This quote comes from author David Marquet and focuses on leadership in business, but we can all take his advice when we need help from anyone getting a job well done.
Photo by Robert Repairman (Shutterstock)
When you give people instruction, you put them on autopilot. They run through a task list until it ends and don’t bother to think. If you provide an intention you create an end goal to strive towards and encourage people to think about the best way to get there. If you find that you don’t have the proper motivation to finish a task, you can always ask your boss or manager for that intent. It might help you do better work and feel a little less like a task robot.
Intent [Swissmiss]
Comments
One response to “‘If You Want People To Think, Give Them Intent — Not Instruction’”
My CEO tells us that some people need to know the what (literally, what do you want me to do), some people need to know the why (intent), some need to know the how (instruction) and some need to know the what if (options, what to do if things go wrong). When putting together a presentation or crafting an email, it’s important to touch on all of these points.
This is so very much true. There’s no one size fits all with management.