I work with a person that went presented with a problem, works through it and arrives at the wrong solution. When I have them show me the steps they took, it seems like they interpret things incorrectly. This isn’t a language barrier, and it’s not like they aren’t reading what someone wrote.

For example, they are working on a product, and needed to wait until the intended recipients of the product were notified by an email that they were going to get it. the person that sent the email to the recipients then forwarded that notification email to this person and said “go ahead and send this to them.”

Most people would understand that they are being asked to send the product out. It’s a regular process for them.

So he resent the email. He also sent the product, but I’m having a hard time understanding why he thought he was supposed to re-send the email.

I’ve tried breaking tasks down into smaller steps, writing out the tasks, post-mortem discussion when something doesn’t go as planned. What other training or management tasks can I take? Or have I arrived at the “herding kittens” meme?

  • 🇰 🌀 🇱 🇦 🇳 🇦 🇰 ℹ️@yiffit.netEnglish
    23·
    5 months ago

    My wife told me, “please go to the store and buy a carton of milk and if they have eggs, get six.”

    When I came back with 6 cartons of milk she said, “why in the hell did you buy six cartons of milk?”

    I said “they had eggs.”

    Sometimes being extremely specific helps some people understand. Anything that could have multiple meanings is always open to some interpretation. And while it would be nice if they asked for clarification, they may not because they think they fully understand the instructions.

    • Brkdncr@lemmy.worldOP
      28·
      5 months ago

      Great example/joke. A rational person would either understand that six eggs were wanted, or that six cartons of milk is an odd request and ask for confirmation that they understood the request correctly.

      My problem to solve is how do I fix this? While clear instruction should be given, I can’t be there to translate every request this person receives, nor should I have to approve every action they want to take.

      • aStonedSanta@lemm.ee
        8·
        5 months ago

        You claim you’ve tried and done things to assist this employee but it sounds like you are just looking for advice on justifying them being the problem.