When I used to check with the team, typically i used to get three responses
- Almost complete and will give in next couple of hours - interprete - i started working and the deliverable is close to 50% completion and will finish other part in next couple of hours or so. The good news here is that, there is no unexpected surprises from technical stand point
- I will give tomorrow - interprete - Oh my god.. i forgot about this, i will work on this today and tomorrow and hopefully it will complete tomorrow subject to not finding any additional technical interruptions - You as a manager in a bad shape here for sure
- Since you did not come back to me, i thought it is not important and hence did not work on this issue - interprete - You as a manager expected to do follow up to show the importance, you did not do your job and hence i did not do mine. At least i consider this as honest answer because you are certain that, nothing has been done.
A few such hiccups later, slowly adjusted to Indian way of working, and put together a process around follow up for Promising on delivery. More than follow up i started looking deeper into the deliverables to see whether there is any technical or process constraint that may come up in terms of delivery. Over a period of time, i built my own rules on follow up.
- Follow ups are not done on weekly meetings, but daily routine checks with the team members to see how things are progressing. I realized the importance in this model, because meetings are only to discuss risks and issues and not for follow ups
- Be sensitive to different styles of working. You will find a few team members do not like follow ups because they deliver on promise. Need to identify them and have a slightly different approach. Otherwise, they feel you are micro managing and it will have further negative impact.
- Never pull up the team members in public or in meetings on failed deliveries. No one is happy for missing a deadline or delivery date. How you handle the situation would pave the way for future. From that perspective, i usually the support the team member to get back on track and work together with them.
Using this follow up approach as well as mentoring and coaching, over a period of time, the team moves from Promising on delivery to Promising on delivery and delivering on promised delivery. You as a manager need to see this transition and adapt slowly to a new way of working. In fact, suddenly you may find a lot of time in your hands and you need to find ways to fill them up. This is a welcome change and I am always happy when the team moves to a autopilot delivery mode.