The Importance of Follow-Up and Follow-Through in Corporate America
By: Lauren Justin, Head of People at Active Digital
It used to catch me off-guard when someone said, “Wow, you get stuff done” or “You really attacked that to-do list.’”
I found it a bit condescending, as if the person saying it was shocked that I could do the work in the first place (insert imposter syndrome here). But then I realized the comment means something else. People are genuinely surprised when you say you will do something … and then you do it.
While working at Amazon, I realized the value of doing what you say you will do, which is shockingly rare in corporate America. I have written before about how leaders can build trust in the workplace by showing genuine empathy for others. However, the easiest way to create trust amongst employees, peers and senior leadership is to simply show up, follow up and follow through. Also, it costs nothing to implement.
The concepts of follow up and follow through are not hard to master, but they require diligent organization. From Los Angeles Times articles to Indeed career guidance blogs, organizational development professionals have written extensively about the importance of mastering this skill. Doing so helps you establish professional integrity and strengthens relationships across your team. As cliché as it sounds, your word should be your bond. If that bond is broken, there should be a good, clearly articulate reason to explain why it happened to maintain trust.
Following Through is About Communication as Much as it is About Delivery
“Promises are implicit as well as explicit. Because everything is not controllable or fully known and as a result, we have an implicit promise to communicate in a timely manner the inevitable surprises of work and life.”
-Gary Izumo
Izumo, a business professor and consultant, wrote this 25 years ago in the Los Angeles Times article “Building Teamwork Means Keeping Promises.” It is just as valid today as it was then. Following through with what you say you will do doesn’t mean that everything must happen on the proposed timeline. It may mean that you follow up with a delay notice, or that you inform the main stakeholder that there is an unavoidable resource shortage that will impact delivery timeline. It could be as simple as explaining that “life happened.”
Follow through doesn’t always mean presenting a finished product; it means providing clear and consistent communication on the status of the end result.
Consistency and Reliability are Key
“{Professional Integrity}… is the practice of showing strong adherence to moral and ethical principles and values such as honesty, honor, dependability and trustworthiness.”
Individuals tend to place unconditional faith in family members or close friends but how are we able to transfer this to the workplace? Co-workers are the family we choose but do not come with the same foundational trust. Fast-tracking that sort of bond cannot be done with trust exercises or icebreakers but requires repeatable experiences of dependable communication and delivery.
Take Every Opportunity to Show Others You’re Dependable Through Your Actions
If you are new to the follow-up and follow-through framework or simply want to improve this skill, here are some general guidelines:
Get your shit together. DO NOT under promise and overdeliver. Doing this is just a way to show you don’t know how to scope projects correctly, and that isn’t a good long-term look. DO understand the amount of time you have available before agreeing to take on a new task, or flex into a larger scope.
Did you get that memo? DO NOT assume people know what you are doing because you had one status update in that one meeting that 50 people attended. DO overcommunicate. Provide helpful news on a regular, cadenced basis so that people anticipate your status updates.
Outside of flash dances, people hate surprises. DO NOT wait until the deadline to communicate that you’ve missed it. DO provide timeline updates early and often. If you discover that you’re at risk of missing an expected delivery date, tell people... AND CLEARLY ARTICULATE to them how you plan to mitigate that risk.
The Benefits of Following Up and Following Through Can Be Bigger Than You Realize
Mastering the ability to follow up and follow through goes beyond earning someone’s trust. It influences how people view you and talk about you. It is directly tied to your integrity.
Doing what you say and saying what you mean are crucial life skills that can propel your career. These traits make you noticeable, dependable, trustworthy.
In the current market, professional integrity doesn’t require you to be loyal to your current company; it allows you to be memorable to those who had the opportunity to work alongside you. That makes companies loyal to you, the employee.
That is the importance of keeping your word: It flips the power dynamic in your favor.
That is the true power of following up and following through.
Learn more about how Active Digital follows up and follows through in our day-to-day and how we view it as part of our cultural North star by visiting www.activedigital.com/about-us. We look forward to partnering with you!