Why This, Why Now? How to Explain the Why Behind Change
Why this, why now is the first of the 5 Questions of Change, and it means getting clear on the actual reason a change is happening, and why it needs to happen now instead of later, before you try to get anyone else on board. Skip it, and you’re left saying “because I said so,” which rarely works on adults.
This matters more than most leaders think. A 2024 Employee Communication Impact Report from USC Annenberg and Staffbase found that only 49 percent of employees who receive messages from their supervisor actually feel familiar with their company’s goals, and 54 percent are not familiar with their organization’s goals and vision at all. If people are not clear on where things are headed in general, they are not going to be clear on why one specific change needs to happen either.
This is Question 1 of The 5 Questions of Change, the change management framework I built from working with real people and real teams, not a textbook.
What Does "Why This, Why Now" Actually Mean?
Why this, why now asks two things at once: why does this change need to happen at all, and why does it need to happen right now instead of six months from now? Both halves matter. A change with a strong why but no urgency gets shelved. A change with urgency but no real why gets resented.
Why So Many People Struggle to Explain the Why Behind Change
When I ask friends, family, and clients how good they are at explaining the why behind a change, I get everything from “people come to me to learn how” to “I plead the fifth.” Most of us land somewhere in the middle. And it is not only a boardroom problem. I have watched people struggle to change the color of a bathroom, redo their landscaping, or switch a vacation destination, because they never got clear on why the change mattered enough to make it stick.
Don’t Over or Underinflate the Urgency
One of the biggest traps is getting the urgency wrong in either direction. Overinflate it and everything becomes an emergency, which burns people out fast. Underinflate it and nobody takes action when you actually need them to. If you have used the Eisenhower Matrix to sort what is urgent versus important, you already know: not everything is both. Get honest about where your change actually falls before you go explain it to anyone else.
What Nick Fury Got Wrong
Picture the Avengers. Nick Fury sends an email telling the team they now need to come into the office four days a week for six weeks. No context, no reasoning, just “see me if you have questions.” Everyone is furious, and Fury cannot understand why nobody is on board.
The fix was not a better delivery. It was a better why. Once the email explained the reason behind the schedule change, what success would look like, how the team would benefit, and what they would need to plan around, the friction dropped and the team got behind it. Same change. Completely different reception.
When the Why Is Real, People Feel It
I had my air conditioning go out in August, in Las Vegas, which is exactly as bad as it sounds. The company that came out to fix it did not just tell me it needed replacing. They showed me the corrosion, walked me through what was failing and why, and mapped out my options. I trusted them enough to sign a service contract on the spot.
Something similar happened when I got a nail through my tire. The repair shop rolled the tire over and showed me the nail through the sidewall before they said a word about replacing it. Compare either of those to being told to take out the trash because I said so. One builds trust. The other builds resentment.
What Gets in the Way
The biggest blocker I see is leftover command and control thinking: do it because senior management said so. That might work on a kid taking out the trash. It does not work on an adult who wants to understand what is in it for them. If you are the one delivering the change and you do not have the why, go get it. Ask the leader who handed it to you. You cannot advocate for a why you do not understand and expect anyone to follow you.
How to Explain the Why Behind Your Next Change
Before your next change conversation, whether it is a work initiative or a decision at home, get specific about why this and why now. Write both down in one sentence each. Say them out loud. If either one does not hold up, that is useful information too, and worth sorting out before you bring anyone else into it.
Frequently Asked Questions About Explaining Change
Why is explaining the why behind change so important?
Because people do not get behind a change they do not understand. Recent research from USC Annenberg and Staffbase found that roughly half of employees are not familiar with their own company’s goals, which means the message is breaking down before it ever reaches the people expected to act on it.
What if I don’t know the why myself?
Go find out before you try to explain it to anyone else. Ask whoever handed you the change for more context. You cannot advocate for a why you do not understand, and people can tell when you are faking it.
How much explanation is too much?
It depends on urgency and audience. The goal is not to over-explain every detail, it is to be accurate about why this change matters and why it matters now, so people are not left guessing.
Watch the Rest of the Series
This post covers Question 1 in detail, but you can see how it fits into the full framework in The 5 Questions of Change, or keep going to Question 2: What Does Success Look Like When We’re Done?.
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Working through a change where the why is not landing with your team? Contact Jason directly. Every training he has led started with someone reaching out first.
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