As my children were growing up, Saturday was “clean the house” day. Everyone participated, no matter their age. For my daughter, Nicole, at age six it meant that toys and clutter had to move off the floor and into their designated storage places so that the vacuum could be run.
In spite of knowing this, the floor would often be strewn with Barbie shoes on Saturday morning. After reminders that escalated to nagging and warnings, there was one thing that was certain to create an immediate surge of frantic activity to put the shoes away. And that was the sound of the vacuum cleaner headed to her room. For she knew from past experience that I had no regrets about vacuuming up those annoying shoes, never to be seen again. In fact, I rather liked the idea that these shoes were no longer going to be underfoot!
Now Nicole was not a naughty or unruly child. She just has at least one thousand things better to do than to pick up Barbie shoes. Until the roar of the vacuum sent a clear message: Run now to save the shoes!
Not unlike most of us. We have many things to do. We aren’t bad or lazy; perhaps distracted and overwhelmed. So the leadership question becomes this: WHAT CAN WE DO TO SPUR FOCUS AND ATTENTION ON THE THINGS THAT ARE MOST IMPORTANT?
Too many times we may revert to also using a roar – not of a vacuum – but of our voice. We may become louder, a clear warning that our patience has been depleted. Rather than use your vacuum cleaner voice, you might want to try some of these leadership tactics to maintain accountability to tasks and deadlines:
Deadlines – First of all, have them. Make them known, reasonable, and set a very high standard for meeting them. Far too often requests are sent out “to do” without a “when to do them”. These tasks are easy to put off. They also fall prey to the strategy of “wait and see” – the hope the assignment was a whim and not something really that needed doing.
Dashboard – Measuring and reporting out progress publicly has a magical way of focusing time, energy and work. Determine what is important to do and create a way to report on progress. No one likes to be seen as the slacker, and I’ve often seen the use of a dashboard (well-constructed and reported on weekly) move things along when all else had failed.
Demonstrations – Asking people to show their work publicly (at a team meeting, in your office, to peers) both spurs action and also increases the quality of the work itself. Amazing what a little show-and-tell can do – even with as little as a 10 minute spot on the team agenda.
Decisions – I’ve often seen the Barbie shoe scramble when this message is sent: “I am going to make a decision by X date. If I don’t have your (input, ideas, feedback), I am going to proceed without it.”
No matter what your tactic, keep in mind that most folks are just like you – busy, overextended at times, distracted by other things that appear equally as important. When leading, your clear direction about what is important, when it needs doing, and to what quality it must be done, helps focus and organize effort. Doing so builds accountability, momentum and drives performance.
So please share – what leadership actions do you take to avoid the Barbie shoe scramble?
