The whole and its parts

The whole & its parts

When why makes sense

The team seemed to be worried. They were meeting to move a project forward they had recently started. Jim seeing how they were slowing down instead of gaining speed was worried too.

One of the details Jim was describing during our coaching session was how he was supporting his designer Jack. Jim wanted to keep him going and have them both stay aligned. But Jack was asking a lot of questions about the project and questioning if the project made sense or not. Instead of asking why they were doing the project, Jack avoided the open question and preferred to question if the project made sense like it was being started.

Asking “why?” would have made Jim more aware of the real question Jack was dealing with. Jack could have lost trust that the decision made to start the project would be followed up on. But he could also have not yet immersed himself deeply enough to feel confident with his part in the project.

Asking “why” a project is being done and what objective it will serve is a helpful question to come to a conclusion and take a decision. The clearer the answer the easier it is to start the project.

Once a decision has been made and agreed upon things change. That is a moment when asking a why question doesn’t bring the project forward anymore. Such question is now usually brought up by the team to be reassured, to be told again what the project is about, and to experience the presence of leadership in the project.

When the leader goes back to answering the why question he might achieve the opposite. Especially if the team is re-opening previous arguments. It’s a situation in which they unconsciously might be verifying the stability of leadership or trying to distract everyone from the task they find themselves uncomfortable with. After the initial excitement, moving through an emerging discomfort to get started can be hard.

 

 

 

 

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