When Why Trumps What
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A handyman is coming to our house today to seal up our leaky shower. In preparation, he asked that I shower early and wipe down the shower so it’s dry, which will help with the sealing process. This morning, I told my wife to shower in our guest shower because the handyman was coming to work on the shower this morning.
Around 7:30, I heard her turning on the faucet for the shower I’d told her not to use. Frustrated, I asked her what she thought she was doing. She looked at me confused and said “The handyman’s not here yet.”
My wife thought the reason for showering in the guest shower was because the handyman would already be working on the main shower. I hadn’t told her we actually needed to keep the shower dry.
I had told her what to do without telling her why. That was the central issue at hand.
Since we humans aren’t mindless robots, we normally like to know why we’re doing something. I need to know why my muscles need to be sore for them to grow. I need to know why I’m supposed to tithe 10% of my income to the church. I need to know why narrowing my target audience is smarter than widening it.
Granted, there are groups that work just fine only communicating what they want done. The military comes to mind. Its whole system relies on everyone following the chain of command, doing what they are told.
For the rest of us, we usually need a reason. When we know why, then we usually buy in. When you get buy-in from a customer, it makes a huge difference.
What examples and experiences do you have with communicating why and what?
