3 reasons people don’t do what you want (and how to get them to)

Many leaders are perplexed when their people don’t do what they want. They usually blame it on the employee. But that is not always the case. When employees don’t do what you want, it comes down to one or more of these three things that you as the leader are doing wrong.  You are not being clear on what you actually want  Leaders often think employees should intuitively know what they want. That is very seldom the case. Of course, that may be true in the day-to-day activities of a well-defined job description. But in a constantly changing world, your team needs to be flexible. They will often need to implement unusual or unique never-been-tried ideas. So you need to lead your team in many different directions. You should not expect people to somehow know what those directions are. When your people don’t know what you want, it is always because you failed to communicate. Remember the three Cs of critical communications: clear, concise, and compelling. Be very clear in communicating your expectations. Be concise. Now is the time to be very precise. Tell your people exactly what you want. Don’t speak in generalities. Then ask them to repeat it back to be sure they are clear. Finally, your message should be compelling enough to motivate them to action.  You aren’t permitting them to say, “I don’t know”  Leaders also mistakenly assume people know how to do what they want, especially in a new situation. When they don’t know how to do what you want, they may be hesitant to admit it. Permit them to not know. Always ask them if they know how to do it. Then listen very carefully to what they say. They probably won’t say “I don’t know” because they feel that admission would expose them to criticism. They will more likely say they do know even if they don’t. Ask probing, but not threatening, questions to discover areas they may be deficient in. Don’t leave the conversation until you are satisfied they’re clear and know how to do the assignment.  And speaking of not knowing, now is a good time to reskill your workforce. Whatever they know today, it won’t be good enough for tomorrow. The rapidly evolving world of generative AI will highly likely obsolete your workforce if you aren’t constantly reskilling them.   You don’t allow them to disagree Sometimes, people simply don’t want to do what you want. They usually won’t tell you that because that could be insubordination. They just nod their heads but then passively ignore what you asked of them. Or they execute the assignment in a half-hearted way guaranteed to fail.   Often, they disagree with your request, but won’t tell you that. In this case, if you know they disagree with it, you should ask them why—and then listen closely. They may have legitimate concerns about your request that deserve consideration. They may be right in their objections. In that case, you should reconsider and change direction.   They may not do what you want because they don’t like you. This is more common than you think. Should a leader be likable? No. Should a leader be respected? Absolutely. If your people don’t like or respect you, that is a big problem. And that problem is yours. Don’t blame them because you are a leader not deserving of respect. You need to work on that before you can expect people to follow you.  They may not do what you want because they want you to fail. This is more common than you might think. People sometimes want you to fail so they can get your job. People sometimes want you to fail just to make you look bad. People sometimes want you to fail so they don’t look bad. If that is the case, you need to replace them. There is nothing else you can do about an employee who wants you to fail.   Sometimes, they fear they will look bad because you didn’t use their idea. Especially if your idea works and theirs doesn’t. Always be mindful of peer pressure. People always want to look good in front of their coworkers. If you aren’t going to use one of their ideas, don’t make a big deal out of it. Perhaps you could tell your team that the employee had a promising idea, but you just didn’t use it.   Never assume that your employees are all-knowing. Many times, they are not. And most times, it is not their fault. It’s yours. Don’t just ignore the warning signs. Employees that “don’t do,” or “don’t know how to do” what you need can lead to all kinds of business problems, potentially even disasters.