Isn’t It
Time for a Progress Report?
by
Roy Lobenhofer
I don’t sit in on
many meetings any more. Even when I did I don’t remember hearing the term
“progress report” often. I suppose we used it when discussing some research
projects AFS had paid to conduct. Of course, it wouldn’t be surprising if the
phrase crept into a meeting at a plant discussing some major renovations,
expansions, or modernizations.
Actually, my
wife’s used the term “progress report” far more than me. As a teacher, she met
with her students and their parents periodically to give progress reports. The
students had goals to accomplish by the end of the school year. Parents and
students needed to be on top of the progress being made towards meeting those
goals.
Progress reports
are valuable tools everyone should consider using more often. It’s common for
everyone to get caught in the trap of doing what must be done each day and not
noticing whether we’re making “progress” or not. The right material is ordered,
the fires are put out, and the paper work is done, but are we getting closer to
our goal?
Benefits for the Boss
As a manager the
benefits of having your people tell you how their progressing should be obvious.
If their analysis shows things aren’t going as fast as they think they should,
perhaps you have helpful insights. Are they expecting to make progress faster
than you think realistic? If they’re not getting closer to their goals, are
their days getting cluttered with unimportant items or is what they’re doing the
really important stuff? Is there something else that’s hindering their progress,
and is that something you can do something about?
Benefits for the Employee
Preparing a
progress report for the boss provides many different benefits for you, the
employee, as well. Sitting down to write one forces you into actually evaluating
the progress you’re making. Once again, everyone gets so tied up in doing what’s
necessary today; you frequently don’t see your lack of progress on the important
issues. If you are having difficulty making progress on the important, perhaps
the boss can help. Perhaps sitting
down to look at the progress will allow you to recognize some of the choices
being made are really hindering the progress.
With all that, if
you as an employee have never written a progress report, the biggest benefit
will be making sure the boss and you agree on what you should be worked on. It
has always surprised me when, as a consultant, I talked to employees and then
bosses about what the employee was supposed to be accomplishing. In more cases
than should have ever been, there were far different perceptions of what the
employee was supposed to be doing.
Benefits for You
It’s a different
story when you are your own boss. (Remember we are the bosses of our own life.)
Progress reports are even more important but are so very much harder when
dealing with your own life.
More important
– what could be more important than getting where you want to get to in your
life? The same thing happens when you are pursuing your goals as happens when
pursuing the progress the person above you in the organization chart wants. You
get so busy with the daily things you don’t have time to work on those things
that draw you closer to what you really want.
Much Harder
– People often say you can’t lie to yourself. They’re wrong! I’ve lied to myself
on a regular basis all my life. “I’d done better in school, if the teachers
weren’t so unfair!” “I’m doing fine at work, but the boss sure likes Joe more
than me.” “I’d spend more time doing what’s important to me if I wasn’t spending
so much time doing those meaningless things the boss wants.” All lies – the
teachers were unfair, they wanted me to study (how dare they!). The boss liked
Joe better because he accomplished what the boss wanted. As far as my spending
so much time doing what the boss wants me to do, we won’t talk about the hours I
spend watching whatever
That makes
preparing your own progress report tough, but the really tough part comes in
deciding what you are progressing toward. With the work stuff the boss has
already decided what you’re trying to do, but now it’s up to you. We’d all like
to be rich, healthy, and successful, but until there’s a plan those are just
dreams. I’ll tell you my plan of becoming rich by playing Power Ball when I
notice it’s over $300,000,000 hasn’t been working very well. Getting on the
scale every morning and deciding this is the day I’m going to start watching my
diet only to forget as soon as I start eating breakfast hasn’t been a very
effective plan. And success in what? Let’s face it; deciding what you want isn’t
tough. Deciding what you want bad enough to really work on is tough!
Assuming you have
a plan to achieve your goal, the progress report will allow you to see if your
plan needs tweaking – or a major overhaul. I’ve often found my efforts on
preparing a progress report end in my realization I don’t have a plan after all.
That, in itself, is progress!!
As always, I’d
welcome your comments. rwl@lobenhofer.com