“If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.”
- Henry Ford
Your people are listening and picking up what you put down because you’re the expert.
And, most people are pretty bad at knowing what they want and need.
So, is it fair to say, when it comes to the problems you help your people solve, you know best what your people need? I mean, that’s your job, right?
This is one reason I coach my clients to OWN what they do and to stop outsourcing decisions about their work.
This is also why I’m a ‘no’ to polling groups for business decisions.
What I so often tell my clients: polls give you incomplete data based on biases and don’t show you a true picture.
Because humans are pretty bad at knowing what they want and need, follow what they see other people doing without even realizing it, and avoid chiming in when they’re the odd one out. But, feedback from doing the damn thing is accurate data that tells you what people *actually* think and how they respond in real life.
If you ask, your people will tell you what they *think* they want based on their limited knowledge and beliefs...they’ll tell you they want faster horses.
And, if you ask them if they want a car, they won’t even understand what you mean. “What’s a car?”, they’ll ask. Then, they’ll still tell you they just want faster horses.
Because of their limited knowledge and expertise, they can’t even understand what a car is or know why they want it.
Because that’s all they can see. They don’t have your perspective or expertise.
Want to know the way to get clear on what your people *actually* think and want?
Stop polling groups and asking your people what they *think* they want. Stop giving your people faster horses. BE the expert and do your job to get clear on what they really need and want. Decide what you think is best, then go out and *test* it full-out in real life. Then, sell the shit out of that.
Wishing you your version of success,
