It's Tuesday at 2:00pm! (PST Time: I live and work from Southern California)
I don't know about you, but sometimes we make things way to complicated. In our desire to be more effective and professional, we sometimes create systems that just don't work.
I remember early in my career when I was asked to fill out a weekly report. I would take time each week to account for my time, tell stories, and basically justify my job, and I would get it turned in before Friday at 5:00pm (usually this meant I was working on it at 4:30pm on Friday), but I got it in.
I realized very quickly that my supervisor wasn't reading my reports. He would ask me questions the following week that I had answered in my report, so I began to mess with him a little bit and make stuff up and write crazy things in the report just to see if he was ever reading them. He never called me on it, even when I told him that I had slept through a meeting that week.
As a result of that experience, I always pushed back on weekly reports, and then I realized that at one point in my leadership I was having people complete reports that I didn't have time to actually read.
I'm sure I'm the only one that has done this.
Tammy responded to my memo a couple of weeks ago when I asked people to share some things that really help them in their leadership. We had a short conversation (5 1/2 minutes) that I have posted below where Tammy shares about a simple weekly "Check-In" she does with her team that has created a great "communication, focus and expectations" tool. I'm linking a sample of this form below for you to see.
Here's a short conversation with Tammy:
Here's a link to a sample copy of Tammy's Check-In Sheet: CLICK HERE
This is a basic version of a real form she uses just to give you an idea of what it looks like. It's blank when it start with these 4 categories on it:
KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTS
PRIORITIES FOR NEXT WEEK
FLAGS ON THE FIELD
WHAT I NEED FROM YOU NEXT WEEK
This is a tool that works and as Tammy shared, it's made a difference in her team.
Tammy, thank you for sharing this tool. It's simple, but it's effective and practical.
Tammy is the Chief Executive Officer at Alternatives Medical Clinic in Escondido, California USA. To learn more about the organization, visit their website and consider participating in their upcoming virtual fundraiser that is coming up October 1st. If you have questions for Tammy, please use the comment section on the blog page HERE. Tammy is a part of our Orange County Barnabas Coaching Cohort.
I'm looking for others willing to share some of their tips, tricks, habits and LEADERSHIP HACKS. Thanks to many of you that have responded and who's tips I'll be sharing over the coming weeks.
Here's the format:
#1) What Did You Discover? What's the TIP?
#2) Why Does It Make a Difference In Your Life?
#3) Describe What You Do.
E-mail me HERE if you'd like to share on this platform.
"Accountability breeds response-ability" Stephen Covey
"Accept responsibility for your actions. Be accountable for your results. Take ownership of your mistakes." Unknown
"You can assign tasks, but you can't force people to be accountable. Accountability is an act of will." Unknown