I don't understand, I can't, I don't want to. Why aren't employees doing what you ask, and how can you overcome it? – Shumilin Alexander – Alpina Publisher – 2026 – ISBN 978-5-00206-160-0
I don't understand, I can't, I don't want to. Why aren't employees doing what you ask, and how can you overcome it?
14.99 €
In stock
I don't understand, I can't, I don't want to. Why aren't employees doing what you ask, and how can you overcome it?
14.99 €
You assigned an employee a simple task, and two days later, you discovered they were doing something completely different. Your first thought was, "They're procrastinating and don't want to work." This book begins with exactly this story: the author was convinced the employee was slacking, but the employee simply misunderstood the task.
Alexander Shumilin argues that when a task isn't completed, the cause always lies in one of three areas. The employee didn't understand what needed to be accomplished, by what deadline, and in what format. Or they can't—they lack experience with this particular task, resources, access, or confidence. Or they don't want to—they find the task boring, pointless, or contrary to their values. The problem is that managers almost always make the same diagnosis—"they don't want to"—and treat the wrong ailment: they motivate someone who simply doesn't understand, and they bombard someone with instructions who understands everything but doesn't see the point.
The author offers a memorable metaphor: understanding, opportunity, and motivation are an employee's air, water, and food. Without air, a task "dies" in minutes, without water, in a couple of tries, without food, slowly and painfully. First, we check the air, then the water, then the food.
Further, there are tools for every situation: how to set tasks so they're understood the first time (including written statements based on the BLUF principles and the Minto pyramid), what's wrong with SMART and how to supplement it, how to ask questions about tasks, how to argue when "because I said so" doesn't work, how to decompose complexity, how to use control not for supervision but for development, and how to deal with motivation without pizza and fiery speeches.
Each chapter ends with a block of key ideas and a short practice that can be applied in the coming week. This is not management theory, but a working guide for those who have been promoted and haven't been told what to do with people.
Alexander Shumilin argues that when a task isn't completed, the cause always lies in one of three areas. The employee didn't understand what needed to be accomplished, by what deadline, and in what format. Or they can't—they lack experience with this particular task, resources, access, or confidence. Or they don't want to—they find the task boring, pointless, or contrary to their values. The problem is that managers almost always make the same diagnosis—"they don't want to"—and treat the wrong ailment: they motivate someone who simply doesn't understand, and they bombard someone with instructions who understands everything but doesn't see the point.
The author offers a memorable metaphor: understanding, opportunity, and motivation are an employee's air, water, and food. Without air, a task "dies" in minutes, without water, in a couple of tries, without food, slowly and painfully. First, we check the air, then the water, then the food.
Further, there are tools for every situation: how to set tasks so they're understood the first time (including written statements based on the BLUF principles and the Minto pyramid), what's wrong with SMART and how to supplement it, how to ask questions about tasks, how to argue when "because I said so" doesn't work, how to decompose complexity, how to use control not for supervision but for development, and how to deal with motivation without pizza and fiery speeches.
Each chapter ends with a block of key ideas and a short practice that can be applied in the coming week. This is not management theory, but a working guide for those who have been promoted and haven't been told what to do with people.
See also:
- All books by the publisher
- All books by the author