Thoughts On: Why? – by Chuck Morris

Why?

Simon Sinek, a leadership guru, professor, and author, once said, “It’s what you can’t see that matters.” Think about that for a minute. It’s what you can’t see that matters. That brief comment can (and should) open dozens of thoughts in your mind! Look at the operation that you oversee. Ask the question of yourself, WHY? Why are you doing something the way you do it? What are you missing? Be brave here! We are all human and once in a while you will miss something.

To understand the WHY of how you manage, is as important as understanding the nuances of your leadership. Are you an autocratic manager of people? Because of your actions do you deal with low morale or have staff in your office deal with low morale on a regular basis? Why? Do you understand the atmosphere within the departments you manage? If you do not, I suggest this may be an important factor that is being overlooked.

I have been doing this type of work for a very long time and being human, I have noted awkwardness, silence, non-committal responses, rudeness, and a few other things. It taught me to look inward. It taught me to begin asking myself why. What have I been missing?

I learned I needed to ask ‘WHY’ and if need be, change how I did some of the things I had been doing. So, the imperative would be to ask questions and involve staff. Give them some comfort while gaining adherence to the job at hand. Sometimes it’s not easy to do but the concept is important! Ask why and source the data on how you do things. Research why you do the things you do and place the data where you can see it, respond to it, grow with it. Are you gaining better intelligence so you can better understand how you carry out the work and succeed at the same time? Are you allowing others to succeed as well? Asking that question will reveal a lot about you, and about how you deal with difficulties.

Sometimes it may be best to sit back and think of your growth and your history while yo u worked to become a leader. Go over any number of stories that affected you as a child. How did these affect you as you developed into a manager and leader? Asking WHY when contemplating that question will give you a trove of answers. Whatever you have for that historic story or event does indeed influence you as you grow. It will also influence those who report to you!

Give some thought to the question of why. This is a great exercise and can help you strategize as you develop your sense around why, and what it could do for developing your style and legacy.

‘Why‘ questions are the types of questions that force one to step back and think more analytically.

BY CHUCK MORRIS