The Answer to How is Yes

Because she used to work in advertising sales, my mother often asked for directions when going to see a new customer in a less known town.

One time she approached a traffic cop with the question. He patiently explained were she was to turn and go. When he was done, he asked her if she understood and remembered the directions and she said she did.

His next question was - tell me how I get there, then.

She stumbled through several corrections and had to redo a couple of times, but eventually she was able to repeat it. That was the only time she got to her appointment without having to approach someone else for directions. She got there because she had to visualize for herself how to do it. That's what made the cop's "how" hit home.

I see it all the time in conference evaluation forms: "speaker didn't tell me how to do something". Often they did, you just couldn't play it back because you're not executing or visualizing it. The other case is that when the speaker gave you plenty of "how-to"s, you're happy, but you are never going to execute on them. You know why?

Instead of Benchmarking, Start Bench Pressing

Do you ever wonder why the usual posts and articles with what seems like the same advice over and over get so much traffic and comments? I do.

The "how" question answers whether the authors are actually implementing the advice or just talking about it, for starters. But that's not all. Are they asking and answering the bigger question? The question that would and does warrant a response before any "how". Surprisingly, the answer is not just "because".

It's great that one can sit down at a conference and hear someone from a large organization implement a Second Life program, or a large scale integrated program with all sorts if good content and tools. Now tell me, how are you going to implement that within your resource constraints? Cut Second Life? Cut the events? Do Webinars instead? 

What makes their program successful is the marketing foundation - and budget - they have, their company culture, the number of staff working on it, and their services that lend themselves to the tools. Are you going to tell me their "how" applies to you?

Furthermore, even if it did, your results may vary depending on the relationship you have with your customers and the challenges your business faces in the first place. And I'll throw in something for you to think about - I want to know that you've done it.

I want to know that one to three months after you attended that session you raved about you actually executed on the advice.

Stop Whining, Start Winning

It will be helpful when and if you do because you can then build on your experience at the next event. Which is a much better alternative to not learning as much as you thought you would. You cannot delegate your experience - you have it proportional to your desire to be involved and active.

Social media is not the same destination for everyone. Often the question is not "how" exactly you get there - that is probably more appropriate for you to figure out. There are better questions.

For example, why do what and who is going to be involved? Critical thinking needs to marry common sense. You're responsible for the critical thinking. Or, you could pay someone to do it for you according to your specific circumstances.

Critical thinking is not in the scope of work of a conference talk or even a brief discussion in the hallway. It's more like what you'd get in a workshop where you get to actually do things yourself. It's in your daily work routine that needs to change. If you haven't been doing the work, your answers will be mismatched to the questions.

The Answer to How is Yes

This is not mine, by the way. Organization development consultant Peter Block came up with the line, which is the title to a really good book he wrote a few years ago. You might consider reading it.

Why? That is the crux, why is a much more difficult questions than how and we continue to skirt it with volumes of "how-to"s. The challenge is to rethink basic cultural assumptions. Block asks how the pervasive archetypes of engineer and economist - those of cause-and-effect and predictability - could truly share the stage with the creativity, imagination, mystery and heart of the artist and architect.

He talks about change, which is what is holding you back. You think you can just apply the same learning mechanisms and terminology of traditional marketing to social media. It's an entirely new way of thinking about the question that needs to take place.

How do I get more customers to buy more? How do I get more new customers? The answer to how is yes. You need to want to do it - really do it. Your customers are telling you and each other how, you're just not listening. Or they would tell you if you gave them the chance - if you just asked.

But, you're just like the conference attendee who's constantly hoarding information they're never going to use.

[images of IBM ad campaign and Peter Block redesign of social space]

Comments

[Rich Becker]

Exactly right.

One the most common complaints I hear about motivational speakers, for example, is that the advice seldom does more than motivate people for a day, with the lack of sustainability eventually blamed on blames on the speaker. In fact, it usually has more to do with one day not being enough to break routine or the sheer amount of time dedicated to refuting every detail just learned.

All the while, time keeps ticking away and the opportunities pass. I think dialogue is much more fun when it's confined to forward motion.

All my best,
Rich

[Joe Raasch]

Hi Valeria,

"Stop talking. Start doing." This is now part of my auto-email signature at work. Thank you!

Believing in a common solution (saying 'yes') is a great way to collaborate and get the best work from all involved. So much energy gets expended on whether versus which.

Joe

[Jerranna Cannady]

So I have been hoarding information and asking how to questions about blogging for myself as an employee of my company instead of waiting for my company to blog. I have been paralyzed by thinking about it. Asking others about it. Talking about it.

Thank you for this butt kicking. I am now off to Wordpress to Stop Talking and Start Doing.

Jerranna Cannady

[Diego]

Way to go Valeria, the energy in this article is great!
The practical approach is vital, certain things can be done only if put into practice with a good dose of courage, and not letting the lack of a particular knowledge stop you.

Diego

[Valeria Maltoni]

@Rich - it's a challenge that exists all around. It's much easier to talk about doing something than actually doing it. Most of the time because to do something you may need a process, or a way to keep the momentum going. I use running (endurance training) and the commitment to sports to learn about perseverance (and failure).

@Joe - collaboration is all about saying yes. Especially when you invent something new, there is no baseline, there is no map - only possibility. The distance between opportunity and success is implementation.

@Jerranna - now we know you were serious. I'm thrilled that you started your blog http://jerrannacan.wordpress.com/ Welcome to the blogosphere.

@Diego - thank you. I wrote it after my morning run, I think it comes across. Courage - great point! We try to emulate others and best practices because doing something different takes courage. It means stepping forward. We know you're not afraid to try that.

[peter]

Sometimes I think we're like a fish in a stream that hasn't worked out (a) they're suspended in water and (b) which way their pointed and (c) which way the stream is flowing.

For the fish, survival depends as much on what flows toward and past than how hard it swims. Momentum is all around carrying opportunity toward and away.

When we talk it's not that we're not doing that's the problem - its that we've generally stopped watching ( what we talk about is all that we can see).

Peter