Why is it that 63% of projects or goals fail?

Seemed really high to me until I checked out other blogs and posts that claim its 70%….I like my sources better and I think 63% is shocking enough.

AND I was most interested to consider what was happening on the teams that consistently fall into the 37% that succeed.  I wasn’t surprised when I learned it was PERSISTENT FOLLOW-UP.

So then I started thinking about how much we hate working with the micro-managing leader.  We ridicule her–there are comic strips devoted to this leader.  I know there are times I have been the micro-managing leader. I think I may have worn it as a badge of honour at times in my career and, I seem to recall, getting results more often than not.  I left a few unhappy people in my wake though AND that is NOT necessary.  To influence progress without micro-management requires a leader to improve her skill including but not limited to her conversational skills.

In this week’s ImpactBank: the Kickass Koach episode, I share a story of when I tested a new approach to get the results I wanted by reducing my micromanaging tendencies.  I needed to adjust my accountability strategy:  persistent followup without the pain of micromanagement.

I hire great people and then the Leader micro-manages them until they walk out the door…

Have you ever been afraid to be seen as the micro-manager.  You’ve bit your tongue and sugar-coated the feedback or follow up questions just to be LIKED?  It is tough to be a leader in the workplace today.  Well its tough for everyone from what I’ve seen.  When your leader isn’t confident or skilled enough to follow up and support your efforts you are not able to grow and learn.  AND we all want to get better, after all, personal and professional progress feels FANTASTIC.  In today’s work environment you, as a leader, may find yourself anticipating the unavoidable pain (and yes we know social pain is perceived by our brain the same way as physical pain) of the next 360 assessment when, like the worst of social media, people can tear you apart and call you names anonymously.  There’s got to be a better way to develop leaders.

So where is the middle ground between getting results and holding the respect of your team?

I realized that there was a way to use persistent followup to support people and accomplish great things together.  I know not everyone in the story I share in this episode immediately saw the value of my approach so I had to let go of being liked while I tested the idea.  Thankfully for me, that isn’t a big problem.  I had a purpose and that kept me going. (That’s where knowing your values as a leader help you persist.)

 “I know that I have the ability to achieve the object of my Definite Purpose in life, therefore, I demand of myself persistent, continuous action toward its attainment, and I here and now promise to render such action.” ~ Napoleon Hill

I’ve coached many managers and leaders over my career and I’ve witnessed how difficult it is, especially for the newly promoted leader, to maintain a consistent and persistent approach to follow up.   Usually, by the time you enter leadership (director position or  C-Suite) you have established a few interesting habits.  In management the focus is more on the transactional relationships (although I would argue that organizations who have invested at the outer levels of supervision and management reap the rewards that naturally come from transformative management skills) AND once you are in leadership, to have an impact, you must be transformative in your approach.  Influence is your means to make things happen now.  You are no longer an administrator, you are a leader.  I would argue… to be a leader, people must follow you….this requires influence.

So here’s the approach I tested to shift myself from micro-managing to leading with persistent followup and you can hear me talk about it on this week’s podcast of ImpactBank: the Kickass Koach.

1. Set the expectations.  As a team we looked at our budget and identified what each department needed to contributed for us to succeed.  This depersonalized the expectations and made it about what was needed by the unit to achieve our targets.
2. I had to Model the Way.  While I wanted them to ask each other the questions I suspected it wouldn’t work for me to ask them or, worse yet direct them, to do that so I used an old trick I learned from a leader years ago…more Show, less Tell.
3. Set up regular Progress Updates.  I decided, to achieve my goals, I needed to hold daily progress chats with the entire Leadership Team with a very open structure of inquiry.  My goal, in addition to business goals was to build a culture of alignment, cohesion and a self-direction. I knew it needed it to be a team experience if we were to accomplish a team of accountability for and with each other.  I envisioned being the one who simply set the expectations and then held the space.
4. Be Consistent or predictable with the follow-up system.
   • Set up the frequency of your follow up to match the project or types of targets the team has established OR maybe it changes as the team adjusts to your system or the project progresses, like in the example I used in this week’s podcast.
   • I recommend developing and modeling an approach based on inquiry.  The questions you use and when you shift to taking less of a direct roll in the follow-up will depend on your team and the situation.  Two examples of types of question I found helpful include:
     1. Tell me what you’ve done and what you need from me.  Then, before I would dig deeper to understand I would give each person a chance to answer.  I found this was a useful approach one-on-one with each leader as well.
     2. As movement was happening I would shift the questions to something more like: What progress have you made and what help or support do you need from me or other members of the team to continue productively?

the quality of your approach to closure in a conversation, including every meeting, will increase the shelf life of the conversation 

I will warn you that when you haven’t used questions robustly as part of your leadership style, you may find a bit of resistance.  When I made the shift in my style in this particular position, it took awhile for people to accept that I was really interested in what they had to say and to trust that I wasn’t simply challenging them or looking to catch them with a wrong answer.

One last thing…don’t forget these are conversations that require a solid recipe for you to make them work.  Go back over my earlier episodes both in the podcast and blog posts for ideas on developing a recipe.

In addition and more generally, I suggest 5 C’s for successful and persistent follow through:

1. Consistency:  You will find when your team knows generally what to expect, they will come to the progress update conversations and all meetings, for that matter, better prepared and open to engage.  As we will talk about in the next series, our leadership brain is wired to appreciate and perform better when there is more certainty.
2. Clarity:  This requires full engagement.  Over time, I found with this approach each team member came to value the input of others.  When realizing how their input increased the quality of the exchanges and the work down between our meetings, they offered more and more.  Clarity was established by the back and forth AND that is only possible in open and frank conversation.
3. Candour:  It was the regularity of the our conversations that slowly encouraged candour.  AND when we realized we could make better decisions both at the table together and each in their own departments with more information, the willingness to be candid grew.  I am not certain it was ever easy though!
4. Commitment:  For each member of the team to take action there needed to be a commitment made and kept by each member.  “I will do “X” (step) by “Y” (time)” AND if I can’t keep my commitment to my colleagues for whatever reason I will give everyone notice as soon as possible.  By the way, research has shown that, that which is specifically agreed upon, is accomplished 85% of the time.
5. Closure:  The quality of closure iin conversations matters.  It may seem more symbolic AND we know, at some level, symbolism is powerful.  I argue the quality of your approach to closure in a conversation, including every meeting, will increase the shelf life of the conversation and its objectives for every participant.  I found by simply asking for any final comments including how members were feeling about what was ahead or if they saw any obstacles we had failed to address we all left better prepared to support each other.  ALSO I would ask someone to recap the commitments so there was no misunderstanding.  Then we were off to make things happen.

that which is specifically agreed upon, is accomplished 85% of the time.

Leaders and faithful followers alike have complained frequently to me about how wasteful meetings any many conversations are because nothing gets accomplished.  IF this is our biggest complaint and when your productivity numbers continue to back this up, isn’t it the time to start practicing PERSISTENT FOLLOW-UP.

The ImpactBank: the Kickass Koach podcast will continue to address conversation as a critical leadership skill even as we move to other topics.

NEXT TIME: a new series begins when we will explore Leadership ON THE  Brain.  How your brain may get in the way of  your leadership influence AND how you can adjust to build more powerful relationships and inspire continuous improvement.

Join my mailing list.  Each month members on my mailing list will receive tips and tricks related to my podcast.

Test your own ideas on persistent follow-up and see what kickass goals you and your team can accomplish.