It’s too easy to lead with the what and not the why when talking about transformation…
This Simon Sinek video gets shared a lot. We even use the Golden Circle when we’re teaching Product Management, too. “People don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it.” But what about how we motivate change?
We are also much more effective if we take the same approach when ‘selling’ new approaches to product development, like agile and design thinking.
Consider the all too often heard ‘what’ first…
😔 What → How → Why
You need to move to agile ways of working. → We’re implementing Scrum and SAFe frameworks for collaborative and iterative development. We will release early and often for early value and learning. → This will give us faster delivery, higher quality, and greater team morale. Meh.
Compare with a ‘why’ first approach…
😃 Why → How → What
We delight customers by building better products faster, creating more value, and in a more enjoyable working environment. → We do this by working iteratively in a series of well-executed experiments. We work in a highly collaborative way where we’re constantly learning and getting better at what we do. We embrace change by delivering ‘early and often’ to unlock learning sooner and create early value. → Wanna join us?
People don’t buy what you do they buy why you do it.