A light bulb recently turned on in my head and it relates to processes and progress.
People find it reassuring when they are informed that there is progress happening in pretty much anything that they are involved in. But, some parties to a process are more deserving of progress reports. Additionally, the act of sending an unsolicited update can have different effects on the recipients, depending on the roles and circumstances of the stakeholders. As a career-minded person, you should pay special attention to the importance of progress reports. Here are some dots that I’ve connected with respect to doing my job that might hopefully be of use to others.
In almost any arrangement, the person who’s holding the capital (i.e. the guy with the money) is most deserving and most appreciative of regular and unsolicited progress updates. In our civilization, the guy with the money is usually the same guy who’s got the most power among a group of stakeholders. Consider the following example. Your car breaks down, you take it to the shop, they examine it and then they tell you what is most likely wrong, you agree to let them service it. You sit there reading yesterday’s newspaper while sipping on cheap coffee. You are pretty much wondering one thing and one thing only: how much is this going to cost me? Now, imagine that at unpredictable intervals, someone comes over and gives you an unsolicited update. Even if those updates were complete fiction, you’d probably not feel so sickened by the thought of the invoice that you know is soon to be handed to you. But, you’re the guy with the money and you probably could’ve taken your car to any number of places. The fact that an employee came to you with periodic updates is soothing enough to probably bring you back the next time you have service needs. If you just sat there and no one said a word to you until it was time for the bill, the loitering anticipation of the amount, coupled with not having any idea about anything that was going on would, justifiably, make you really unhappy. The sting of paying the bill would be that much more unpleasant. And you would likely find another vendor the next time your car broke down. After all: you’re the guy with the money.
In your working arrangement, your boss is the guy with the money. You’re the guy with the labor. The boss wants updates and the boss, being the guy with the money, is fully entitled to them. Most bosses expect to be provided with updates and progress reports. And they don’t want to have to track you down to get them. I suggest that you go back and re-read the previous sentence – maybe read it out-loud two or three times. The boss wants updates and the boss wants those updates brought to him, not the other way around. Here’s the magic-moment of this paragraph: your boss’s boss is also the guy with the money and he is asking your boss for updates that are dependent upon you supplying your boss with updates. Don’t ever let your boss be in a situation where he (or she) doesn’t have enough updates for the next higher guy with the money. When your boss is caught off guard because he or she wasn’t updated by you, you will always lose, always. If it happens too frequently, you will lose something big: you will lose your job. The conclusion is, every now and then, stop working and provide an unsolicited update.
Along with updates, there is something that people also like, when it comes to progress. People like knowing that when a problem occurs (or is identified) that someone will come up with a way to make the problem go away. Be careful with this one, though. Sometimes people don’t want a solution. Sometimes people just want to let others know about the problem; they want to vent. If you try to make someone else’s problem go away when they were just coming to you to vent, you’re probably making the problem worse. But, if during the course of venting, you ask, “So, what do you plan on doing about it?” the other person shows a look of panic, then it is time to offer up the possibility that you can assist with the solution. You absolutely must wait for the other person to accept your offer of assistance. Without acceptance, you’re just forcing yourself on to the other person and that is bad. Once you volunteer to assist, it can be with just the planning phase or it can be with the execution phase. Situationally, you aren’t under any obligation to provide updates. But, by agreeing to assist, you probably should provide updates. Also, you should go and ask for updates on how that person is doing with solving the problem. Just asking how it’s coming along will be unimaginably valuable. Technically, you’re not asking for an update. The act of just asking is an extension of empathy, which seems like a request for an update but it isn’t the same. It signals, “Hey, I know that is really unpleasant and I’ve thought about it and I’m thinking about you.” The central idea is, people like progress. Exchanges of updates are foundational to progress. Without other involved parties being regularly apprised of progress, it’s as if the undertaking didn’t really matter in the first place.
In closing, as you’re doing your job, keep in mind that the performance of the actual work is only part of the job. Part of your job is to keep the boss informed. When I finish this very column and send it in, I will cc my boss, because she wants and deserves to know that I’ve done what I committed to do. I don’t expect even so much as a “thanks” in response. I just hope that when I start my car to go home, there aren’t any “check engine” lights on my dashboard … otherwise I will be the one looking for updates – updates that I don’t want any part of.
