How to Get Clear Instructions at Work
It's their job to teach you.
In a perfect world, the people assigning us work would send over sufficient background information ahead of time, teach us new skills with patience, graciously answer all necessary questions, and provide moral support and clarity of vision.
If that's the kind of person you're working with, feel free to skip the rest of this and advance to the next post. Collect $200 as you pass "Go."
Just kidding, sort of.
There are some good leaders out there, albeit few and far in between. True leadership is often too thankless a job.
If you're skeptical, know that good people do exist and that crossing paths with them depends on a certain amount of sheer luck. It may not be your fault if you haven't enjoyed much professional mentoring and nurturing yet, and the feeling can really suck.
Without adequate guidance, it can feel like we're not learning anything, we're unable to feel pride or achieve excellence, and worst of all, we're hemorrhaging precious time while life washes by.
By contrast, a good leader makes us feel smart, capable, and trusted.
A good leader sets the example that we may not be good at something right away, but we can learn. If one thing fails, we try another. They actually like being around people and helping others.
All of this is to say that it takes a village to help us perform well at our jobs. We need help from others even if society declares us fully formed at age 18.
So what if we find ourselves on our own? In that case, it doesn't hurt to be empowered with the skills for figuring things out, if only to make use of our own time.
Even in the worst scenarios, if we can find a way to learn something, we can find a path forward.
1. Always Bring a Writing Device
This may seem obvious (but it's not): Don't forget to bring a small notebook and pen (or laptop or tablet) not just to work meetings, but to every professional interaction.
Even if you're casually dropping by someone's desk or just sitting at your own desk taking a video call, you never know when someone will be talking mid-sentence and you suddenly realize you should have been writing everything down.
It's not uncommon for someone at work to ask for a quick chat and suddenly you're being put on a new project.
Or you might be really hitting it off with someone during a networking chat and wishing you could be taking down all the cool insights they're sharing - but you don't have anything to write on.
Because we have smartphones that do everything, there's an instinct that we don't need anything else. But even the best technology has limitations.
A smartphone might be enough to jot down contact information, but for anything longer than a quick note, typing on a phone gets impractical and awkward.
For another thing, it just feels rude to be on your phone during a conversation, even if you're taking the same notes that you'd be writing on paper.
So the next time you get pulled into an impromptu meeting, don't feel bad about taking a second to say, "Wait, let me grab a notepad and I'll meet you there."
After all your hard work to make a good impression, the last thing you want to do is ask to borrow paper.
2. Don't Be Afraid to Ask for Background Information
The first question to doing something is, "What's the goal here?"
If you can't answer that question succinctly, then don't bother with the details. Following a beautiful trail of breadcrumbs to nowhere will get you to exactly nowhere.
The hardest part of understanding something is being too afraid to ask questions.
The most difficult times to ask questions are when someone is in a rush, when you don't understand enough to come up with questions in the first place (which may be due to poor explanation), or when you get that feeling of unspoken hostility from an unfriendly coworker.
Luckily, these are people issues, not technical issues. People issues are more elusive but they are also more within our control.
The execution is simple. All you ever need to say is, "Can we please take a step back," and then ask for the background information you need.
The mental challenges are another story. Under real life conditions, many of us would sooner enlist in a bootcamp than say something that risks rejection or embarrassment.
If we ask too many questions, people might think we're [insert all of humanity's social fears].
The solution to this agony is the same for all our words and actions. Do we believe we're doing the right thing? Is asking this question the right thing to do here?
If the answer is yes, then you have your answer. If the answer is no, then you have your answer.
With experience, you'll know what the right thing is. You'll refine the ability to balance talking with listening; challenging with compromising; thoroughness with urgency.
But as for what others think of you, that's not a part of the equation in figuring out the right thing to do.
3. Don't Be Afraid to Interrupt Before the Train Goes Off the Rails
This one's very similar to the previous, but it deserves its own section because it's such a big deal.
If you don't understand step one of a process, you're probably not going to understand steps nine through ten either.
This is where personal responsibility plays the biggest role.
It's our job to stop the train before it goes off the rails, especially if everyone else has disembarked and we're left in the conductor's seat alone. It may not be fair but it's better than ending up in a wreck.
In practice, if someone has been going on for quite a few minutes and we have no idea what they're saying, the only right option is to interrupt them and ask them to explain again or clarify specific points.
Not only is it the correct thing to do, but it's the only way to truly respect everyone's time, including your own.
Even if someone is momentarily annoyed at being asked to explain something twice (which they shouldn't be because that's part of their job), they would be exponentially more annoyed the longer you allow them to continue talking in futility.
4. Don't Leave Without Confirming Key Information
Finally, make sure you've covered all the major points before you let the discussion end.
Sometimes this information will be self-evident, but other times we might get so hampered by the details that we forget to go over the basics.
Deadlines & key milestones or check-in points
What to prioritize
What the final work product will be (it's not always obvious) and the format
Target audience
How success will be measured
Communication preferences
The goal is to reach a satisfactory understanding, not to exhaust all possible avenues of inquiry. You'll always have more questions later and there's no need to stress over that.
Practice Makes Better
Asking questions and communicating are skills learned not overnight but over years. Practice makes better and, at the end of the day, that's all we can ask of oursevles.
So much that looks easy is really not easy, and frustration with poor instructions can quickly escalate from zero to foaming-at-the-mouth rage when we're under all the stresses of the workplace. But as long as we maintain a growth mindset, we can right the ship each time and keep going in the right direction.