Ki and Education (7) Offering Proper Instructions

Many participants in our Executive Officers’ Training express certain problems to me.

Some of those problems are:

“My subordinate is not capable, and cannot accomplish my assignments satisfactorily.”

Or

“My subordinate has no motivation, and I never see him work with a positive attitude.”

Perhaps others see these kinds of problems as well, not just Executive Officers. It is important to realize that these thoughts arise from a basic misunderstanding.

Before you read on, please think what this misunderstanding could be.

Consider:

Each of the thoughts listed above proceed from the idea, “It is the subordinate that is at fault, not me,”

Having this perceived notion, the boss will try to change the subordinate’s attitude before changing his or her own, and of course the subordinate will react against it. The relationship between the two will break down, and once that happens, the rest will become a negative spiral.

Still, the subordinate’s capability and motivation can be the cause of the problem. But most of the time, the problem is the boss’s poor ways of explaining and assigning.
With a small reminder and corrective suggestion, this situation can drastically improve.

In this article, I would like to introduce two problems that are often seen during the assigning process:

The first of the problems is not explaining the idea of the assignment sufficiently. When the boss assigns the subordinate a job, some bosses forget to explain why it has to be done. Without this “why,” the subordinate’s job can become a fool’s errand.

And to tell the truth, I actually made this mistake myself. I once asked my own subordinate to go and check the site where I was about to hold a training session. However, I neglected to explain thoroughly the reason “why” I needed this information.
My purpose was that I wanted him to check the site from the participant’s view. For instance, how to get to the site from the nearest station, whether there are safe lockers for luggage or not, and the location of restaurants, so that we could coordinate movements on the day of the training session.
But I failed to explain this to him, and just sent him off to check the site. So he went and came back and told me, “It is a large and very nice site they have,”

If you are explaining the idea of a task, mostly you should imagine how you would do it on your own. It is usually the boss with a poor explanation that keeps the subordinate from performing correctly.

The second of the problems is uncertain instructions.

Some people tell the subordinate to “try hard,” or to “do one’s best,”

By doing what can you try hard?
By doing what can you do your best?

In the first place, the words that the boss uses and the words that the subordinate comprehends are often different. That is because everyone has a different image of each of the words and phrases used. By telling the subordinate specifically what the purpose of the task is, or what we might call the job success, the subordinate will understand and will be able to use mind and body to accomplish the task.

If the subordinate does not understand clearly what to do, and what’s more, if he knows that if he fails he will be scorched, the subordinate will lose his or her positive attitude.
By fully understanding what needs to be done, the attitude of the subordinate can remain positive.

Some of you may think, “Do bosses have to go that far in their explanations?”

Of course it is both essential for subordinates to be able to understand the boss’s idea, and important to gather highly capable people that can actually do it. But, it is a rare person that can automatically perform well without being educated. Most will become capable through special training. Therefore most subordinates become highly capable only when the boss trains them properly.
It is always essential to offer instructions that the listener can easily understand.

I have been speaking of an employer and a subordinate in a company, but if it were at home, it would be parents and children, and if it were at school, it would be teachers and students.

The same principle prevails in all these relationships.

Let us all work on this challenge!