Leaders who set clear goals and expectations, clarify responsibilities for actions, and hold team members accountable for outcomes that elevate individual and team performance. Good leaders create clarity and then ask others to do their part to reach those goals. Checking in on progress and then getting involved to support, coach, or rectify the work lies at the cornerstone of accountability.
Unfortunately, when it comes to scaling the art of follow-up on everything is often difficult (if not impossible) for those few frontline workers/managers responsible for it. It all inevitably becomes a tree of monkeys. How to prevent this, without more people? I do not know.
Any strategies or behaviors to employ when helping those who wish to “maintain the promises (they) make to others (as) a skill that can be developed”??
Starting small is a chief recommendation on building any habit. Making and keeping promises doesn't have to be any different. There is a measure of trust that is imported by someone keeping a promise that might be small, might be out of the blue, but is kept. Perhaps a person can build that reputational trust in this area by starting with a commitment that is very easy to keep.
For those attempting to implement this change, this should be the kind of area that is tracked on a daily basis. Write it down in a list that is sure to be referenced multiple times in the day. If people find themselves missing promises they intended to keep, the cadence of tracking might need to be increased at quarterly increments throughout a day.
You might also consider recommending people turn their to-do lists in this area into scheduled tasks. A to do is less likely to be left undone if there is time on the calendar dedicated to it being accomplished.
Valid points.
Unfortunately, when it comes to scaling the art of follow-up on everything is often difficult (if not impossible) for those few frontline workers/managers responsible for it. It all inevitably becomes a tree of monkeys. How to prevent this, without more people? I do not know.
Thank you for your time.
Our jobs as leaders is to create a patch of heaven inside that “tree of monkeys” hell.
Any strategies or behaviors to employ when helping those who wish to “maintain the promises (they) make to others (as) a skill that can be developed”??
Hi Joseph.
Starting small is a chief recommendation on building any habit. Making and keeping promises doesn't have to be any different. There is a measure of trust that is imported by someone keeping a promise that might be small, might be out of the blue, but is kept. Perhaps a person can build that reputational trust in this area by starting with a commitment that is very easy to keep.
For those attempting to implement this change, this should be the kind of area that is tracked on a daily basis. Write it down in a list that is sure to be referenced multiple times in the day. If people find themselves missing promises they intended to keep, the cadence of tracking might need to be increased at quarterly increments throughout a day.
You might also consider recommending people turn their to-do lists in this area into scheduled tasks. A to do is less likely to be left undone if there is time on the calendar dedicated to it being accomplished.