Often managers protest, "I shouldn't have to tell my employees what to do and how to do it. They should know how to do their jobs already." But then in the next breath, these same managers complain that some of their employees fail to meet expectations often and that most of their employees fail to meet expectations at least some of the time. How are employees supposed to meet --- much less exceed --- expectations if nobody tells them in clear, simple terms exactly what's expected of them?

Real managers give orders. Orders are simply mandatory directions. Maybe you prefer to think of it as placing an order with a vendor: Every time you give an assignment to an employee, imagine that you are placing a work order or a contract with a vendor: Are all the terms of the order spelled out? Goals, deadlines, and all the specifications?

Yes, management conversations should be interactive dialogues. Ask employees to think out loud about how they might approach their assignments. But then skillfully lead them to the right conclusions as fast as possible. That means you need to ask really good questions:
- Ask basic questions: "Can you do this? Are you sure? What do you need from me?"
- Ask probing questions: "How are you going to do that? How are you going to start? What steps will you follow?"
- Ask short, focalizing questions: "How long will this step take? How long will that step take? What does your checklist look like?"

It is simply a fallacy that rehearsing wrong ways of doing things is a good way to learn how to do things right. The best way to engage employees in adopting best practices is to convert them into standard operating procedures --- and then require employees to follow those procedures precisely. Turn standard operating procedures into checklists. Talk through those checklists in detail and often. If you want expectations to be clear, spell them out, break them down, and spell them out again. Follow up, follow up, and follow up some more.