Episode Transcript
[00:00:04] Speaker A: So we're at the portion of the show where Roz asks me tricky questions for me to answer. The Just Ask Jess portion of the show.
So say hello to Roz. Roz is going to go into our question bag of Tricks and select something for me to give a response on. So, Roz, over to you.
[00:00:19] Speaker B: Amazing. I feel like I should have an actual mailbag for these things. I could pull in and, like, read, like, old schooly, you know? But no, alas, it's all digital.
[00:00:26] Speaker A: There's from Susan, age five. That's right, that's right, that's right.
[00:00:31] Speaker B: All right, all right. So this week's question is a really good one and something that I can relate to being in agency land.
And here we go. The question is, we're struggling with setting clear expectations across teams.
Everyone's busy, but there's a lot of crossed wires and dropped balls. How do you create better accountability without it turning into a blame game?
[00:00:55] Speaker A: Okay, awesome.
Um, so I have a. In the real world, I'd want to ask questions, but I can, because the person has to be anonymous for this.
So there's a couple of things immediately I'd say. One is, how are you actually putting expectations down on. I'm gonna say paper for now, and I'll come back to that for a second.
Too much gets lost in translation. So whether you write goals, you have KPIs, or, like, key performance indicators, which are metrics, or OKRs, which are also metrics, or the world of acronyms in business, how are you defining good, and where is it documented? Right. So that's the first thing. And then the second thing is if you're working cross teams and that's causing the hiccups, I don't know if the hiccup is we don't understand the objective, or the objective is different by different teams, then the method has to be visible across teams. So whether it's documented in something like Slack or teams, if you use that kind of software or you just stick it on a whiteboard on the wall in the office, if you're all in the same place, everybody needs to see the same thing to understand the same kind of perspective.
And that's true. Or I'm assuming, based on what I heard in the example, that this is about delivery of projects or work or tasks, so those things will be clearer. And then make sure you're really clear on defining ownership. So whenever you've documented who is doing that piece, and if you need to break it down because more than one person is doing it, Break it down because more than one person is doing it. That can feel like really we've got to do a lot of work to do that you do. But it'll save you time on the back end because you're dealing with messes now that you've got to fix. So there's software for things like that, like forecasting software if you need to do that, even creating channels in Slack, whatever software you use, just an Excel spreadsheet, anything that will allow you to visibly document what the goal is, who is responsible for it, the deadline that needs to be done, and sharing it across multiple teams will help create, create some of that transparency.
That however, only builds kind of knowledge and awareness. So my second point is what are your mechanisms for discussing progress across those teams? So if we're relying on a tool you have to pull from right, you're aligned to people going to that tool to pull the information.
They're probably somebody somewhere is going to miss it. So do you have a cross team project meeting? Do you have some kind of huddle every day or every week, whatever cadence makes sense just to clarify those things? Also really important because we're much nicer to each other when we have to look at each other. So if you've got teams who are working separately and they don't have to talk to each other, then they'll start complaining about the other team if they have to just have to spend time together. There's much less of that that goes on. And I will be nicer to you when I have to look at you and talk to you about an issue than I would if I get on social media or my Slack channel, which, which we will see.
So those two things would be my initial kind of comments that is slightly different to behavior.
So if your expectation setting is around people showing up differently, that is different to task delivery. I'm guessing from the scenario this was around task delivery or kind of project work.
But behaviors can also be an area you need to set clear expectations. Because if you don't, people will assume that their definition of good is the organization's definition of good, which is not always the case. That's where things like values come in. So people do create values for organizations and tend to kind of stick them on the wall and ignore them.
But a good set of values should show up in your hiring process, right? Does someone fit with your values as an organization? That is not the same as not not hiring for diversity. But we want people who have the same intrinsic view of what we're trying to do in the same attachment to purpose. So it should show up there. It should show up in how you do performance management. Like if you're not adhering to the values, then that should be feedback that you're getting.
Show up in exit interviews. Like was there an issue with the values that you were seeing? People spouse in the organization and we should be giving people regular feedback on how they're showing up against those things. That won't solve every behavioral hiccup you'll get in an organization, but it does make a big difference to people having train tracks about what's important in an organization. So that would be my top line. Kind of. Two comments.
[00:04:53] Speaker B: Amazing. And is there anywhere people can go to find out more information about accountability across teams? Drop balls, that kind of thing.
[00:05:00] Speaker A: So we have a self serve program called Excel, which is an online program where you do a module that is essentially me presenting and you do interactive activities and there's like case study all the way through it that's all about the different aspects of managing performance. So there's a bit on handling different types of team members. There's setting goals and expectations. There's giving feedback and having accountability conversations. There's what you do if you have a performance review, all that's in the one course and you can buy that online and start it anytime you like. You have access for a whole year so you can go back and redo the modules anytime you want.
[00:05:32] Speaker B: Amazing. And I'll put the link to that in the show notes.
[00:05:34] Speaker A: Perfect.
[00:05:34] Speaker B: Awesome.
[00:05:35] Speaker A: Thanks Jessica.
