An Ambiguous request - [website] Published: 23rd of Mar 2011 by: (c) Staff Training Reporter
Asking someone to do something and finding out that it’s been done all wrong can be extremely frustrating, but oftentimes it’s actually our own fault.
Now I know what you’re thinking, it’s not you that’s wrong, it couldn’t be. At least that’s what most of our managers are thinking. But the fact is that from as early as our schooldays we’ve been getting, and giving, ambiguous instructions.
The scene is a familiar one to many of us, especially over email:
“Sipho, can you please collate yesterday’s documents and send them to me by tomorrow morning?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Or actually, can you have it to me by the afternoon but include a detailed response to the problems raised in last week’s meeting?”
“Sure thing, boss,” comes the relpy.
But if Sipho doesn’t find out exactly what he is meant to do he’s probably going to make a hash of it.
Does his boss mean all of yesterday’s documents? Which exact documents is he referring to? Does he mean only the problems that pertain to ‘yesterday’s documents’ or all of the problems that were raised in the meeting?
Being precise in your instructions is crucial if you hope to get the results you’re after and by doing this you make each person accountable for their specific tasks.
It’s important to answer the Who, What, Why, When, Where and How questions in your instructions. This way there is no confusion as to what is being asked, and this in turn will lead to better results.
