Following Through
Continuous Improvement teams are often frustrated by a lack of follow through -- individually, with
each other, with their staff, sometimes even within the entire organization. This frustration can be an
“elephant in the room” during the monitoring phase of the DAPIMTM process, resulting in a low sense
of confidence and trust that anything committed to will actually get done, done well, and/or done on
time.
There may be hesitation within the team to commit to anything or to plan things clearly, as such
planning and commitment requires follow through that members of the team are may not be in the
habit of doing. Or, paradoxically, there may be too much willingness to make commitments, as these
“false positives” may be valued in and of themselves without requiring follow-through to get “credit”.
Finally, the team leader or observer in the chain of command may be most prone to not following
through or not holding others accountable for doing so.
Follow through concerns are likely to surface during the Initial Feelings and Ground Rules steps and
appear again during the monitoring phase of DAPIMTM. Once identified, facilitators should turn these
“elephants” into “mini-DAPIMTMs,” with work products and tangible quick wins resulting from them.
This will in turn rebuild the team’s trust and self-confidence.
If follow through challenges on the team are particularly acute, the facilitator should use the DAPIM TM
process itself to model and reinforce the right principles. For example, if the team does not follow
through on commitments with the facilitator, they might halt the process altogether while the related
causes and remedies are identified.
The facilitator could use the Following through Team Activity on the following pages to facilitate the
team through a mini-DAPIMTM on effective follow though, resulting in quick wins and long term
improvements to the culture of the organization. Understanding and then addressing the reasons for
gaps is the key to making improvements. The true reasons for lack of following through are often not
initially well-understood. See the attached chart for typical reasons for lack of follow through, along
with some possible solutions.
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Team Activity: Following Through
Here is how a facilitator might work with a management team to help its members strengthen their
individual and collective follow through:
1. Jot down and then discuss with the group the situations where a) your follow through and b)
that of others is most important to the level of performance and trust in your office.
2. Jot down and then discuss with the group 1-3 strengths and 1-3 challenges regarding how you
are currently following through. You might do this at four levels: your own, others around you,
the management team, and the organization in general.
3. Consider why you have the follow through challenges that you do, scanning the following
possible root causes and/or others that occur to you:
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Never making a clear public commitment to following through;
Over-committing, thereby not having the capacity to follow through;
Lack of a true commitment -- “just kidding”;
Lack of follow through by those you depend on yourself to follow through;
A culture of “being nagged first” before following through;
Lack of techniques for accomplishing daily tasks and managing time;
Major and unexpected “fires” getting in the way;
Over-focusing on our primary goals/accountabilities and ignoring others;
Not seeing the expected impact of following through, diminishing commitment; and/or,
Lack of resources required to follow through and manage time well.
4. Discuss and agree on which root causes apply to your priority gaps. Set some related goals.
5. Plan and implement quick wins, improvements that you can make right away. For example,
determine what if any changes you will make to your ground rules for working together.
6. Then consider what culture or values-related work needs to be emphasized as you plan your
rapid improvements. Develop and implement related communication and performance
management plans.
7. Consider what help you might need or recommendations you might make to drive longer-term
improvements (e.g., help desk enhancements). Determine how you will enlist those outside
your control for longer-term changes that would fall to them to implement.
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8. Consider how making improvements to how you are following through will link to and impact
other improvements you are working on.
9. Determine how best to track your progress with following through, and make ongoing
adjustments as needed. Consider how to occasionally “sharpen the saw” by consulting mentors,
supervisors and staff for feedback.
© 2012 American Public Human Services Association. All rights reserved.
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Following Through: Typical Reasons and Solutions
Reasons for Lack of Follow Through
Commitments are unclear in the first place; a
misunderstanding about what was committed.
Over-committing; committing beyond one’s
capacity to deliver.
Possible Solutions
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Make commitments in writing.
Clarify deadlines and due dates.
Reinforce all meetings ending with clear
commitments, if any.
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Thoughtfully negotiate due dates and
deliverables based on your capacity.
Leaders should not reinforce a culture
where saying yes is rewarded and lack of
follow through is discounted as a problem.
Leaders and supervisors should reinforce
accountability for lack of following through.
If caused by a “culture of crisis” (staff
responding well to emergencies and
unexpected tasks but not to commitments
and plans), leaders should develop
strategies to strike a balance between
responsiveness and working from plans and
on projects.
Have the difficult but respectful
conversations with others about the impact
of their actions.
Gather, analyze, and report data if this is a
broad issue that needs to be addressed
more systemically by senior management.
Learn and apply such tools, which include
phone logs, to do lists, email and phone
responsiveness standards, block scheduling
(blocking out parts of the day for personal
organization, projects, etc.), file
organization, task plans and work plans.
Proactively communicate with those
impacted and renegotiate deadlines. This is
often all that others expect, and they
understand a legitimate disruption when it
happens.
Communicating with the sponsor or
supervisor to proactively remove such an
obstacle or make an adjustment to the
commitment.
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“Just kidding- “having no real intent to follow
through in the first place.
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Lack of follow through from others you depend
on to do your part on well and on time.
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Lack of time management or task management
tools in place.
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Crises and unexpected priorities interfere with
commitments made.
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Lack of resources to following through (e.g.
materials, decisions, funds, etc.).
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Not seeing or believing that the impact of
following through will be positive and as
intended.
Only focusing on top priorities and routinely
lacking follow through on other commitments.
Or general accountability for following through is
simply too low or inconsistent.
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Communicating about how following through
will have a meaningful impact.
 Negotiating a change to a commitment if
lessons learned or new information actually
does suggest changing course.
 Communicating about how lack of follow
through impacts others, who have a different
set of priorities or when dropping a
secondary matter can turn it into a crisis.
 Those in project management roles should
track and report on how commitments within
project plans are being hit or missed, and
they should proactively engage those who
are missing deadlines and commitments.
 Leaders should reinforce the importance of
follow through on all commitments and not
look the other way in these situations.
A particular department or team has the
ultimate burden or consequence if there is a lack
of following through, while others involved do
not.
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Standards for follow through timing are not
established or have not recently been clarified.
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One’s supervisor makes the commitment
without testing its feasibility with their staff.
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Making a commitment but then forgetting to put
it into one’s task management plans, such as
when one leaves a meeting and then forgets to
note a commitment back in their office.
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Leaders should establish shared goals and
accountabilities when this reason is systemic.
After-action reviews, debriefs, and other
ways to collectively look at these
consequences from a broader perspective so
the right root causes are identified.
Periodic communications to set or review
such standards, revise them if appropriate,
and otherwise reinforce their existence and
importance.
Communicate how commitments should be
made jointly and with close attention paid to
staff work plans, priorities already in place.
Negotiate what should be delayed, reduced,
or otherwise removed from one’s workload
to accommodate a new commitment.
Establishing note-taking devices to ensure
that this happens rarely if ever.
Asking those requesting a commitment to
send an email or other reminder right away.
There are many more potential reasons and solutions to discover. Feel free to build upon this tool
based on your own experiences.
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