Chapter 5 of Agile Conversations, and there is this section with the heading “Don’t Start with Why.”
And I was like: Whoa. But the why is important? The why, the purpose, the intent… that’s what’s going to motivate me, that’s what’s going to be my beacon so that my actions are in alignment with what we intend to achieve. And that Antoine de Saint-Exupéry quote echoes in your head driving the point further on the difference of telling me to do stuff and giving me the purpose or the why.
If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men and women to gather wood, divide the work, and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea. — Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
But of course, I read on, and they did not discount the importance of the why (well, they do have a chapter on the Why conversation so it is important). And they gave an example:
Trying to give this group an inspiring Why at this point would have been like Captain Bligh delivering a motivational speech to the crew of the Bounty just before the mutiny.
(Not being familiar with that history, I went with context clues, and then googled him afterwards.)
How that Why is served matters. As inspiring as the intent is, if it’s not communicated well, then the message won’t get across. If it’s delivered by a stranger you don’t trust will stick long enough through the ups and downs of working towards that purpose; if it’s delivered by someone whose credibility has yet to be established; if it’s delivered by someone with a reputation for saying one thing and then doing another, or of not following through — These things pull people farther away from the goal.
