Communication is like lettuce

It was a nice day in August and it seemed like a good idea to make a sandwich with my 5 year old daughter for lunch.

I pulled all the ingredients out and things got underway — until the realization struck that we had no lettuce in the house, but had some in the garden.

So being the smart delegator I am I asked my daughter to run over to her garden box and get us “some lettuce”. And off she went excited to be contributing to the sandwich making process.

Five minutes later I was all ready for the sandwich to be completed and looked outside and she was swinging away happily — no lettuce was coming.

I once again asked her if she could get “some lettuce” for the sandwich.

This time lettuce had arrived — victory!

I looked down and with the excitement of contribution she laid two half, maybe even less, pieces of lettuce on the cutting board. She had done her task correctly and was excited to have done so.

"WTF" is what my mind said.

The moral here isn’t about the lettuce it is about lack of clear communication. I took a step back about what had happened and realized that this was entirely the fault of the delegator — me.

First, I had the expectation that the amount of required lettuce was known to my daughter, it was not - the amount was only known to me.

My second mistake was that I had not communicated just how much lettuce was needed.

Now, to put things into perspective, it was only a sandwich — we still ate it so whatever.

However, apply the same realization to your business, such a lack of communication could have dire consequences.

The formula of “people should know what I expect” without clearly defining it will not only lead to failure but can also lead to personal conflict. It is for the delegator to not only know what he expects but also to communicate those expectations clearly. Other people aren't mind readers!

Next time I’m asking for exactly 5 pieces of full leafs of lettuce.