Cartoon - Following Instructions
Following instructions seems so simple. And yet, time and time again, inhabitants of the business world become frustrated because instructions are not properly carried out. What causes these breakdowns in communication?
Carelessness. Most lapses result from faulty follow through. That’s why it’s extremely important to be ready to take notes at all times.
Fear of asking for clarification. Most of us dislike being regarded as witless, thick headed boobs. Therefore, we avoid asking questions such as “What do you mean?” We must remember that the smartest among us are the ones who ask the most questions.
Inability to communicate clear instructions. Issuing instructions requires just as much skill as following them. Instructions which are vague or illogical invite misinterpretation and all out confusion.
Contradictory marching orders. This occurs frequently in large organizations. Boss “A” says, “Increase inventories!” Boss “B” says, “Decrease inventories!” In such situations, asking for clarification requires not only humility, but medal of honor-level courage.
The “I’m Smarter than You” syndrome. Many of us like to think we’re smarter than the boss. It’s tempting to think, I have a better way to do this. Sometimes we do, sometimes we don’t, but either way, bucking the system throws a monkey wrench in somebody’s machine.
I’m not saying we should all walk in lock step. We have to strike a balance between following instructions and using initiative. So the questions is … how do we do that? Something to ponder over the holidays.
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Hi, Brad!
I’m a little late getting to this one, but I’d say the answer to your question is that it depends on how much “wiggle room” (aka employee empowerment) our particular employment situation/organization allows. It’s equally dependent on how receptive management is to input from rank and file employees. The ideal boss/manager, who’s been trained in and feels comfortable with modern management techniques encourages open communication between management and lower-level employees (as long as it’s productive and not a waste of his/her time) and allows those employees varying degrees of empowerment. It’s always a judgment call, though, to decide how to handle each individual situation.
This next comment is slightly off topic in that it doesn’t pertain to employee instructions, but your third point about the inability to communicate clear instructions has really been brought home to me in the apparent recent trend toward very poorly written documentation (aka manuals) for electronic products, appliances, etc. (which, of course, falls under the category of technical writing).
One would expect the individuals who write such materials to have a special skill for making technical topics easier to understand and to be thorough and complete in their descriptions/explanations; yet so often these days I find this not to be the case. It’s very frustrating for me, as a highly analytical type, to discover that many product descriptions and instructions for use are not at all clear and often don’t cover very basic questions that a user or potential user might have about the product or its use.
This is not only frustrating for purchasers of these products–probably necessitating huge numbers of otherwise unnecessary calls to the companies for technical support–but also highly likely to be the cause of many decisions not to buy a product, since it hardly seems worthwhile to try to decipher the low-quality product information available. I can’t help but wonder how many other people, besides me, have noticed this. Just one of my growing pet peeves.
Thanks for a thought-provoking post!
Jeanne
Jeanne, thank you for your thoughtful comment! Instruction manuals are a perfect example. I wonder if it has something to do with products being manufactured outside the U.S. and manuals being poorly translated or written by writers for whom English is not their first language. Even if that’s the case, you’d think manufacturers would test manuals on real users to work out the kinks before publishing them.
Brad,
I certainly think you may be onto something there. It’s similar to the way most companies tend to hire foreign customer service reps to field technical phone calls these days, which can make it very difficult for those callers who have trouble understanding their foreign accents–though it IS different in the sense that the customer service reps do generally tend to be quite knowledgeable and well able to converse in English, though their accents may be difficult to understand.
In the case of the technical manuals, their writers may actually have difficulty translating their knowledge into easy-to-understand English wording. Though I often find that too much important information has simply been omitted from modern product manuals, making them overly simplistic and leaving far too many unnecessarily unanswered questions in the user’s mind. At least, that’s been my personal experience.
Wouldn’t it seem as if the manufacturer would try to anticipate the questions the user might have about the product and attempt to answer them in the product documentation materials? That doesn’t seem too much to ask–at least not to ME.
Jeanne
Jeanne, perhaps these companies should hire American writers (you, me?)to copyedit manuals.
I’m all for that, Brad!
Jeanne