The Two Reasons Why Your People Aren’t Doing What You Ask
I speak to leaders all the time who are very frustrated with some people on their teams because those people aren’t doing the things that the leader wants them to do. Assuming the asks from leadership are clear and the team members know what’s being asked of them (you’d be surprised at how often they’re unclear or totally oblivious because the leader hasn’t messaged these things concisely but has instead insinuated or made gentle suggestions), team members don’t do what’s being asked, almost always, because of one of two reasons.
They don’t know how to do the new thing.
They don’t think the new thing matters enough to do it.
In both of these instances, the onus is on the leader to shift this.
People don’t like to look foolish, so many of us will continue doing something that may not be totally effective if we haven’t seen a model of the new thing, had time to practice it, and been given feedback around it.
Think about your life outside of work. Is there something you do that doesn’t make a lot of sense? Has someone told you there’s a better way to do it, but you’re still doing it the same old way? For me, I hold a pencil like a caveman. I’ve been told this since I was a kid. But no one ever showed me the right way. No one ever helped me learn to do it the better way. My hand cramps almost immediately because of my technique and my handwriting is atrocious. But I keep doing it because the better way eludes me.
Many leaders are okay at telling people how to do things. They’re much worse at showing them how to do things. Don’t assume, even your best people, will know how to do the new thing without a model, training, and ongoing feedback.
As for not thinking the new thing matters enough to do it, this is less an indictment of your people and more indicative of how busy they are, how many competing priorities they have, how you messaged the new thing, and what you’re doing on the back end to ensure people know it does matter.
If you roll out a new initiative without compelling rationale for why your people should care, it’s likely they won’t care. Furthermore, without accountability for the team around the new thing, your team will likely deprioritize the new thing in favor of the things you do hold them accountable for.
Of course, there are cultures and teams that are so toxic that people don’t do what the boss asks just to give a middle finger to them. Still, I’d argue that these folks are unclear as to why the new thing matters and likely aren’t being held accountable for doing it as well. And, for the culture to be as bad as I’m describing, this has probably been the case for other initiatives and for a long time for employees to be that bitter.
Teach your people how to do things instead of telling them what to do. Make sure the context for why you’re doing it is airtight, anchored in data or the impact you’re intending to have, then ensure accountability is sky-high so the thing happens consistently. Otherwise, you risk being the leader who’s easy to ignore. And no one wants to be that leader.