When you are giving people guidance, limit it to three items at most. And giving one item with 12 sub-items is not one item – it is 12.
Here's why; if you provide 5 or 6 suggestions to someone about how they should approach their job differently they may write all 6 items down. They may even intend to work on all 6. But employees are human beings and they face a myriad of tasks that they have to complete today, tomorrow, next week.
Along with these tasks there are the 12 other things that may come up in a meeting the next day. So even with the best of intentions, they will work on 2 or 3 of your suggestions. Consequently, if you give them more than 3 then they will be picking which 3 issues to address. This identifies why it's critical to give no more than 3 items; this ensures your employees focus on the relevant issues you've addressed.
Keep in mind this limit is for when you are giving someone guidance on how to better accomplish their job. If you are discussing task lists, issues that a group needs to address, etc then make the list as long as you need (but always prioritize the items on the list). But for helping people improve how they approach their job – three items max. And yes, sometimes it's very hard to limit it. But improvement is always a series of steps.
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