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Motivating People
Good
Leadership
Is
About
Communicating “Why”
by Nancy Duarte
May 06, 2020
Summary. If your boss comes to you and says, “I need you take on this additional
project on top of your current work load.” What is your first question? It probably
has nothing to do with the mechanics of setting your alarm or re-arranging your
schedule. When someone asks you to alter a current behavior, your… more
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In an ongoing crisis, clear communication is more important and
more difficult than when things seem normal. Employees and
customers are hungry for information, so we’re tempted to pull
together presentations and communicate with urgency instead of
with careful planning. But if we present without addressing our
audience’s core questions of what, how, and why, we’ll sow more
confusion than we bring clarity.
At my company, we rework thousands of talks each year for large
brands and high-powered executives. When their communications
are high-stakes, most of our clients come to us prepared with what
needs to happen and how, but they’ve rarely answered the question
why.
So, why answer why?
Let’s put it this way: If your boss comes to you and says, “I need you
take on this additional project on top of your current work load,”
what is your first question going to be? It probably has nothing to do
with setting your alarm, re-arranging your schedule, or any other
version of how you’re going to get the extra work done. When
someone asks you to alter a current behavior, your first question is
usually why? Because you’re not going to try something new or hard
unless you’re motivated to do so.
Your audience is no different. If they don’t know why a new action is
necessary, they won’t be motivated to help you. They’ll continue with
their current comfortable behaviors, thank you very much.
Communicators often overlook answering why for two key reasons:
They assume explaining what and how is the fastest way to
influence their audience.
They think the answer to why is so self-evident it doesn’t need
unpacking.
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Think about a difficult situation where it’s critical for people to rally
and align. Something as simple as a team-defining internal initiative
or something as grand as pulling out of the economic crisis we’re in
right now. Let’s say you are confident that if your audience executes
your plan, your company will pull out unscathed. You know how to
do it. You pour all those insights into a passionate presentation. You
get a smattering of applause and then…nothing happens.
Have you been there? You’ve worked through your scenarios,
planning, research, validation and poured energy into communicating
“what” needs to happen and “how” to do it. You’ve walked away
disappointed by the lack of response from the very people whose lives
will be improved if they would simply do “what” you said “how” you
said to do it.
Let’s dissect this example a bit more.
Leaders explain the what of their
insights and the how of applying
Coronavirus:
Leadership
Recovery and the findings. This is how most
leaders approach their talks,
Book
especially professionals who are
subject matter experts. They
View Details deep
focus on the content they want to
share. Many leaders don’t even
consider the why from the
audience perspective because it seems so self-evident to them, they
think it’s obvious to everyone.
FURTHER READING
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On the other hand, let’s say you inject your talk with a compelling
why — “We can reduce secondary infection rates by 40%, saving
thousands of lives” or “We can reach more people and help them
advance their careers if we release our content for free.” Answering
“why” often leads to a human, who will benefit from the action you’re
asking people to take. It suddenly matters.
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There’s a good chance your why won’t be as clear cut as the example
above. So here are three strategies to help you get to the heart of the
why in your next presentation.
Ask some good what questions.
The answers to why often hide in our subconscious, and you may
have to coax them out. Sometimes, you can get to why by asking
yourself a few good “what” questions such as: What is at stake if we
do or do not do this? What will the future look like if we get this
done? What would the state of the human condition be if we did or
didn’t do this? Another way to get to why is to have someone else ask
you “so what” until you can’t answer it anymore. That’ll get you to
the root of “why.”
Follow up with because.
Just considering the why isn’t enough — you have to clearly articulate
the why. Think about what action you’re asking your audience to
take, and then follow it with “because.”
For example, “We need to improve our process, because ____.”
Whatever reason follows a “we need to ______, because _______
.” Whatever that second blank is, will answer the question of “why.”
State alternate perspectives.
Address skeptics and resistance by addressing potential perspectives
you’ve eliminated. It might sound counterintuitive to reveal anything
other than the action you’re influencing them to take, but you can
better persuade an audience by sharing ideas you abandoned and, you
guessed it, “why” you’ve eliminated them. By sharing the ideas that
you considered, explored, tested, and then abandoned, you’ll
demonstrate that you’ve thought through all the possibilities.
Answering why is an act of empathy and adds a layer of persuasion to
your communications. When people know why they’re being asked to
do something, they’re much more likely to do it.
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In times like these, your customers and your employees need your
wisdom and leadership more than ever, and you have a unique
opportunity to move them forward in the midst of uncertainty. As
you seek to inspire and motivate them to do the next right thing,
don’t forget to include the why.
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the creation of these resources.
ND
Nancy Duarte is a best-selling author with thirty
years of CEO-ing under her belt. She’s driven her
firm, Duarte, Inc., to be the global leader behind
some of the most influential messages and visuals
in business and culture. Duarte, Inc., is the largest
design firm in Silicon Valley, as well as one of the
top woman-owned businesses in the area. Nancy
has written six best-selling books, four have won
awards, and her new book, DataStory: Explain
Data and Inspire Action Through Story, is available
now. Follow Duarte on Twitter: @nancyduarte or
LinkedIn.
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