Thursday, May 10, 2018

Tips For 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.

Now, one thing that one has to take note of is that the art of communication plays an extremely important role in instructing. One has to know how to delegate by serving as an example who knows how to make things understandable. Making instructions understandable and easy to do is the way to avoid miscommunications.

The first thing to do is to stop assuming that people can understand jargon, especially if they have not been trained yet. A lot of managers often complain that their employees do not follow instructions and end up with bad results. This is usually because these employees do not understand what their managers are talking about but are too afraid to ask. So the first step is to avoid jargon as much as possible and teach the definition of jargon if they are needed.

Second, one has to focus on training and orientation. As early as the start, leaders or bosses already have to start training the subordinates of what is to be expected of them so that they will understand instructions in the future. As stated above, do not assume that subordinates know what to do even before being oriented or trained.

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.

One other tip that one can do is to make sure that the instructions are written down or sent as a soft copy. A lot of managers send emails with complete instructions and have them CCd to other staff so that there is no blaming. This also helps bosses keep on check who takes responsibility for the tasks.

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.

If one wants to be a leader, then he cannot just think about telling people to do this and that. Instead, he has to think about communicating his ideas in a way that will make it understandable and easy to do to his subordinates. If his subordinates are able to translate his ideas into actual actions, then he has given them the right instructions and has succeeded as a leader.




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