Page 187 - Build a Culture of Employee Engagement with the Principles

158 Carrots and Sticks Don’t Work

be flying a red flag. Moreover, when a team got behind, some-
one from a green team frequently offered assistance. Great
organizations have great practices.
4. Write it down. Whenever delegating a task, make sure
to put in writing all relevant expectations and instructions.
Have you ever had someone make a request and ten minutes
later you forgot the specifics? If I don’t have it in writing,
chances are I’m just not going to remember. Moreover, I tend
to be embarrassed that I forgot, and instead of bothering the
person and potentially looking incompetent, I will simply
take my best guess. Never assign a task or set an expectation
without having it in writing.
5. Check for understanding. Make sure the employee
“feeds back” the expectations. Never say, “So you got it?”
because whether they do or not, your employees will likely
say yes. Instead, try saying, “I’m not always as clear as I
should be, so could you please repeat back what you heard
me say?” Another effective strategy is to have the conversa-
tion and then ask the employee to reiterate the request in a
follow-up e-mail.
6. Put checkpoints in place. Right from the beginning of a
project, establish checkpoints by time and major project tar-
gets. You should have more checkpoints early in the process
because the consequences and impact of making a wrong
turn early are significant. For example, if you’re driving to
your Aunt Linda’s for Christmas and start out on 95 North
instead of 95 South for a hundred miles, you’re in a lot worse
shape than if you make a wrong turn on a side street within
a few blocks of her house. At the same time, you probably
want to be particularly attentive to the details at the end of
the project; those last few turns can be tricky. By building