If you don’t have a defined relationship, follow-up can require more creativity. For example, a woman who discussed inappropriate behavior from a male coworker worried that talking about the infraction might not put an end to the behavior, and so she built in a follow-up. She concluded by saying, “Would it be okay if in a month we met in the cafeteria for lunch? I’d suggest our first agenda item be ‘Am I acting weird toward you since this discussion?’ and ‘Has the behavior stopped from my perspective?’ What do you say?” This candid, sincere, and respectful request was accepted. And when it was, this skilled woman gained four weeks of clear accountability. The behavior stopped.
If you find yourself in a conversation where you’re worried about backsliding, never walk away without agreeing on the follow-up time.
Micromanagement or Abandonment
How frequently you follow up with another person depends on that person’s record and the nature of the task. How your actions will be viewed by others depends on your attitude and objective. When it comes to following up, ask yourself, “What am I really trying to accomplish?” If you don’t trust others, your follow-up methods are likely to be seen as audits (“gotcha!”), and nobody likes an audit.
When people feel as if they’re being watched too closely, they tend to transmute into “good soldiers.” “Just tell me what to do and I’ll do it.” They check their brains at the door. They perceive follow-up as criticism. They feel that they are working for a micromanager and are given no chance to show initiative or creativity. In short, the relationship they have with their boss is not based on trust and respect.
Unfortunately, the sense of abandonment people experience at the other end of the follow-up continuum may cause just as many problems. Cutting people loose is certainly more common in today’s world of empowerment. Leaders don’t want to micromanage. They’ve felt it, they hate it, and they don’t want to deliver it. Micromanaging is bad, and so leaders scarcely follow up at all. Good goal, bad strategy.
Other factors also contribute to an excessively hands-off style. Many leaders (and parents) don’t believe they have time to follow up. They give a great deal of freedom to others, even to people who have been fairly unreliable. Nowadays people in authority spend so much time traveling, answering e-mail and text messages, and sitting in meetings that they don’t even notice that they don’t follow up very often.
Unfortunately, this hands-off style is rarely interpreted positively. People don’t say, “I understand. The boss is so busy that he can hardly find time to follow up.” More often than not, employees conclude, “The boss doesn’t care about me or my project.” Busy parents suffer the same fate. Busyness is interpreted as apathy, and this harms both the relationship and the results.
When it comes to how and when you follow up with others, your intentions will have a huge impact.
How about you? If you think you may be at risk of being seen as a person who micromanages or who is too hands-off, check it out. When making an assignment, describe the type of follow-up you think is appropriate. Explain why and be candid about your reasoning. Then sincerely ask if the other person agrees with the method. When you both agree on the frequency and type of follow-up and you both know it, you won’t be left wondering if you are being perceived as too hands-off or too hands-on.
Two Forms of Follow-Up: Checkup and Checkback
Who initiates the follow-up discussion? Does the person giving the assignment always take the lead, or are there times when the person taking the assignment follows up? Do a checkup when you’re giving the assignment and are nervous or have questions. You’ve looked at the risk, the track record, and the person’s experience, and you’re feeling anxious or uneasy, even tense. This is the time to use a checkup. You take the lead. Get your calendar out. Say something like the following: “Since this is such an important task, I’m wondering if we could meet next Wednesday at 10 to review how it’s going.” You write it down. You are in charge of the follow-up.
The fact that you’re taking the lead doesn’t mean that you are micromanaging. It means that you own the follow-up. It can and certainly should mean that you’re interested in how the task went, what worked, and what got in the way. If the task is risky enough, the follow-up should be scheduled along the way to make sure that all is going well and that you are available to provide help or coach.
Use a checkback when the task is routine and has been assigned to someone who is experienced and reliable. Now that person is in charge. That person checks back. He or she offers suggestions: “How about we follow up at our next scheduled meeting?” or “The deadline is two weeks from today. Could we meet next Thursday 15 minutes before our staff meeting to touch base?”
To achieve the results you want as well as maintain healthy relationships, both checkups and checkbacks can be useful forms of follow-up.
Take Time to Summarize
A planning discussion can be fairly complex and fast-paced, causing us to forget things. Take the time to summarize what’s supposed to go down. It could sound something like this:
“Let me see if I got this right. Bill, you’ll get the nine copies of the report, stapled with a standard company cover sheet, for the meeting Tuesday at 2 p.m. And you’ll check back with me before noon that day if you see any problem. Is that right?”
“Right.”
“Can you see anything else that we haven’t talked about that might cause a problem?”
When you ask for the other person’s input, it can help bring to light issues that might otherwise cause problems. However, the real power of this question goes far beyond clarifying understanding. You’re checking for commitment. When the other person eventually says, “I’ll do it,” that person is much more likely to live up to the agreement. Never walk away from a conversation satisfied with a vague nod. If you care about gaining genuine commitment, give the other person the opportunity to say yes to a very specific plan.
First you set a follow-up time:
• Should it be formal? Should it be casual?
• Should it be a checkup or a checkback?
• Should it be based on the calendar or on a critical event?
That’s the thinking you do up front. Next comes the actual act of following up. Guess what: The biggest problem with following up is not that we do it too often despite the fact that many of us have felt micromanaged from time to time. The biggest problem is that we don’t follow up at all. We set plans, create follow-up dates, and then sort of let them drop. How could that happen?
People Forget
Our first problem is that we tend to forget. Life is so fast-paced, full, and busy, we can’t keep all the balls in the air at the same time. How are we ever going to remember to follow up on all the promises that other people make? Or that we make? The answer is that we can’t, at least not without help. To keep your promises in front of you, do the following:
• Put follow-up dates and times on your calendar.
• Use sticky notes or computer cues to remind yourself.
• Put follow-up times on your agendas.
Reminding yourself to do what is effective is essential in busy environments and times. Families tend to be particularly bad at this. How many people use computers and other electronic devices when giving assignments to children or loved ones? To most of us that would seem cold and too businesslike: “Dad, I’m your daughter, not an employee.” Nevertheless, the times are changing. Find methods, electronic or other.