Does this situation sound familiar to you:
You instruct, teach and exemplify. You give your very best to let the person understand why and what you expect him or her to do.
“Yes, I understand. I know. That’s no problem” are the answers you hear.
Great! You think to yourself. That was easy.
To your surprise, however, the very next day, you notice that nothing has been changed. The things are still being done in the old fashion.
You get upset and start asking why! Is it so difficult to understand what I said? Why they don’t follow? This certainly is a management problem, you think. There must be consequences when someone doesn’t follow what has been agreed upon.
If you ever have been in this situation, here is the thing:
It is not a management problem and you don’t have to create a punishment system to enforce compliance.
In most cases, people don’t just ignore instructions because they are rebels. In most cases, people don’t follow because they lack understanding. It is impossible to really understand something by only listening to someone else’s explanation.
Understanding comes from trying, training, experimenting, exercising, failing, and adapting. That’s how true understanding is gained.
Easy as riding a bike? The video from Smarter Every Day brings it to the point:
The difference between knowing and understanding is huge.
Hard work is needed if you really want to understand something.
Next time you find someone not following your instructions, think about, there might be one simple reason:
