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As coworkers, colleagues, and customers, we instruct people on how to use software, how to get to the cafeteria, how to calculate lease payments, how to strategize marketing efforts, and how to merge conglomerates without chaos. Granted, some tasks are easier than others, but they all involve certain principles of explaining the unknown to a novice or newcomer. The following tips cover everything from media and message to mastery. |
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Tip 870: Identify and pay attention to the signs of poor instructions. |
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Listen to conversations around you in staff meetings, at the grocery store, or in the workroom. Here are the tidbits that provide telltale signs of trouble spots in instruction-giving. "Does anybody have any questions about what I just explained?" (You get only blank stares.) "Does anybody have any questions about what I just explained?" (Answer: ''Would you say it again?") "Nobody told me that." "Why didn't you mention that before we started the project?" "If there's any way to screw it up, these people will." "What do you mean 'delegate'I can do it better and faster myself." Repetitions of the following: "Would you tell me again how to set the timer (run this machine, make these copies, assemble these reports, adjust these buttons, draft this proposal, calculate these figures)?" If these sound familiar, you have a problem with instructions. |
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Tip 871: Understand the magnitude of a screw-up. |
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Until people understand what a low-tech blunder can mean in a high-tech office, they won't be motivated to give instructions the attention they deserve. After we have to clean up our messes globally and culturally, we all eventually learn. |
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Tip 872: Motivate people to "Listen Up." |
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It's generally more difficult to do things you hate to do or don't consider relevant to your personal success than to do something that you enjoy or that will make you a billion dollars. Even when giving instructions, you have to motivate people to try. Make the project understandable, relevant, and important to their personal success. Dwell on personal benefits of the acquired knowledge or skill. |
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Tip 873: Decide whether to delegate projects by goals or tasks. |
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A goal: "See what you can do to improve traffic flow around this office." A task: "Order some shelving that takes less floor space." Neither approach |
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