Corporate Darth Vader Asks: Why Are We Doing This?
We’ve all been there when the naysayer at the management table dealt the killing blow to a proposal.
“Can anyone explain to me why we’re doing this?” the exec asks, with a slightly cranky tone of voice, staring over their glasses at the rest of the management group, and the poor sap struggling through a PowerPoint presentation on the latest proposed project.
Joe Williams would describe this kind of executive as a Darth Vader - someone with the power and the will to squash company initiatives.
Joe’s strategy is to embrace that kind of question, rather than treat it as an affront. It’s an opportunity to look at the issue from the critic’s point of view, and find ways to make sure the project addresses management’s concerns.
Hopefully the project team has already asked themselves some tough questions, and you’re ready to respond to challenges. And if there is no good answer to “why the hell are we doing this?”, then you really shouldn’t be moving forward. In that case, the death blow from Darth Vader is a blessing in disguise.
A challenging question isn’t always a bad thing. If asked at the right time, it can point out a flaw or an unknown in a plan, while there’s still time to do something about it. Maybe some assumptions were off the mark. Maybe the scope or the focus of the plan needs to be adjusted. If the connection to the organization’s goals isn’t as clear to others as it seemed to you, maybe you need to start over.
When I’m asked to take on a new project, I ask myself, and the person doing the asking a few questions (not necessarily with these exact words):
- “How does this fit with our priorities?”
- “Who is the executive behind this, and how committed are they?”
- “What new resources are available, or what current work can we stop doing or delay?”
and one final question:
- “Why we are we doing this?”
About Joe:
Joe Williams and his son John run a communications research, training and consulting company. Joe also leads Dialogue in the Desert, a workshop on strategic thinking and communication planning. In March he’ll hold his 100th week-long workshop held in the Sonoran Desert in Arizona. At the workshop I attended in 2001, we learned how to talk to horses as a way to learn about personal communications.
I think Joe’s a great teacher. If you’re not into touchy-feely stuff, you might not like some of the mind-stretching exercises Joe takes people through.
Photo by J.H. de Rojas
Tags: communications planning, strategy, business, corporate, joe williams, dialogue in the desert, training, workshops
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POSTED IN: Communication Plans, Executive Mindset, Office Politics, Strategic Thinking
1 opinion for Corporate Darth Vader Asks: Why Are We Doing This?
Darth Vader
Jul 29, 2007 at 12:02 am
Yes, that’s the exact type of question I would ask…
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