Perhaps key questions to consider are why don’t we like to let others know when we are off track and why is this important?
Edgar Schein (Humble Inquiry) says the likelihood of people communicating problems is directly related to the amount of trust the person has primarily in their boss. He says trust is the biggest factor in all this. So, if a boss wants ‘negative’ (not just positive) information to flow toward them, they need to develop trust.
If we are off track, just a little bit, we can adjust and move forwards (often with the assistance of others). If the information is delayed, then adjustments are never as easy. Often the situation is so bad (on fire) we need to then call in the fire brigade.
I was at a workplace last week when information about being off track was suppressed until it was significantly off track. The person had the right intent, there is no questioning that, but the outcome was significant. During the impending meltdown I heard someone say, “Why didn’t they tell us earlier?”
This behavior (not telling others when we’re off track) is seemingly normal. Why?
If you are a leader, if you want to truly help others to not only get results but also help them as people, then we need to support them. (This, by the way, will build trust.) The key then is ‘when’ to support them and a great time to do this is when they’re off track. What then becomes critical is knowing when they are off track … a little!
Thus, our key message must be ‘Off track is actually OK. Not letting others know and not doing something about it is not OK’. A good leader wants to know when people are off track, they want to know early, what the next step will be and if they can assist.
Right now, stop and think about one of your staff members. How do you know if they are on track? That small fire that they’re working on (in isolation, with no support, by themselves) may soon flare up into a blaze. Micromanagement in most situations won’t help as you will then be doing all the thinking for your team (and that never works in the long term).
Set objective expectations, review these with your team regularly, note when we’re ‘off track’, encourage them when they are off track. Yes, your team will get better results, but we want to support our number one asset, our people, and we want to help them.
If you’re interested in understanding how we now ‘check’ if we are on track/off track at this workplace, please get in touch. Ben.