{"id":31421,"date":"2018-04-06T13:45:31","date_gmt":"2018-04-06T20:45:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.careersingovernment.com\/tools\/?p=31421"},"modified":"2018-04-06T13:45:31","modified_gmt":"2018-04-06T20:45:31","slug":"connecting-what-to-why-a-critical-component-of-employee-engagement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.careersingovernment.com\/tools\/gov-talk\/about-gov\/education\/connecting-what-to-why-a-critical-component-of-employee-engagement\/","title":{"rendered":"Connecting What to Why: A Critical Component of Employee Engagement"},"content":{"rendered":"

[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ admin_label=”section” custom_padding_last_edited=”on|desktop” _builder_version=”3.0.103″ background_image=”https:\/\/www.careersingovernment.com\/tools\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/whattowhy2.jpg” custom_padding_tablet=”50px|0|50px|0″ padding_mobile=”off”][et_pb_row admin_label=”row” _builder_version=”3.0.47″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”1_3″ _builder_version=”3.0.47″ parallax=”off” parallax_method=”on”][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”2_3″ _builder_version=”3.0.47″ parallax=”off” parallax_method=”on”][et_pb_divider height=”200″ disabled_on=”on|on|off” _builder_version=”3.0.47″][\/et_pb_divider][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.0.103″ text_font=”PT Sans||||” text_font_size=”72″ text_font_size_tablet=”52″ text_font_size_last_edited=”on|tablet” text_text_color=”#ffffff” text_line_height=”1.1em” background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” max_width=”620px” custom_margin=”0px||0px|”]Connecting What to Why: A Critical Component of Employee Engagement<\/span>
\n[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ custom_padding_last_edited=”on|desktop” _builder_version=”3.0.47″ custom_padding_tablet=”50px|0|50px|0″ padding_mobile=”off”][et_pb_row use_custom_width=”on” custom_width_px=”1200px” custom_padding=”20px||0px|” custom_padding_tablet=”0px|||” column_padding_mobile=”on” parallax_method_1=”off” parallax_method_2=”off” admin_label=”row” custom_padding_last_edited=”on|tablet” _builder_version=”3.0.47″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”1_3″ _builder_version=”3.0.47″ column_padding_mobile=”on” parallax=”off” parallax_method=”off”][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/www.careersingovernment.com\/tools\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/Retouched-Karin-David-WinningWell-560_rt03_1x1.jpg” show_bottom_space=”off” align=”center” disabled_on=”on|on|” _builder_version=”3.0.47″ animation=”off” sticky=”on”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text disabled_on=”on|on|” _builder_version=”3.0.47″ text_font=”PT Sans|on|||” text_font_size=”20″ text_text_color=”#02b875″ text_line_height=”1.2em” header_text_color=”#000000″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” text_orientation=”center” max_width=”140px” module_alignment=”center” custom_margin=”20px||0px|”] KARIN HURT & DAVID DYE<\/a><\/span> [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text disabled_on=”on|on|” _builder_version=”3.0.47″ text_font=”PT Serif||on||” text_font_size=”16″ text_text_color=”#363636″ text_line_height=”1.4em” background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” text_orientation=”center” max_width=”140px” module_alignment=”center” custom_margin=”10px||60px|”] Karin Hurt and David Dye are keynote speakers and the award-winning authors of\u00a0Winning Well: A Manager\u2019s Guide to Getting Results Without\u00a0Losing Your Soul.\u00a0<\/i><\/a> [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”2_3″ _builder_version=”3.0.47″ column_padding_mobile=”on” parallax=”off” parallax_method=”off”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.0.103″ text_font=”PT Serif||||” text_font_size=”24″ text_font_size_last_edited=”on|tablet” text_text_color=”#363636″ text_line_height=”1.5em” background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” max_width=”720px” custom_margin=”0px||0px|”]<\/p>\n

Why do you think we\u2019re shifting direction?<\/span><\/p>\n

Why do you think I\u2019m asking you to do this thing no one wants to do?<\/span><\/p>\n

Why do you think this policy is in place?<\/span><\/p>\n

Why is this project so urgent? <\/span><\/p>\n

Why do you think I keep asking for all these updates?<\/span><\/p>\n

Even if you think your team SHOULD know the why behind your what, it\u2019s worth quick check to be <\/span>sure they really understand.\u00a0<\/span><\/a>Doing work without knowing why, is the shortest path to disengagement.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Power of Why<\/span><\/h4>\n

Last week, we were wrapping up our final session of a <\/span>six-month strategic management intensive<\/span><\/a> with a group of engineering managers by helping them to synthesize what they\u2019d learned. In addition to a number of more mainstream techniques, we asked them to craft strategic stories to pass along their key messages to the next generation of managers coming behind them.<\/span><\/p>\n

They picked a leadership priority or approach they wanted to reinforce, and then found a real story from their personal or work life to make the message more impactful and sticky.<\/span><\/p>\n

As you can imagine, this is not the sort of exercise that is necessarily embraced with a gung-ho attitude by engineering types. Even with a <\/span>formula,<\/span><\/a> this process was a stretch (that\u2019s why we saved it to the last session so we couldn\u2019t get fired \ud83d\ude09<\/span><\/p>\n

They nailed it.<\/span><\/p>\n

[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ background_color=”#f7f7f4″ _builder_version=”3.0.103″ background_image=”https:\/\/www.careersingovernment.com\/tools\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/whattowhy1.jpg” custom_padding=”0px||0px|”][et_pb_row make_fullwidth=”on” custom_width_px=”680px” use_custom_gutter=”on” gutter_width=”1″ custom_padding=”0px||0px|” make_equal=”on” column_padding_mobile=”on” background_color_2=”#efefe9″ parallax_method_1=”off” parallax_method_2=”off” _builder_version=”3.0.47″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”2_3″ _builder_version=”3.0.47″ column_padding_mobile=”on” parallax=”off” parallax_method=”off”][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_3″ _builder_version=”3.0.47″ column_padding_mobile=”on” background_color=”#efefe9″ parallax=”off” parallax_method=”off”][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/www.careersingovernment.com\/tools\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/whattowhy3.jpg” show_bottom_space=”off” _builder_version=”3.0.103″ animation_direction=”off” animation=”off”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text disabled_on=”off|off|” _builder_version=”3.0.103″ text_font=”PT Serif||||” text_font_size=”24″ text_font_size_last_edited=”on|phone” text_text_color=”#818178″ text_line_height=”1.4em” background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” text_orientation=”center” module_alignment=”center” custom_margin=”20%|10%||10%” custom_margin_tablet=”|10%||10%” custom_margin_last_edited=”on|desktop”]<\/p>\n

If your “why” really matters, why leave the understanding to chance?<\/span><\/p>\n

[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.0.47″ text_font=”PT Sans|on|||” text_font_size=”12″ text_text_color=”#888888″ text_letter_spacing=”2px” text_line_height=”1.2em” background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” text_orientation=”center” module_alignment=”center” custom_margin=”20px||20%|” custom_margin_tablet=”20px|||” custom_margin_last_edited=”on|tablet”] KARIN HURT & DAVID DYE [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.0.47″ custom_padding=”0px||0px|”][et_pb_row use_custom_width=”on” custom_width_px=”1200px” use_custom_gutter=”on” gutter_width=”4″ custom_padding=”20px||0px|” custom_padding_tablet=”0px|||” column_padding_mobile=”on” parallax_method_1=”off” parallax_method_2=”off” parallax_method_3=”off” parallax_method_4=”off” admin_label=”row” custom_padding_last_edited=”on|tablet” _builder_version=”3.0.47″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.0.47″ column_padding_mobile=”on” parallax=”off” parallax_method=”off”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.0.103″ text_font=”PT Serif||||” text_font_size=”20″ text_font_size_last_edited=”on|tablet” text_text_color=”#363636″ text_line_height=”1.4em” background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” custom_margin=”60px||0px|” custom_margin_tablet=”40px||0px|” custom_margin_last_edited=”on|tablet”]<\/p>\n

\u201cSteve\u201d picked the <\/span>Winning Well<\/span><\/a>\u00a0principle of connecting \u201c<\/span>What to Why\u201d <\/span><\/a>to ground his story.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was 17, I worked at Ace Hardware. It was my job to keep track of the inventory in the back and sometimes I ran the register. My boss had made it perfectly clear of what you would call an \u201cMIT (most important thing).\u201d If a customer asked for something they couldn\u2019t find, our only response should be \u201cI\u2019ll be happy to go in the back and check for you.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

But on this particular day, I KNEW the tool the customer had asked for was not in the back because I had just noticed the issue when I was working in the back. When the customer asked me to go in the back and double check, I informed him that I was absolutely sure we were out and there was no reason to check.<\/span><\/p>\n

My boss overheard me and when the customer left, he let me have it, and told me in no uncertain terms that if I ever told a customer we were out of something without going into the back to check, I would be fired.<\/span><\/p>\n

I thought this was ridiculous, but I complied AND thought my boss was a jerk. I didn\u2019t understand why we would have such a stupid policy\u2014what a waste of time.<\/span><\/p>\n

Fast forward a decade to a few months ago. I was neck deep in renovating my house and I ran out of something I really needed to get the job done. My fianc\u00e9 and I were really tired of all the mess and I just needed to get this done.\u00a0 I ran over to Ace and asked the kid at the counter for some help finding what I needed. \u201cOh no man, we\u2019re out,\u201d the kid shrugged and moved on.<\/span><\/p>\n

And then, I found myself looking at this kid in disbelief and saying \u201cCome-on, can\u2019t you at least go look in the back?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

And then it hit me.<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s WHY my boss had that \u201cstupid\u201d policy. To make frustrated customers like me feel just a little bit better\u2014that someone cares enough to go one more step.<\/span><\/p>\n

It’s tricky. We always make sense to us, and the “why” behind our intentions always seems so obvious–to us. If your\u00a0 “why” really matters, why leave the understanding to chance?<\/span><\/p>\n

Reinforce your\u00a0“why” every chance you get.<\/span><\/p>\n

Tips For Sharing Why<\/span><\/h4>\n
    \n
  1. Check Your\u00a0Gut.\u00a0Be sure you know why what you’re asking them to do what you’re asking them to do, and that it still matters.<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. Reinforce.\u00a0Share stories, dig for data, illuminate examples.<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. Check For Understanding.\u00a0Ask <\/span>strategic questions<\/span><\/a> to help your team see what you see, or just <\/span>ask them what they heard.<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n
  4. Repeat\u00a0anything that’s important is worth communicating five times, five different ways.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Your turn. What are your favorite ways to connect what to why?<\/span><\/p>\n

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    Even if you think your team SHOULD know the why behind your what, it\u2019s worth quick check to be sure they really understand. 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