When we are in charge, we tend to think that decisions will naturally be implemented once they are made. However, observation shows that many decisions are never executed. How to combat this phenomenon?
Anticipate execution
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Encourage your subordinates to state their ideas in terms of concrete projects to make it easier to move into action.
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Define clear responsibilities for execution to avoid procrastination or wasting time with tradeoffs.
Encourage an action-oriented culture
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Set deadlines, e.g. Organize regular updates to keep the pressure on and ensure the project continues to move forward.
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Remind people that a certain amount of risk is inherent to any initiative and that only people who do nothing never make mistakes, e.g. Thank people for taking initiative, even if they fail.
Keep initiatives consistent
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Clarify priorities to avoid spreading people too thin. Indeed, implementing a few good ideas is better than launching many projects which never see the light of day.
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Rally people around existing projects, e.g. Provide support when challenges arise and celebrate victories.
Take action
Review the ongoing priorities (1h)
Given the large number of tasks to undertake, regularly reviewing the priorities is imperative to ensure effective progress.
Rapidly review the current priorities with all your team members, for example during a team meeting. Make it clear that the objective is not to discuss each topic but to list them and share a common understanding of the priorities.
Make sure you spot the loopholes: have some important actions been left aside or wrongly identified as a low priority?
Redefine the priorities from this global perspective: should some actions be cancelled or postponed to address more important ones? Have others become more urgent or important?
Ask one of your team members to follow up on the decisions made during a meeting (5 min)
Decisions generally only get implemented when someone feels in charge of the progress.
During the next team meeting, ask one of your team members to write the meeting minutes. Ensure that for each point discussed, the resulting action point and its deadline are noted. Communicate these minutes to all the attendees after each meeting.
Begin the following meeting by reviewing the progress of each action point. The team member in charge should have validated with each action-owner the progress against plan on each of the topics.
Ask your team members about the obstacles they are facing in their projects (15 min)
Talking about the difficulties they encounter will enable them to progress more effectively and to move from one project to another.
Invite your team members to explain to you which difficulties they are facing in the project they manage, and how they propose to face them. Encourage them to consider future situations: could we avoid repeating such difficulties? What could be done to better address them?
Share this experience with the rest of the team. Do some have other ideas to avoid or overcome such obstacles? What could we do differently in the future? E.g.: better information sharing, earlier cooperation, better training on certain competences, etc.
Practical Tips
> Facilitate the progress of an action plan
> Create an action-oriented mentality within work teams
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