How to Resolve 4 Reasons People Don’t Follow Through for You
A person who doesn’t follow through is worse than having no one at all.
How to resolve 4 reasons people don’t follow through:
#1. No follow up results in no follow through.
I had a boss who assigned tasks, but didn’t follow up. Often she never brought it up again. I learned to wait for her to ask a second time.
I’m not proud of my no-follow-through strategy. I excused myself because I didn’t want to waste my time doing things that didn’t matter.
Follow up.
#2. Confusion leads to paralysis. A squirrel that can’t decide gets run over. What’s clear to you may be confusing to others.
10 steps to clarity:
- Model the behaviors you expect from others. Watch me.
- Debrief. What did you see?
- Try with me.
- What did you learn?
- Try on your own. Establish where, when, and how.
- Debrief.
- Release, but follow up frequently.
- What’s working? What could be better?
- Relax oversight as confidence grows.
- Teach newly learned skills to others.
Clarify.
#3. Intimidation drains power. The result of intimidation is dependence. Pressuring timid people increases apprehension – apprehension creates dependence.
5 reasons you intimidate, but don’t know it:
- You think you’re smiling, but you’re frowning.
- Your quick mind makes others play catch-up.
- You always think about problems.
- You talk loud and violate people’s space.
- You hoard knowledge and keep others in the dark.
It feels safer to do the wrong thing than to get clarity from a scary boss.
4 ways to soften intimidation:
- Show up when things are going right.
- Share things you learned from failure.
- Tell your face you’re happy.
- When people fail, ask, “What did you learn? What will you do differently next time?”
Connect.
#4. Absence of priority. A person with ten priorities follows through on the urgent, not the important.
Prioritize.
How might leaders develop follow through in others?
Watch me! Rinse! Repeat!
Brilliant…love the washing metaphor
LOL Dan! As a boomer owning a couple millennials, I was influenced by the EDM (Electronic Dance Music) culture at an Electric Zoo concert when they played Eat – Sleep -Rave – Repeat. Check out “rinse repeat” in the urban dictionary. #coolmom https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.urbandictionary.com/define.php%3Fterm%3Drinse%252C%2520repeat%26amp%3Dtrue
One more gem added to my treasure ! “Dan” you are great!
Hi Dan, A post that helps a leader gets stuff done! Thanks! I am a big proponent of “Model the behaviors you expect from others”. When I practice modeling a behavior, I gain multiple benefits: 1. People see it in action and can really internalize by doing it, 2. takes away the excuse of “he is just saying it. does not really know how to do it.”, and 3. makes me more realistic ( in your words, avoids quick mind making others play catch-up) while giving directions and expecting failures along the way.
Thanks Niraj. If you show me I feel like you understand reality better. It’s a powerful connector.
I had a basket-ball coach who was upset that we were struggling with a play that he instituted. But after he tried to do it himself, he realized how difficult it was. Showing people protects us from oversimplifying things.
A song comes to mind by 38 Special…
Just hold on loosely, But don’t let go
If you cling to tightly, You’re gonna lose control. Change from a ‘romance’ perspective to a ‘staffmance’ perspective.
…I feel that each party should have a part, and is responsible for following up and through. It truly is a learn, grow, and let go ‘relationship’.
Poor squirrel.
Thanks Melrose. I wish I had thought of that. Hold on…don’t let go.
I had a coaching conversation yesterday where my client had intended to not attend a meeting. He wanted others to own it. As it turned out, he ended up in the meeting. He said he chose to be quiet. I think being present, but quiet, is better than not being present at all.
Oh this is a good one! I know some employees that experience this problem with their boss. Oh how I wish I could share this with the leader. I will take it as a lesson for me because I am sure there are times when I think I’m smiling and yet I am frowning.
Thanks Patti. Maybe you can hang this blog in the lunch room. 🙂
My first idea was “oh my boss needs this”. My second was “do I”. Well duu yes we all do some of that. I asked two people if I smile much. I was told no and they worry when I do. Oh my I think I have some work to do on that. Thank you sir!
“I just keep holding on”, sometimes you have “to let go” though!
Always important to set action items after a meeting and put a deadline. This helps people focus, follow through and achieve a goal.
Absence of true priority is a killer. Everything cannot be equally vital. If everything actually is important, triage. If equally important “must do” things come from a variety of sources, then the leader has to act as a gatekeeper so those who are delivering have one priority list.
Thanks for the great post Dan. This post is packed with so many nuggets of truth that I could spend an hour or more just talking about the information with my colleagues and team. Thanks!
Dan, this is a keeper! The world is moving so fast these days I find leaders lack the time needed to be reflective about their own leadership behaviors. This results in an extreme lack of awareness about how their behaviors frustrate those who want to follow but just end up spinning in circles. My best advice for today’s leader…don’t slow down, calm down. Following the leaders shouldn’t be a puzzle; it should be a path. Thanks for a great read and an even better lesson!