Workplace Multiplier by Tola Akinsulire

April 17, 2025

Welcome to the Workplace Multiplier newsletter. Published Monday to Friday, equipping you to achieve your professional goals faster and without burnout or overwhelm by leveraging The Triple Win Method.

Why your brilliant ideas get ignored (it's not what you think)

Howdy ,

"I sent that email three days ago and still no response."

Sound familiar?

Yesterday, we tackled why we tend to overshare in our communications. Today, let's explore the second villain: why people don't take action after reading your messages.

Understanding this mystery is the key to becoming truly influential at work.

The Action Blockers

Here's what's really happening when your messages fail to drive action:

1. Information overload: The human brain shuts down when faced with too many details – it's a biological defense mechanism, not laziness

2. No clear next step: When readers finish your message thinking "That's interesting, but what am I supposed to do with this?" – action stalls

3. The cognitive tax: Complex language and convoluted structure makes your reader work too hard to understand – and they'll subconsciously delay tasks that require mental effort

4. Competing priorities: Your message didn't make a compelling case for why your request should jump ahead of 50 other priorities

5. Ownership ambiguity: When it's not 100% clear who needs to do what by when, everyone assumes someone else will handle it

The Reality Check

Here's something I've learned the hard way: No matter how important your message is to YOU, it's competing with dozens of other priorities for your reader.

One of the things I tell people on the teams I lead is this - you are competing with the rest of social media for attention.

If people enjoy a social media post, they simply click “like”. A very low-bar action to take. If they don’t, they continue to swipe.

And if the author wants more from them, they make an ask - “share this”, “Comment”, “DM me”, “click the link” or “check my bio”.

You can now imagine sending emails to such people without making the next action very clear.

You have rigged the game against yourself!!

Your job isn't just to inform – it's to make taking action the path of least resistance.

The same way the game is played on social media.

Your Action Plan: The Action Accelerator Framework

Try this approach in your next important communication:

1. State the required action first: Don't bury the lead – put what you need right at the top

2. Be ridiculously specific: "Your input needed on slide 5 by Thursday at 2 pm" vs. "Let me know what you think when you can"

3. Reduce decisions: Every decision point creates friction – make the path forward obvious

4. Create visual priority: Use bold text, bullets, or highlighting to make action items impossible to miss

5. Add context last: Only after the action is clear should you add the "why" behind it

For high-stakes requests, try this: After drafting your message, show it to someone unfamiliar with the situation and ask, "What would you do after reading this?" If they can't immediately tell you, revise until they can.

Tomorrow, I'll share why standing out with your communication style can transform your career trajectory.

Keep winning at work and in life,

Tola Akinsulire

Your Strategic Workplace Mentor

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Want to get in on some of the lessons I have picked up in my career? Get my eBook "21 Lessons I Learned in My Career - A Primer to Help You Become Better at Work". Get it here

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