Give your boss confidence: write it down and repeat…

Posted by admin on December 3, 2008 in Jobs

I have had a series of employees that do the same thing that annoys me. When I ask to see them to give them instructions, they come to my office without anything to write on. It frustrates me to no end since what ends up happening is that they forget half of what I ask them to do (I am fast-talker) and they have to sheepishly come in to my office saying “what was the last thing you asked me to do again?”

I mentioned this particular frustration to my esteemed columnist, Mom2KG, and her husband last weekend and, lo and behold, it happens to them too! I hate to generalize but the three of us agreed this tended to happen more to younger workers. My pet theory is that as that as you get older you tend to forget things so you always write things down. When you are younger, you have a better memory (its actually not better, its just not cluttered with a million different things) so you take for granted that you will remember everything. I have actually bought employees notebooks and they never bring them to meetings! Argh….

Now, its one thing to write it down. Its another to ask if you don’t understand it. This is something else we talked about too. ASK QUESTIONS WHEN YOU ARE GETTING INSTRUCTIONS IF YOU DON’T KNOW. Its better to be ignorant at the instruction taking stage then after you finished the assignment and its inaccurate because the instructions were interpretted incorrectly.

Ideally, if you want to give your boss confidence, please do the following:

Come prepared to the meeting. Bring something to write on. I actually have color coded notebooks. The black notebook are client notes, the brown notebook are management meetings etc. Loose pieces of paper make you appear disorganized (at least to me).
Ask your boss to slow down if you are taking down instructions. We know the file well so we tend to skip steps (my biggest mistake. I always find myself saying- “I better back up…” since I am so far ahead of myself. Sorry employees!)
Ask for a due date. I addressed this tip in a prior post. Ask your boss what type of priority to put on the assignment.
Repeat the instructions back at the end of the meeting. In other words, say: “If I understand you correctly, you want me to do the following…” There will be no misunderstanding on what you have to do if you repeat it back in your own words and the boss agrees with you (or, more cynically, you can cover your butt because your boss vetted your assignment).

Anyone care to share pet peeves of employees?

6 Comments on Give your boss confidence: write it down and repeat…

By guinness416 on December 3, 2008 at 10:03 am

The flip side of this is the boss who dumps a file on your desk, starts copying you on emails committing to deliverable dates, and is too busy buzzing from meetings to conference calls and back again to sit down and brief you. Happens week in and week out where I work, especially now that they’re not turning work down (just in case), so we’re even more swamped.

By admin on December 3, 2008 at 11:00 am

Noooo! Bosses never do that!

By money funk on December 3, 2008 at 2:13 pm

LOL! Happens to me too. Finally a coworker of mine wrote the process down after asking the same question(s) multiple times.

By Riscario Insider on December 5, 2008 at 12:58 am

Lack of notetaking is one of my biggest peeves. I wouldn’t single out younger workers, though. This is a rampant problem.

Even in educational conferences, many attendees just sit there. Even if you have perfect recall, think of the optics. You look more prepared and more professional when you take notes. Impressions shape reality. There’s nothing lost by taking notes. Even if you throw them into the recycle bin later.

By Nancy (aka money coach) on December 5, 2008 at 6:31 pm

The lack of note-taking could be that we’re less oriented to paper and pen these days in general. I kid you not – my handwriting skills have seriously plummeted. It’s all about the laptop for me and hauling paper and pen around feels foreign. (I solved this by being a bit shi-shi and getting a moleskin and fountain pen to at least add an aesthetic component to the process)

By Jana on December 8, 2008 at 7:56 am

As a young worker I always take notes. I was burnt early on by a boss who would tell me one thing, decide to make a change but never communicate it, and then hold me responsible for not delivery on the new requirement. The cover your ass principle works both ways.

I’ve always taken notes on blank computer paper. I find notebooks (and lines) restricting. With blank paper, I can easily sketch out solutions and write notes without it looking messy. I also place the notes at the front of each project file. So instead of sorting through a book and many pages of notes, I just turn to the particular project file and everything I need is there.