Why Employees Need Direction (In six sentences)

Throughout my career I have never really had anyone telling me exactly what to do, so I have paved my own way and set goals that I thought were important. And at times I have valued my work more than others for one reason: I was never told what I should try to achieve and never forced an answer to the question.

As a brash young marketer I always felt like I knew the best way and it didn’t matter what anyone else thought. But now I know that I needed to fight for more clear direction from my managers… and with direction I would have been happier and more effective.


Simply put, good management provides direction that creates:
- Alignment between your activities and the company’s goals
- Agreed upon, clear check in points to measure success and determine if you are on the right path
- Clear value of your work to the organization if/when you want to be promoted or need other people’s time
- Room to breathe and be creative within a larger framework for success; and
- A sense of urgency to succeed

Are you providing enough direction to your team?