Don’t Let Progress Get Lost in Explanation
When you ask your leadership team a question, here’s an easy way to tell if they’re giving the right response.
How long does it take to get an answer?
If you ask a question like, “Are we on track with this initiative?” you should get a yes or no answer.
Now, if the answer is no, of course some follow-up discussion required. Maybe your team has hit unforeseen obstacles. Maybe they’re working through a challenge right now and want to tell you their game plan. They could be totally lost and need your guidance.
But the actual answer? It’s not a thousand word reply.
***
One place this issue shows up is OKR progress reporting. If you use OKRs, you report every week on whether or not that OKR is on track to be achieved by the end of the current quarter. Each OKR has an owner.
If, instead of saying, “On Track,” you get a monologue, it’s a sign that something is off. That doesn’t mean your team is dishonest or lazy, but it’s a sign that something is wrong and they’re protecting, hiding, or deflecting from a difficult conversation.
You need to be able to parse the difference:
If you ask, “Is this initiative on track?”
And you get an answer like, “Well, as long as we do X, Y, and Z, we should be in good shape,” that’s not really an answer.
That’s a restatement of the existing plan.
Force the answer. A “no” isn’t the end of the world. But until you acknowledge the problem, you can’t start having a productive discussion about how to fix it.
***
“On Track” should not be a feeling. If you’ve defined your goals properly, there is a concrete set of actions and/or outcomes that must be achieved by the end of the quarter.
If you’re 50% of the way through those actions with 2 weeks until the deadline…you’re really not on track.
Are things going according to plan? It’s a yes or no answer.
If there isn’t a real plan, then it’s a no.
If there’s a plan but it’s not being executed, it’s a no.
If there is a plan being executed but not having the intended result, it’s a no.
You don’t need 15 minutes to say, “There’s a problem here.” Get the yes or no first. Then dig into the explanation if needed.
Remember that poorly defined goals allow teams to give squishy progress reports. As much as possible, get out of the gray and start living in black and white. Done, not done. On track, off-track. Keep it simple.
Push your team toward clarity. You’ll surface problems and get to solutions that much faster.
