“What Should You Do?” Series “Help, My Team, Failed Again!”

You’ll recall you gave an assignment to one of your teams. However, on the due date, the assigned task was incomplete or done wrong.

Which is the best way to handle this situation?

1. Ask them why they haven’t finished the project and ask them if they can complete the project right away.?
2. Assign the project to someone else who can get the project done.?
3. Review what “finished” was supposed to look like and ask them how can you communicate with them better in the future.?
4. Do the project yourself.

Answers:

1. This might be the first choice for many people. It seems the logical choice. But that doesn’t solve the problem or get to the root of why they couldn’t get the project done correctly and on time.
2. Seems like you’ll be wasting time doing this. First off, you’ll have wasted time in the form of the time spent by the original team with no results. And what about the time wasted for the new team to get up to speed on the project???

If you go this route, you could be jumping from the pan to the fire, or worse yet stuck in an endless cycle of suck as you constantly replace team members to find the unicorn that can meet any demands you throw at them.?

3. This is the correct answer. Maybe what you have here is a communication problem.?

What you have to do with the team is sit down with them. Review with them what your instructions were. Then tell them what you meant. And then you have them tell you what they heard.?

Maybe the problem was your instructions were not clear or specific enough. They didn’t meet your expectations. But did you clearly tell them what your expectations were?

Maybe this is your fault. Don’t be afraid to take ownership of this.?

Have them tell you how you can better explain to them what you expect.?

This is why #1 and #2 are wrong. You’ll get the project completed-but you won’t have solved the underlying problem. That means you’ll be going through this exercise time and time again.?

4. Of course, this is wrong and you probably already knew that. =)

So the question is...who got this one right? Keep in mind that these are challenges everyone must be able to handle with gusto on the business battlefield. Only the well-prepared will be victorious!

Deric Keller is a business coach, as well as an executive coach, for Exit Momentum in Kansas City, Kansas. A former Marine infantryman, he takes the skills he used in the military to develop leaders in the civilian world.

If you’re interested, you can call him at 307-371-3683. You can also get on his calendar here.