Help Your Team Members Understand the “Why” Behind the “What”

So you’ve got extremely talented people on your team. You’re confident in their skills and experience and you have them aligned with appropriate tasks where they should really excel.

But your results aren’t matching your expectations. What now?

When this happens, there is sometimes a disconnect between your level of passion and engagement and that of your team’s. Your productivity and effectiveness don’t match theirs.

As a leader, a big part of your job is helping your team understand the “why” behind the “what.”

You are responsible for helping them understand why what they are doing is so important and meaningful to the company and the contribution it will make. And you also help them understand what it is your team needs to specifically do to contribute.

If you can clearly communicate the link between what your team does to what the company needs, you’ll give them a greater sense of purpose and meaning, showing them that what they do really matters.

Many well-intended leaders make the mistake of “telling” the team how things need to be done. When this happens, you lose a great opportunity to engage your team. This is called “no involvement, no commitment.”

By including your team in determining how to go about accomplishing the goal, you dramatically increase their level of engagement.

Resist being a micromanager; trust your team to come up with ideas. Allow them to flex their creativity.

Will there be some missteps and failures? Most likely. Will you have some missteps and failures as a manager? Of course. But that's how you all learn together and raise everyone’s level of engagement.

Get your team involved and you’ll see the commitment and investment you need to achieve better and better results. Productivity and effectiveness on your team will soar, and your results will match your expectations.

In a perfect world, your team would magically show up to work fully committed to their goals—one of the keys to accomplishing anything as a team. But, since that's not an option in the real world, download our guide to get your team on board and moving in the right direction.

4 Ways to Stop Fear of Failure From Holding You Back

Most of us fear failure and try to avoid it at all costs, becoming stressed out and risk-averse. It doesn’t...

Identifying the Right Team-Member Roles as a Leader

What do you do when your team starts to falter or produce less than stellar results—how do you turn things ...

6 Ways to Help Your Team Handle Stress During Times of Change

Download Guide

Return to Home

We enable greatness in people and organizations everywhere.

Help Your Team Members Understand the “Why” Behind the “What”

But your results aren’t matching your expectations. What now?

If you can clearly communicate the link between what your team does to what the company needs, you’ll give them a greater sense of purpose and meaning, showing them that what they do really matters.

By including your team in determining how to go about accomplishing the goal, you dramatically increase their level of engagement.

Previous Article

Next Article

Help Your Team Members Understand the “Why” Behind the “What”

But your results aren’t matching your expectations. What now?

If you can clearly communicate the link between what your team does to what the company needs, you’ll give them a greater sense of purpose and meaning, showing them that what they do really matters.

By including your team in determining how to go about accomplishing the goal, you dramatically increase their level of engagement.

Previous Article

Next Article

Most Recent Articles

FranklinCovey’s mission of enabling greatness in people and organizations everywhere is essentially a mission about change.

We have identified the four most common pitfalls impacting leaders in transition and provide strategies for leaders to successfully navigate these potential pitfalls.

There is a lot of research about leaders failing to transition into an organization and/or up into a new role. It is important to understand you are on a journey through transition.

Based on our data, we have created a formula for helping new leaders work through the top four reasons for failure.

There are several things you can do to keep remote workers engaged. Look over this list and see if there are some you can implement.

Skilled leaders understand that change is a disruptive force and an opportunity. By understanding the predictable pattern of change, leaders can reframe hybrid work as a catalyst for growth.

Most of us fear failure and try to avoid it at all costs, becoming stressed out and risk-averse. It doesn’t have to be that way. Here’s how to change your mind about failure.

What do you do when your team starts to falter or produce less than stellar results—how do you turn things around and recover?

Project management is now the work and competitive edge of the twenty-first century, even for workers without that phrase in their title or job description. Master these 4 skills to excel.

Creating behavior change requires three learning and development components that drive lasting impact. Read this article to learn more.

Leaders have an opportunity to facilitate smooth sailing on projects. Learn how keeping open lines of communication, inspiring enthusiasm, and cultivating an agile approach contribute to success.

Want to be smart about your L&D program budget? Align your learning outcomes with broader business goals for ultimate success. Learn more in this article.

When HR leaders invest in application-driven learning and development solutions, they provide ongoing learning opportunities that lead to lasting impact for their organization.

You’re in a unique position to solve problems your people can’t solve on their own and to obtain resources they don’t have access to.

Leaders can support their project teams by taking time to build frameworks for collaboration and cultivating a healthy team culture built on trust and clear communication.

How can you determine if you should change how you work, or if you should look for something different? Ask yourself these questions:

When projects are tied to business value, grounded in effective collaboration, and driven by healthy processes, leaders can help their teams achieve their goals.

Change is an ever-present part of running an organization. Today, rapid changes in technology, market dynamics, staffing, and consumer preferences have accelerated the need for upskilling.

Strategy is great and necessary, but it’s just a tool to achieve the result (the goal). By itself, it can become a distraction from the real work of accomplishment.