There are no straight roads.

If you want your people to find their way, expect to help them at every turn.

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Today I walked a few blocks to meet a friend for lunch. There's construction downtown, so it wasn’t as easy as I expected.

But it reminded me of an important truth about the way people navigate new situations or spaces:

We don't navigate in straight lines.

Of course, when we know the terrain and have a clear destination, we do aim for the shortest possible path.

But think about how you find your way in a big park or a new city, even if you've decided on a destination (assuming you don't have your head buried in your smart phone):

• If you're trying to find the famous fountain with the angel statue, you can't just head right for it. You go out of your way to look at signage or to peek around a stand of trees.

• If you're trying to get back to your hotel after dinner, you don't just cut through any parking lot or slip around the corners of buildings. You step out to the curb and peer down the street, or make your best guess using whatever landmarks you can find.

If you’re just looking for “something interesting to do,” you’re not even navigating anymore. You’re exploring, and that’s even more roundabout.

Here's the thing:

When your people are interacting with your organization — whether through your website, or events, or mailers, or anything else — they won't just make a beeline for your call to action.

They explore. They test. They feel their way.

Even if they know where they're trying to go (and very often, they don't even know that).

They will never navigate in a straight line.

It's up to you to provide the hints, the landmarks, and the incentives to help them find their way from one valuable waypoint to the next.

At any juncture, they may get turned around, or decided it's too much trouble, or be distracted by any sparkling object.

Do you know where you want them to go?
Are you helping them stay engaged until they get there?
Have you thought about what motivates them to move from one step to the next?

If you can get those things right, there's a good chance they'll get there.

Most of them actually want to.

But they need your help.

All the best,
A.