I work with a person that went presented with a problem, works through it and arrives at the wrong solution. When I have them show me the steps they took, it seems like they interpret things incorrectly. This isn’t a language barrier, and it’s not like they aren’t reading what someone wrote.

For example, they are working on a product, and needed to wait until the intended recipients of the product were notified by an email that they were going to get it. the person that sent the email to the recipients then forwarded that notification email to this person and said “go ahead and send this to them.”

Most people would understand that they are being asked to send the product out. It’s a regular process for them.

So he resent the email. He also sent the product, but I’m having a hard time understanding why he thought he was supposed to re-send the email.

I’ve tried breaking tasks down into smaller steps, writing out the tasks, post-mortem discussion when something doesn’t go as planned. What other training or management tasks can I take? Or have I arrived at the “herding kittens” meme?

  • 🇰 🔵 🇱 🇦 🇳 🇦 🇰 ℹ️English
    23•1 month ago

    My wife told me, “please go to the store and buy a carton of milk and if they have eggs, get six.”

    When I came back with 6 cartons of milk she said, “why in the hell did you buy six cartons of milk?”

    I said “they had eggs.”

    Sometimes being extremely specific helps some people understand. Anything that could have multiple meanings is always open to some interpretation. And while it would be nice if they asked for clarification, they may not because they think they fully understand the instructions.

    • @[email protected]OP
      -6•1 month ago

      Great example/joke. A rational person would either understand that six eggs were wanted, or that six cartons of milk is an odd request and ask for confirmation that they understood the request correctly.

      My problem to solve is how do I fix this? While clear instruction should be given, I can’t be there to translate every request this person receives, nor should I have to approve every action they want to take.

      • @[email protected]
        8•1 month ago

        You claim you’ve tried and done things to assist this employee but it sounds like you are just looking for advice on justifying them being the problem.

      • Froyn
        8•1 month ago

        A realist would get to the store and see they only sold eggs by the dozen and get 6 cartons of milk. 6 eggs isn’t an available option so they must have been referring to the milk.
        It’s also possible they could have meant 6 dozen eggs.

        • @[email protected]
          6•1 month ago

          The answer is that a more precise request gets a more precise result. If you want six eggs, clarify that it’s eggs you want six of.

          It can be tedious for both sidesto think about all interactions in this way, but it’s much more troublesome to have to deal with the fallout of a misunderstanding.

          In the OP, the message could have been “Go ahead and send out this order” and nobody would have questioned what it was that had to go out.

          • @[email protected]
            3•1 month ago

            I’ve taken to writing my notes on a ticket at work as a thought per line. All lead with a -

            -writing lines of notes

            -each line is capable to be its own

            -visibly separate for each thought.

            Then you get people. Who try to. Do stuff like this. Where the info is hidden in a paragraph and it’s just a mess to try and process quickly.

      • @[email protected]
        3•1 month ago

        I think you try having someone else explain it to them. Clearly you and they don’t understand each other.