Have you ever wanted to give someone advice, but don’t know how to present it? To start, begin your advice by drawing their attention first. You could provide a rhetorical question, a phrase, or a fun fact. Whatever approach you take, it is not needed to account for their response as you only need to draw their attention. Giving advice is central to effective leadership and decision making; it’s a life skill worth improving upon.
When providing advice, ensure that your receiver is actually interested in the advice (I.e. it’s applicable to them, especially at the moment). Otherwise, you’d be wasting both of your time and neither of you have gained insight from one another. Thus, prior to giving advice, make sure that they have reflected upon their efforts (ex: they tried very hard to win a sports game) and that they are ready to hear your wisdom. When applicable, remind them when your advice is useful and when it is not. It is always up to your receiver how they will handle your advice so ensure they understand when to follow it or not.
To give advice, keep these 6 things in mind:
1. Understand what your receiver is struggling with
2. Define the problem as best as you can (in your head and/or with the person)
3. Seek their current way of thinking
4. Brace for disagreements and listen
5. Refer to your personal experience
6. Refer to the future
In summary, before giving advice, clearly understand what and how they are struggling. When giving advice, listen to their side and see where their flaw may be (or in some cases, your flaw too). Always refer back to your experience to show them how you achieved the advice that you given (i.e. have you struggled personally with it before?). Last, but not least, the future should be mentioned. Now that you have given them your advice, let them understand how to move forward with it.
There are many strategies on how to give advice, but those 6 things will almost always exist in the process. Giving advice is part of your personality. In all honesty, there is always more than one way for you to give advice to someone. Ranging from giving them a hint and letting them think; physically showing them how to do something; providing examples; to verbally guiding them to do it, the world is yours to explore.
From time to time, your personality will change, and your skill of giving advice will too. Additionally, you may also be wrong in the advice you give, but that is also part of your development. Once in a while, you will be wrong, but understand that an advice is a lesson you wish to give. It could be a direct lesson to your receiver, but also an indirect lesson to the giver.
It is always an honor to give advice to someone. That means that they trust you and your experience enough to listen to your wisdom. In my own experience, I have had many opportunities to give advice, but my most vivid memories of these are always the ones where I know they are engaged. I found that a clear understanding of the issue, development of a solution, and promises of the future is what advice is all about. It really is a gift. Beyond this blog post, I hope that my advice empowers you to appreciate and apply the beauty of giving advice.
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