Ask ACE: How can I ensure accurate understanding of instructions?
Q: How can I ensure accurate understanding of instructions? Even when communication seems really excessive, it's hard to get the right result.
ACE advises: The important issue in getting instructions followed is how the receiver understands the assignment — and how specifically that person intends to act on it.
Both parties must avoid characteristic errors.
Busy managers can lay a lot of information on a staff member, get a brief acknowledgement … and then hustle off to other obligations.
The assigned person may think he/she understands, then find out in the process that some important points are missing. Or the person didn't really listen or think the matter through, and doesn't even know how to start.
The solution can take one of several forms, all of them simple but requiring a little time and thought at both ends of the communication process.
First, the senior party must invest time and effort in knowing the receiving person well enough — level of knowledge and experience, communication habits, etc.
Second, the presentation of the assignment must be thought through with the particular individual in mind, and the handoff must reflect that preparation.
Third, the delegator must ask for — and listen to — the delegatee's plan for carrying out the assignment. If it is complex, the person should present it in writing. Not only can the senior party correct misunderstandings, but the receiver solidifies intention through the act of articulating a plan, however simple.
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