their commitment to help you achieve that change by telling a story that people want to be part of and can see themselves being successful within. For sure, your people need to understand why it's important to you. However, they also need to understand why the new paradigm that you want to establish is going to be important to them.
To illustrate let me share this example:
A few years back, Jeffrey Glazer, then the CEO of the Insurance Division of LexisNexis
Risk Solutions, engaged me to help him and his team craft a vision story for his division. We socialized that vision by conducting an in-house trade show where each member of the senior leadership team headed a booth. On a designated interval, staffers rotated through to each booth where a top executive would present their portion of the vision story (the what) and the benefits that staffers would gain when the vision was achieved (the why).
The approach proved invaluable. It demonstrated senior-level commitment to the change, enabled each leader to add something unique and special to the vision story and provided little nuggets of what was in it for each staffer should the organization achieve its vision.
Indeed, by doing the vision roll-out in this way, Glazer provided “the why” and gave his people the opportunity to say:
“Yes, I want to be part of something bigger than myself.”
And isn't that what every company should be trying to do with their staff members when driving significant change?
If you need some help planning and executing your next big change initiative, please be sure to give me a call. I always welcome the opportunity to help leaders to set direction and manage change.