GIVING DIRECTIONS

Who’s Better at Giving Directions, Men or Women? We tackle the answer to the age-old question By Corey Binns Posted He Said, She Said, Bottle your frustration—you’re both right, you just can’t understand each other. He says go straight for three miles and turn east. She says drive past the school and turn right at the green house. Both sets of directions will get you to the same grocery store just as easily, but they embody the language barrier between the sexes that lurks behind many a front-seat argument.

Deborah Saucier, a professor of neuroscience at the University of Lethbridge in Canada, examined the differences in phrasing in her 2003 study. She observed that, after studying a map and being asked how to get to various locations, women typically give directions that feature landmarks and left and right turns. Men, on the other hand, employ compass directions and distances measured in minutes or miles.

Some animals, such as homing pigeons, have extra iron in their nose that helps them turn toward the magnetic north pole. But men’s internal maps, Saucier theorizes, most likely date back to our hunting ancestors. During a hunt, men would stray far from home and into unfamiliar territory to bring down wild animals. They may have relied on tracking the position of the sun and their innate orientation skills to find the most direct route home.

Meanwhile, prehistoric women, who gathered more- sedentary food, probably found their way to and from the most bountiful and nutritious plants with the help of landmarks. In a study last year at the University of California at Santa Barbara, evolutionary psychologist Joshua New tested this theory in a farmers’ market. After a single tasting tour of the market, women could more accurately point to food stalls they had visited, noting, in particular, the locations of foods with high energy content. With the benefit of food stalls as landmarks, women knew their way around better than men.

To compensate for the gender differences, Saucier suggests giving disoriented people both male- and female-oriented instructions. “People get a lot less lost that way,” she says. giving-directions-men-or-women

GIVING DIRECTIONS Somewhere along the line, you are going to have to tell another person how to perform a task. Whether teaching your kids how to use the dishwasher or training new staff at work, your ability to give good instructions will affect the speed at which they learn. Explain things properly and you only have to do it once. Explain things poorly and you will have to do it again. You might even need to fix things that were done wrong.

Here are some tips to make sure you communicate instructions effectively: 1.Get people’s attention. Before giving any instructions, make sure you have the attention of those who should be listening. 2.Be clear and specific about what you want. Break the task down into step-by-step procedures. 3.If you’re unsure whether or not people have really understood you, have them repeat your message using their own words. 4.Demonstrate or illustrate whenever possible. 5.Only give a small number of instructions at any one time. People have trouble remembering large amounts of information. For more complex tasks, break-down the instructions to each part of the job.

Here are some more tips to make sure you communicate instructions effectively: 6. Use direct and specific language. Say exactly what you mean. Don’t leave people guessing. 7. Don’t rush your instructions. Clear directions save time. 8. Avoid misunderstandings by asking the person how they’ll approach the issue or task and why. Have them repeat your instructions when you’re finished. 9. Don’t get sidetracked by excuses or disagreements. Restate your instructions one more time if necessary. 10. Check back during the initial stages. Give people room to do what you expect of them, but be available to help when needed.