Sorry Nike, "Just Do It" doesn't work.

How often do you ask somebody to do something, thinking you are perfectly clear in your request, and they either do it wrong or not at all?

Now, how often have you considered that the problem may be with YOUR communication style and NOT with the other person's competency or capability?

There is plenty of research to explain why this is so including Victor Vroom's 1964 book "Work and Motivation" in which he shares his Expectancy Theory. http://books.google.com/books/about/Work_and_Motivation.html?id=kexEAAAAIAAJ

Simply put, Vroom recognized that to merely tell someone to do something is rarely effective. We must, instead, invest in the person and the request by motivating successful accomplishment of the task.

This model for motivation has three key ingredients. First, the person with whom we are making the request must understand the RELATIONSHIP between what we are asking them to do and the outcome we expect to achieve. They must believe by doing "A", "B" will result.

Second, the person must believe they can be SUCCESSFUL in doing "A" and making "B" result. They need to have the knowledge, experience, necessary resources - capability to achieve "B".

Lastly, once they understand the relationship between the request and the expected outcome AND believe they can be successful in achieving the outcome, they must VALUE the outcome. Completing the request and achieving the desired result must somehow be important to them. Rewards, recognition, sense of accomplishment, compensation, and pride are often common motivators. Depending on your relationship (formal or informal) their wanting to please or impress you may also play a part. Regardless if the person values the outcome you've requested on their own or you've built the value, it is a critical piece of the puzzle.

Now I know you're thinking, "This is too much work - why can't they just do what I ask because I said so?" How often do you use the "Because I said so" approach? How's it working out for you?

I am suggesting an alternative - an investment of your time to clearly explain and motivate success rather than a spending of your time (after the request was not completed or done wrong) revisiting the request and trying to clarify and fix the problems caused. I am also willing to bet that you'll find the investment in following this motivation model will be far less time consuming than regularly cleaning up after mis-communications and the issues they cause in the long run.

Another benefit to being a clearer communicator and achieving more of the results you are requesting is the IMPROVED relationships that result in our mutual successes. People generally want to do good work. When we can be the people who help set up these successes with a skilled communication style, we increase our ability to influence the world around us.