What are a leader’s early warning signs of work going astray?

The first one is that you have no warning signs built in.

Most leaders have learned how to set goals and communicate those. Some have learned how to define, distill, and disseminate an inspiring vision. And some have learned how to collaborate in goal and expectation setting.

What’s frequently missing is pre-scheduled 2-way feedback.

People can go astray like projects … feedback is fundamental to any leadership activity where there is any uncertainty.
(see the previous post about project feedback)

For short tasks with little uncertainty, completion – the accountability of checking “done” – can be sufficient feedback.

For anything other than a short task, build in scheduled feedback cycles at the time of agreement. The frequency and type of feedback cycles should be based on the level of uncertainty about things like:

• The end result’s contribution to achieving goals,
• The path forward,
• Ability to perform (e.g., motivation, how much guidance/development the person needs),
• Any other significant risks.
  

You can also think of this as a form of risk management. And also people development by increasing the ability for bit-by-bit feedback for improvement.

Have you built regular feedback cycles into how you lead?

It’s a key part of the basic leadership mechanism we call “4-part Harmony” …