_edited.png)
The Problem Isn’t Your Team
Have you ever explained something to someone on your team, heard them say “Sure, I understand perfectly,” and then watched them do the exact opposite?
Before you assume you’ve got the wrong people, let me tell you something: the problem probably isn’t them. The problem is probably you.
The curse of knowledge
In behavioral psychology, there’s a fascinating phenomenon: the more you know about a subject, the harder it is to explain it to someone who knows nothing about it.
Once you learn something, your mind can no longer go back to the moment when you didn’t know it. And without realizing it, you assume others think the way you do, use the same words, and share the same shortcuts and experiences.
That’s why the best engineer, the best accountant, or the best technician often struggles badly to get their team to do what they need once they become the boss.
A very simple example
A business owner asks an employee: “Organize the warehouse.” The employee spends the whole afternoon working and leaves everything perfectly arranged by size.
The next day, the owner is upset. Why? Because he wanted everything organized by expiration date, so whatever is about to expire goes out first. To the owner, it was obvious: that’s how it’s always been done. But it wasn’t obvious to the employee.
If he had said, “Organize the warehouse by expiration date: whatever expires first goes in front, and everything else goes in the back,” the job would have been done right the first time. Same person, same effort. The only thing that changed was how clear the instruction was.
“Leading isn’t about showing how much you know. Leading is about turning complex things into instructions so clear they’re almost impossible to get wrong.”
To avoid falling into this trap, here’s what I recommend:
Explain it as if it were the first time. Imagine you’re talking to someone who just started and knows nothing about your company, your operation, or how things are done.
Swap jargon for everyday words. Don’t use complicated terms or industry-specific language unless you’re sure the employee knows it. You may think they’ve mastered it because they’ve been there a while, but to avoid looking foolish, they’ll tell you they understood when they really didn’t.
Don’t skip steps. When you already know how things work, it’s very easy to jump from step three to step five. Because of your experience, you assume the other person knows, but they don’t. Explain it step by step.
Explain why it’s done. When people understand the purpose, they make better decisions.
Be specific. Phrases like “just like last time,” “like I told you the other day,” “where we went with that guy I mentioned,” or “it’s urgent” leave everything open to interpretation. The other person doesn’t remember how many people you’ve introduced them to or exactly what you told them. “Soon” isn’t the same as “I need it tomorrow before noon.”
Ask them to repeat the instruction in their own words. A “Yes, got it” proves nothing. When you hear them explain what they’re going to do, you can correct details about places, people, methods, and timing. If you don’t, they’ll do the job as best they can, but you’ll be the only one left misunderstood and frustrated.
Every instruction counts: Every unclear instruction comes at a cost: wasted time, rework, upset customers, and lost money. And every clear instruction turns into something done right the first time, which is exactly what your company and your customers need.
“Your knowledge isn’t valuable for what you know; it’s valuable for the results your team achieves with it.”
Comments