It’s Not Done Until It’s Purpose Is Served

There’s an interesting trend I’ve been observing of late: Leaders are ‘accepting’ projects as being ‘DONE’ even though the goal doesn’t fulfill its purpose or the true need for it in the first place. As long as the goal’s tasks were conducted, the task or project is deemed ‘COMPLETE’. However, during subsequent executive team meetings, I’ll hear comments such as: “This is DONE?” or “What are we supposed to do with this now,” or my favorite, “Well that was a total waste.” If you don’t know what to do with a project upon completion, it’s not complete.

If you don’t know what to do with a project upon completion, it’s not complete.

That might sound like a pretty basic concept, but it’s a concept that demonstrates clearly who thinks at the front-line to mid-level management level and who thinks at a higher level. As is their job, front-line to mid-level managers focus on getting tasks done. What do their teams need to get done today, this week, this month, this quarter, and this year? With this focus, they keep their heads down and focus on working their innumerable tasks in logical sequences to maximize production and financial efficiencies. Walking the fine line to balance optimized production with constrained finances and even more constrained employee pools is incredibly difficult. So, these leaders keep their heads down and focus on playing production jenga and hope they can hit the deadlines they need to hit within the budget constraints they have. If they do, from their perspective, it’s a ‘WIN’ or job ‘COMPLETE’.

This head down focus works great IF they either independently, or with guidance from more senior leadership, figuratively pick their heads up every now and then and look at the entire forest instead of the individual trees or grove they were working on. By looking at their project in a bigger context, they can ask: Is the work they’re doing actually achieving what it is intended to achieve? What is working and what is not? What impact is it having? Is it positively or negatively impacting other areas of the company or marketplace? What happens next? Is it clear who takes the output from here? Will the user of their output be able to use it easily and effectively? If the answers to these questions aren’t obvious to the team working on the project and in their output, the project is not yet complete.

If what happens next isn’t obvious to the team working on the project and in their output, the project is not yet complete.

If you’re a leader of leaders working on projects, ensure you check in with them regularly to ensure they’re not only getting the project tasks done, but that they’re taking time to focus on WHY the work is being done in the first place. Their output is what matters to the users. The project deliverables should be user-friendly. Users rightly expect that. Users don’t care how many times you needed to change your project plan to get to the outcome, they just want good, useful deliverables. So the next time you’re frustrated with what a team has produced and declared it to be ‘COMPLETE’, don’t accept it. First apologize for not checking in with them during their project work. Then, second, send the project back to them to finish it by ensuring that it fulfills its purpose and that it is easy to understand by whomever takes ownership of it next. Everyone is too busy to work on things that don’t matter or won’t be useful. Do your team a favor by helping them understand how to deliver the project’s purpose via the project’s tasks.

Copyright MMXXIV – Liz Weber, CMC, CSP – Weber Business Services, LLC – www.WBSLLC.com +1.717.597.8890

Liz Weber is an advisor to boards of directors, business owners, and C-Suite leaders. She’s a leadership, strategic and succession planning consultant, speaker, and author. She helps her clients focus on the right things at the right times to get the right impact.