Why do people fail to do what's expected of them?
Last decade (yes, that was in 2019!), we left a question hanging, “WHAT can we do to INSPIRE our followers?”
(Happy new year and new decade everyone!)
We already know that the literal meaning of inspire is to breath into. More than 8 decades ago, a man named Dale Carnegie said emphatically, “There is only one way under high heaven to get anybody to do anything. Did you ever stop to think of that? Yes, just one way. And that is by making the other person want to do it.” (Source: How to Win Friends and Influence People, ISBN - O-671-42517-X)
He felt he needed emphasis and so he followed that up with, “Remember, there is no other way.” One can’t help but wonder what made him so confident and adamant that there IS NO OTHER WAY.
I have been in the learning and people profession for more than 2 decades. In the course of my career, a lot of people brought me cases after cases of failures of people to do what they are instructed to do. And in 100% of the time, sadly, they come to me because they want them “trained” so they can perform their jobs.
Throughout this experience I have deduced that question of WHY PEOPLE FAIL into 3 vital questions (Given there is adequate resources and that other people are able to do what needs to be done- meaning it is reasonably and humanly possible to do it.):
- Does the person know WHAT to do and HOW to do it?
- Can the person do it WELL?
- Does the person WANT to do it?
In my experience, in more than 90% of the time – the reason is number 3.
I am confident you can recall a time when the person knew exactly what to do, had the ability to do it but failed to do it. And you wonder why.
Years ago, while I was working for a global organization I analyzed all 8D Reports for 1 whole year that mentioned anything related to “training” as a reason or a contributor to the failure or some form of solution to a problem. In about 6% (I would learn later that the rate is higher in other companies) of the 8D reports there was a mention of some form about training having caused a problem or as action to a problem.
As a training professional, I could not let that continue so I issued a request to the 8D system owner and “all would-be 8D Report owners.” There was one small request that came with the notice: “if they suspect or find training to be a cause of or a solution to” a problem, then they should make me or one member of my team a member of their 8D team. The purpose is for us to understand this predicament a little further.
For the next 8 months, how many times do you think we were invited to become members of 8D team? Take a guess?
The answer?
Zero. Zilch. Nada. Null. Zit. Never
A coincidence? You decide.
As for me, I know EXACTLY why training was no longer dropped as a cause of problem as frequently as before. Everybody knew we would ask the difficult questions. We would challenge assumptions. We would look for data. We would look for evidence. They knew it was going to be tough getting through to us even if that wasn’t our intention (and I mention this with all humility).
Why then did 8D reports too frequently mentioned training as a cause of or solution to problems? Because it was easy to blame training. It is either out of laziness, apathy or ignorance. Worse, people were trying to hide the truth.
"it was easy to blame training"
Once people understood that it would be easier to blame “something else” other than training so they “stopped” blaming training. Whether they got better at determining causes or not I cannot tell.
The point? Well, the point of this whole article in fact. This answers the question in the title rather clearly.
The single biggest reason why people fail to do what we ask them to do is not because they CANNOT – but that they WILL NOT. Why? Because they don’t WANT to do it.
So there. The single biggest reason why people fail to achieve what you want them to do. That then becomes the single biggest problem any company faces. Not competitors. Not lack of skills or knowledge. Not “not being creative enough.” Not lack of discipline. Not the global economy.
The single biggest question a manager should ask himself that will yield the biggest jump in productivity and success for people is this, “how do I make my people want to do their jobs?”
“how do I make my people want to do their jobs?”
The careless and lazy answer is either by imposing fear or lavishing people with rewards and perks and sleeping pods and free meals or Starbucks.
It doesn’t work. In the long-term.
And please don't say training...
So, what works?
Thank you and have a great day!
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