The Manager 166 - How people work is not boring
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"The Manager" Newsletter
Hi,
I hope you are safe and well. I’m writing this on the airplane to Norway and doing a final edit in my hotel room. This weekend flew by and I wanted to spend time with my kids, hence this newsletter is a little later than usual. There's also no interesting articles...as, well...I haven't read anything at all this week!
The other day someone told me they're sick and tired of hearing ‘how’ the wider team are working in team meetings. You know - their colleagues. Sick of hearing about it.
And instead the topic of conversation should be the why and what (Why > What > How). I don’t agree. In fact, we learn by understanding "how" people do the things they do.
If you work in the tech/agile/management/HR world all you're likely to hear is people taking about the why and what. No doubt it's the same in every industry. The theoretical. The methodologies. The frameworks. The standards.
Why we should go agile, what framework to use. Why we should do this, and what approach should we take. Why we should look after people, and the what practices we'll deploy.
In fact, it’s why I don’t speak at many events anymore - I find them full of people talking theory and approaches and methods; the why and what.
But two people can take away a similar "why" and a similar "what" and get very different results. "How" you implement the why and what is super important.
I want to hear how people do what they do. This is where the action is. It's where the communication, interactions, routines, behaviours and results are. It's why some people succeed and others don't.
Without the how, there’s no implementation of the why or what. So for me, this is where I want to go deep to understand and learn. By listening to "how" people are achieving success you can learn. You can steal. You can grow. If you ignore the "how" all you're left with is theories and grand ideas.
How did they release agility?
How did they win hearts and minds?
How did they interact and nudge behaviours?
How did they overcome the blockers and red tape?
How did they deliver business results?
How did they win over the haters?
How did they scale the business so quickly?
How did they grow in their career?
The how is important; its people's actions, communication and implementation.
We can spend all day talking theory and method, but it’s nothing without implementation.
I’d rather see business results than talk theory. So, when someone tells me they’re not interested in how we’re delivering business results, I know this is someone interested in theory or more concerned with telling me what they "know" and potentially not open to listening. I may be wrong of course, but I’ve seen it enough to see the pattern.
Theory is good, but action delivers business results. And learning how people do this is how I learn.
Note : I've been awake since 4am and it's now 9:15pm. I've read this email at least 29 times. I'm hoping there were no typoes :)
Until next time.
Stay safe
Rob..
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Rob..