“Everyone has a WHY.
Do you know yours?”

“The WHY is the purpose, cause or belief that drives every one of us.”

Simon Sinek

“Vision Without Execution Is Just Hallucination.”

Thomas Edison

The whole concept of WHY is grounded in the tenets of the biology of human decision making. How the Golden Circle works maps perfectly with how the brain works.

1. Why focus on your WHY?

a. Often people focus on what they do and seldom on why they do it

b. The WHY is the reason you are passionate about doing something – It gives you long-term fulfillment, not just short-term happiness

c. When establishing your pitch of what you do as a business or career, focus more on the aspects of why you do it – This makes your reasons of what you do more personal and lets people know why you are passionate about what you are doing – This is what will inspire people to want to learn more

d. Without a deep seated ‘why’, you will battle to find your passion and purpose to do things for a sustained period of time. You will most likely not be very competitive in the medium-to-long term

e. People that know their why and can implement it in their daily work, are more passionate, have greater purpose, perform better, are more successful and fulfilled than those that do not truly know their ‘WHY’

2. The Golden Circle: Every Organisation and Individual Career Operates on Three Levels ~

a. What we do? (Outer circle of ring)
b. How we do i t? (Middle circle of ring)
c. Why we do i t? (Bull’s eye of ring)

*See Diagram Above.

3. Basic Steps to Finding your Why?

a. Gather stories and share them – Each of us only has one why – It should represent what we truly value at our very best and for all situations

b. Identify themes – Identify insights that make you unique and fulfill your true purpose

c. Draft and refine a WHY statement (Your Vision) –

• i. Try to make your why simple and clear (Word Format: To [Contribution], so that [Impact]! – One line that is clear and simple – Everlasting and covers a professional and personal motive
• ii. Make it ‘actionable’
• iii. One that resonates with others

4. How to find your why: You will need two things

a. A good partner or facilitator – Someone to help you establish your true WHY. Someone that will push you to go beyond your experience and drive for clarity, simplicity and the most accurate source of your WHY?

b. Enough time – Most likely more than 6 minutes and less than 6 hours

WHY DISCOVERY FOR GROUPS: Tribal Culture ~

1. Nested WHY: A why of a smaller group, department or division within the organisation that represents that particular group or team (*Whys within a greater why). The nested why needs to complement the organisation’s greater why. Smaller group why’s also comprise of nested whys, which incorporate the individual’s ‘whys’ within that group (Subgroup or subculture within the larger group/ organisation)

• a. Allows smaller groups to identify their uniqueness and ways they will contribute to the larger organisation
• b. Stories: Listen to stories and find trends of why the organisation exists and what inspires people?

2. Steps for Group WHY Discovery:

a. Find your suitable facilitator – They need to be objective, active listeners and ask probing questions without leading people on or trying to influence them through bias or misperceptions

b. Prepare for your session ~

• i. Invite participants (Normally a cross section of 10-15 people/Max of 30 people)
• ii. Schedule enough time (Normally 4-5 Hours)
• iii. Find the right setting (Space that inspires creativity and is quiet enough)
• iv. Setup the room for optimum performance (Setup the room in advance for a good first impression – ‘Horse shoe’ is normally a good format. Flip charts are good to move back to previously shared information)

c. Three conversations to be discussed by each of the smaller groups:

• i. The Human Difference – Specific stories of when you felt most proud of your organisation? (Be specific)
• ii. What was your contribution – What was your organisation’s specific contribution to a positive story or outcome?
• iii. What is your organisation’s impact – How did this positively influence other people and/or groups

d. Draft the why statement: Once the conversations have been drafted, as above, then analyse and find trends for actions that can be used for the why statement

“Find a good partner or facilitator – Someone to help you establish your true WHY.”

STATE YOUR HOW’S:
The ‘hows’ are the ways to take action on your ‘whys’.

1. Corporate Values vs. Hows: Often the values within an organisation are unclear and open to interpretation – Simply ask a few members of the organisation what the values are and if you get varying answers then you know these values are not clear enough
2. Core values should indicate how the organisation performs when it is at its best – Often core values are aspirational (future based). Whereas core values tied to a ‘how’ gives more specific actions tied to those core values – e.g. We will always offer relevant and accurate feedback to our clients – How’s are simple and actionable, they drive a specific behaviour
3. HOW Process:
   • a. The primary trends from your stories and themes are used for your WHY – The remaining ones now become apart of the process for your HOW
4. Steps for your HOW process: Your hows should bring your whys to life –
   • a. Narrow remaining themes – Take remaining themes and cross out the ones you channeled into your WHY statement. Then narrow the remaining themes until you have no more than five
   • b. State your HOWS – Hows must be actions as they bring your whys to life – e.g. Look to creative solutions
   • c. Provide context – Provide a brief description for each of your ‘hows’ in order to provide some context

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