Closing the Loop

If you’re a leader, you probably have a million questions running through your head in the shower, or while you’re driving home: ‘Did this get done? Did that email go out? When are they going to get back with me?’ These things occupy your mind. Leaders are suffering from lack of margin. These questions create angst and take up your creativity and vision.

Closing the loop is the answer. In this strategy, the person with an assignment understands that they need to be in regular communication with you, as the leader, about their progress. This enables you to take that project off your mental list—to remove it from your plate—because you know where you are with it. Ideally, this update will happen before you even have to think or ask about it!

If you’re tired of asking for progress updates, train your team to close the loop with you on assignments. Have them understand that this means updating you, communicating with you, before you have to ask. If you don’t have to ask, and they give you the information, you’ll know the strategy is working for you.