Giving clear understandable instructions is one of those things that sounds easy to do but in real life can actually be more complex, especially in an office environment or within a business. Mixed messages, assumptions and multiple options mean that the message received might differ from what we actually meant.
This article, provides 7 useful tips to give instructions that are clear and get the job done:
1. Don’t assume everyone know what you mean: An imperative when delivering clear instructions is to not assume the recipient knows what you mean, and this can be for anything from industry acronyms to who to contact in different departments or organisations. It will only take you a few seconds more to explain the details, but this will give a crucial help for achieving the result.
2. Be clear and specific: Whilst you don’t want to ramble on in your set of instructions, you do want to ensure that your instructions are clear, specific and concise. Using bullet point reduces the temptation to waffle on and it helps your instructions and actions be more focused.
4. Give examples: Whenever possible, make sure you give examples. This will be especially beneficial if they are new to the role, or if they haven’t carried out the task before. This will help to add clarity to you instructions and help form a clearer picture of what it is you mean and want.
5. Give alternatives: When delivering your instructions it is worth considering giving some alternatives just in case our preferred option of instruction is not viable or available. By giving alternatives you are empowering your staff to get the job done with minimal fuss and constant checking back in with yourself.
6. Set boundaries: Once a task is set, the instructions should be clear enough that further confirmation and clarification is not needed. If this rings true with you then you need to make sure that your instructions are clear so that they are certain what they are doing and don’t feel the need to keep coming back with questions.
7. Get clarification: Before you let your staff loose on the basis of your instruction, it wouldn’t hurt to seek clarification from them to ensure that they understand what the task at hand is and what is expected.
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