We are products of an action-oriented culture. We like movie action heroes and we tend to value mantras like, “Just do it.” We typically reward and admire action, because that’s what we see. Results are what gets measured and what gets measured is what gets done. Given an uncertain and challenging economy with shrinking resources and financial stress, management’s primary focus is usually on taking action to address the urgency of the situation and get the desired results. Managers expect employees to “Start doing things this way.” “Stop doing things that way.” “Trust me, it will work.” Frustration occurs when employees don’t get with the program quick enough.

What’s true is that when dealing with human beings we can’t cut corners and ignore the psychology that drives us. For real, sustainable action to occur more quickly, managers should first focus on the groundwork that people typically need to have in place before they can begin changing the way they do things – to act differently. Laying this foundation involves two often neglected steps.

Step 1 is to be sure that the language and terminology is understood by those who are expected to act or behave differently. Peter Block, the noted author and consultant, has frequently written about the power of language and how change first occurs by changing the language. Semantic misunderstandings are often unknown, yet significant, obstacles to taking effective action. Managers should first be sure that everyone understands the terms being used in the way they are intended, before moving forward with any initiative.

Step 2 is to focus on the thinking. What ideas, assumptions, beliefs need to change in order for the desired action or behavior to take place? Managers need to help provide the answer to the basic motivation question, “What’s in it for me?” Many significant and potentially advantageous initiatives never get implemented effectively, or at all, because management assumes that the merits of a useful idea or solution itself will be instantly recognized and will result in immediate buy-in. Consequently, a lot of management time is spent addressing resistance to change, after the fact, instead of investing time upfront strategizing about ways to help change the thinking before new approaches, procedures, systems, etc. get implemented.

When people are clear about the specific language (i.e. what “merit-based performance” really means), and they have time to think and process anticipated impacts (i.e. what will be lost and what will be gained by acting or behaving in a different way), Step 3 which involves action, can happen in a manner that produces results much more quickly.

I believe that one reason more attention is not spent on addressing the language and thinking issues is because it involves planning, and planning is not sexy. Planning takes time and doesn’t involve any action you can see immediately, so it often gets minimal attention and is abbreviated. Sometimes we need to go slow to go fast. Some thinking regarding the benefits of planning needs to change if we really want effective action to occur more quickly in our organizations. Maybe what our culture needs is to have an action hero like Jason Statham star in “The Planner” and provide us with a good role model.