Yes I know literally
there are only two. From my experience though whenever I ask the question,
‘What stops people doing what they are supposed to do?’ - it boils down to
three ‘Cs’:
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· Clarity – they aren’t clear on what they are supposed
to do or why
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· Competency – they don’t know how to do it. Even if
you were to put a gun to their heads (not a management technique recommended
by the way) they couldn’t do it
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· Commitment – they are not motivated to do it to their
best abilities
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So when you
are faced with a task ask yourself if it meets these three criteria. This works
for you and those you manage. The way you apply it to others is slightly
different though.
I have often
found that as managers, we fall down too easily on providing enough clarity. I
sometimes get participants to play the game where one beats out the rhythm of a
tune and the others have to guess. Rarely are they successful and yet the
person beating the rhythm cannot understand. It’s because the ‘drummer’ has
more information in their head! So when we delegate a task it’s too easy to
think because we are clear others must be. The only way to find out if someone
else is clear is to ask them how they are going to carry it out. They may for
example assume they know if you simply ask them, ‘Are you clear on this?’
Once they
are clear on the task it’s much easier to check if they then know how to do it
and how to do it well. Again the only way to be sure is to ask them.
Finally we
often assume that others’ motivations are the same as ours. This is sometimes
true but it is certainly not safe to assume that it always is. I believe
absolutely that you cannot motivate others directly. If you try you will only
wear yourself out. You can only help them to ignite their own motivations.
So how do
you find out what motivates them? It’s simple really – ask them! Ask something
like ‘What would really motivate you on this task?’ Often by changing it a
little, by for example adding some responsibility or aligning it to their
values – it can make a huge difference.
So success
is about these three ‘Cs’. It is also about getting used to asking yourself and
especially others more questions about what will lead to success.
Kevin Parker
Read my book: Purple Monkeys! A Leader’s
Practical Guide To Unleashing The Power Of Questions To Achieve Great Results’
available on Amazon and all good book shops
