Tuesday, May 1, 2018

How Leaders Can Start Improving Instruction Giving

By Ruth Graham


As a leader, one has to know how to properly give instructions to his subordinates otherwise they will not be able to deliver the desired output. Often times when the output is not up to standard or simply not good at all, the fault lies within the instructions that were given to the subordinates. As a leader, one must reflect on himself and start improving instruction giving to make it clear.

The art of delegation first lies in the subtle art of proper communication. One has to know how to properly communicate the message to the people under him in a way that is clear, concise, and understandable. This will make him be able to do better in work and also avoid miscommunications of any kind with people.

Now, if one wants to be a good leader, then one has to first start changing his mindset and stop thinking that his subordinates are expected to know things they do not know. The problem with most managers is that they expect their employees to know things that were not even taught to them yet. An example would be the jargon and the SOPs that the company has. The first step is to first stop using so much jargon and start with the training.

When it comes to training, it is very important that one trains employees completely at the start. This is why there are often training programs that are created for new employees. This will ensure that the employees will know how exactly they should fit themselves in the company and how things are run there.

Next, one has to break down instructions in bullet or number form so that his subordinates can see the steps. This is to ensure that everything is featured step by step and that there is no confusion whatsoever. Also, do not speak too fast otherwise the subordinate might not understand.

It is also good if one can make a copy of the task and the instructions so that there will be no pinpointing if the task is not done. For small tasks, one does not need to shoot emails or anything, but for the bigger ones, emailing the nature of the task and instructions is an SOP. This ensures that the boss will know who takes responsibility.

Lastly, encourage a culture of openness so that the subordinates will not be afraid to ask any questions. One of the failures of most leaders is that they make their subordinates scared to ask questions. In fact, questions should be encouraged so that the subordinates will have a clearer understanding of the task on hand and will yield better results.

As one can see, giving instructions is not just about telling people to do this and to do that. Rather, it is about communicating to people what exactly should be done and having them learn what to do. As long as a leader knows how to instruct his people properly, then his people will definitely be able to produce good results that are up to standard or even better.




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