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?
They are being difficult, it’s quite clear what happened.
Anyways, no matter how vague you are, it isn’t normal to think the email is the thing that needs sending when the email chain itself is about sending out a product.
Sounds like he has some form of dyslexia. Best thing to do is be as clear as you can with him and expect him to take things very literally. Its a tough line to walk though since it’s easy to come off as patronizing and have him feel insulted.