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When teams stall, it’s rarely because they don’t know what to do. It’s because the why is fuzzy or the how is chaotic. Great leaders clarify meaning—why this matters now, to whom, and what “good” looks like. Great managers translate that meaning into repeatable practice—cadence, owners, and feedback loops that keep progress visible.
The split that speeds execution
- Inspire the why (leadership): Link the work to purpose, outcomes, and identity. Paint the end-state and the tradeoffs.
- Manage the how (management): Provide constraints, sequences, and signals so people can move quickly and safely.
Make the “why” land
- Name the stakes: What breaks if we don’t act? What unlocks if we do?
- Define success plainly: Three observable indicators that we’re winning.
- Connect to identity: “What kind of team are we when we do this well?”
Make the “how” repeatable
- Weekly rhythm: A 30–45 minute session with a stable agenda: decisions, dependencies, risks, and one measurable commitment per person.
- Lightweight visual: A single source of truth (board or doc) with owners, due dates, and status (done/on track/at risk).
- Feedback in the flow: Short, behavior-first feedback within 48 hours: “I noticed… The impact was… Next time…”
Common failure modes
- Purpose theater: Inspirational decks without any operating changes.
- Process without meaning: Cadence and metrics that don’t ladder to outcomes people care about.
- Over-specifying the how: Micromanagement that kills learning and initiative.
The 2×2 you can use tomorrow
Draw a simple 2×2: Why (low/high) by How (low/high). Plot each initiative. If you’re high-why/low-how, add structure (cadence, owners). If you’re low-why/high-how, pause to clarify outcomes and tradeoffs before executing harder.
One-hour retrofit: Reopen your current initiative. Spend 20 minutes rewriting the “why” as three sentences anyone can repeat. Spend 40 minutes designing one weekly forum and one shared board that make the “how” visible and sustainable.