There are two questions/frustrations I frequently hear from leaders about the work people are doing in their organizations. One is “why are they doing that [thing that I don’t think is important]?” The other is “why aren’t they doing [that thing I think is important]?”

There’s an easy answer to both: because you didn’t tell them what you thought was important. I’m sure your immediate internal response was, “I can’t tell them everything!” You’re right! You can’t. Realistically, we actually only say maybe 10% of what we mean. We rely on context, precedent, and people’s good judgment to fill in the rest. If they can’t do that, it’s a real problem.

But that’s not the same as expecting them to be able to read your mind. For one thing, you may be saying the wrong 10%. Or you may be saying it wrong. Even if you’re saying it right, you can’t realistically expect people to guess right on the unsaid 90%. This is inescapable trade-off of working with people. They’re going to make different decisions than you. Sometimes they’ll be better ones that you would have made, but even if they’re always worse, you have to accept it. They’re not going to always fill in the blanks the right way. As the leader, this is your problem. Find a way to fix it.