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Ask the plain questions: what is this for, who reads it, what matters most, how long should it be. People hold back because they feel they should already know, and then lose a fortnight to that embarrassment. The answers usually take one short conversation, and they tend to bring the reason with them, which is worth as much as the instructions.
Read! In the name of your Lord who created (Quran 96:1). The very first instruction is to find out, which puts asking in good company.
العلق
ٱقۡرَأۡ بِٱسۡمِ رَبِّكَ ٱلَّذِي خَلَقَ
Read! In the name of your Lord who created
Qur’an 96:1read it in the library
Translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem, The Qur'an, Oxford University Press, 2004.
A meta-analysis combining planned behaviour and self-determination research found that motivation which feels self-chosen predicts intention and follow-through better than motivation that feels imposed. Understanding why a task matters is part of how it starts to feel like yours. That research was on health behaviours, so the link to a work brief is a reasonable extension rather than a tested one.
Martin S. Hagger; Nikos L. D. Chatzisarantis (2008). Integrating the theory of planned behaviour and self‐determination theory in health behaviour: A meta‐analysis. British Journal of Health Psychology doi
Strength of evidence: one line of research. A single study, or a theoretical account.
Knowing why something matters gives you something to work with, not just something to comply with.
If you are helping someone get moving, start with the thing they mind about, even when you can see something else that needs it more. A goal a person picked for themselves is the only kind they will chase when you are not in the room.
Two kinds of pressure get things done: the kind that comes from outside you, like deadlines and someone waiting, and the kind you generate yourself. Both are legitimate.
When you are the one helping, let the tone stay warm and a little funny. A person can hear a hard truth about their own week if it does not arrive solemnly.