Kids ask a lot of questions. They are naturally inquisitive and, being relatively new to the human race, they lack a great deal of understanding about the world around them – so they ask questions. Besides the obvious, ‘are we there yet?’ the most ‘annoying’ question I think kids ask is, ‘why?’ “Why is the sky blue? Why can’t I have ice cream for dinner? Why can’t I beat up my little sister?” And the list goes on.
As adults, it seems that we stop asking ‘why’. Maybe we’re just not that curious about things any more. Maybe we never got the answers we were looking for so we stopped asking. Maybe we’re comfortable with how things are and don’t want to rock the boat. Maybe we feel we just don’t have the time to stop and ask such a question. Or, maybe we think, ‘hey, it’s working, why risk messing things up with asking why?’ I’m not sure of all the reasons, but it seems that as we get older we’re more interested in simply what has to be done and not as interested in why we’re doing it.
But I think asking why is a very important question. Being the new person – new at the company or organization, new to the team, new on the board – is a good chance to ask why. “Why do we do it this way?” can be a powerful opportunity for those who have being doing it that way for a long time to take a step back and re-visit the question. Tremendous insights can come from doing so. Maybe there are good reasons; maybe the answer is “just because”.
I believe that what we do needs to be firmly connected to why we do it. If we lose this connection we run the significant risk of losing direction, focus, and purpose. Last month I wrote about the NBA player who was suspended for bringing a handgun into the team locker room and went on to discuss the bigger issue of codes of conduct in organizational life. Truly effective codes are grounded in the why of an organization. If codes (the ‘what’) are going to be more than simply documents signed off on and forgotten, they need to be firmly embedded in the core values of the organization (the ‘why’) which are clearly and routinely communicated. This connection helps us to understand why the ‘whats’ are important and necessary.
The tagline for Concord Professional Development is “From Compliance to Commitment”. It was chosen specifically to promote and foster this fundamental belief in asking why. Meeting expectations or complying with established rules & regulations is important in any industry, but great organizations are filled with people who have moved beyond a compliance mentality to a commitment mentality. These people believe in the core values and vision of the organization and understand why these things are important. This understanding, in turn, makes doing the ‘what’ more purposeful and meaningful. The by-products of such a mentality are many, including longevity, job satisfaction, employee morale, creativity, enhanced teamwork, and productivity – all of which are hallmarks of great organizations.
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, February 16th, 2010 at 12:19 pm and is filed under Comments.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
Both comments and pings are currently closed.
Annoying Kid Questions
Kids ask a lot of questions. They are naturally inquisitive and, being relatively new to the human race, they lack a great deal of understanding about the world around them – so they ask questions. Besides the obvious, ‘are we there yet?’ the most ‘annoying’ question I think kids ask is, ‘why?’ “Why is the sky blue? Why can’t I have ice cream for dinner? Why can’t I beat up my little sister?” And the list goes on.
As adults, it seems that we stop asking ‘why’. Maybe we’re just not that curious about things any more. Maybe we never got the answers we were looking for so we stopped asking. Maybe we’re comfortable with how things are and don’t want to rock the boat. Maybe we feel we just don’t have the time to stop and ask such a question. Or, maybe we think, ‘hey, it’s working, why risk messing things up with asking why?’ I’m not sure of all the reasons, but it seems that as we get older we’re more interested in simply what has to be done and not as interested in why we’re doing it.
But I think asking why is a very important question. Being the new person – new at the company or organization, new to the team, new on the board – is a good chance to ask why. “Why do we do it this way?” can be a powerful opportunity for those who have being doing it that way for a long time to take a step back and re-visit the question. Tremendous insights can come from doing so. Maybe there are good reasons; maybe the answer is “just because”.
I believe that what we do needs to be firmly connected to why we do it. If we lose this connection we run the significant risk of losing direction, focus, and purpose. Last month I wrote about the NBA player who was suspended for bringing a handgun into the team locker room and went on to discuss the bigger issue of codes of conduct in organizational life. Truly effective codes are grounded in the why of an organization. If codes (the ‘what’) are going to be more than simply documents signed off on and forgotten, they need to be firmly embedded in the core values of the organization (the ‘why’) which are clearly and routinely communicated. This connection helps us to understand why the ‘whats’ are important and necessary.
The tagline for Concord Professional Development is “From Compliance to Commitment”. It was chosen specifically to promote and foster this fundamental belief in asking why. Meeting expectations or complying with established rules & regulations is important in any industry, but great organizations are filled with people who have moved beyond a compliance mentality to a commitment mentality. These people believe in the core values and vision of the organization and understand why these things are important. This understanding, in turn, makes doing the ‘what’ more purposeful and meaningful. The by-products of such a mentality are many, including longevity, job satisfaction, employee morale, creativity, enhanced teamwork, and productivity – all of which are hallmarks of great organizations.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 16th, 2010 at 12:19 pm and is filed under Comments. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.