Slow Down to Speed Up

Early in an engagement, I ask a lot of questions that might seem obvious.

"Wait — who exactly is responsible for that decision?" "When you say 'aligned,' what does that actually mean?" "So the deadline is EOW — does that actually mean by close of business 5pm ET on Friday or anytime before Monday at 9am ET?"

I've had people in rooms visibly impatient at these questions. And I get it. Everyone is busy. The instinct is to move fast, stay high-level, and figure out the details as you go.

But here's what I've learned after 10+ years of managing complex, cross-functional initiatives:

𝗨𝗻𝗰𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗻𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗽𝘀 𝗱𝗼𝗻'𝘁 𝘀𝗹𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝗱𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝗻𝗱 — 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗽 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗹𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗶𝗱𝗱𝗹𝗲.

You get two weeks into execution and suddenly nobody knows who owns the next deliverable. Or two teams were both waiting on each other. Or the "agreement" in the meeting was actually three different people hearing three different things.

The scramble to recover from that confusion takes far longer than the five minutes it would have taken to get specific at the outset.

Slowing down to get clarity — on who does what, by when, and what "done" actually looks like — is one of the highest-leverage investments you can make at the start of any project.

It's not about being slow. It's about making sure that when you move fast, you're all moving in the same direction.

A few questions I've learned to always ask before leaving any meeting:

1. 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗽𝘀? (Note: be clear on the action, not just the intended goal.)

2. 𝗪𝗵𝗼 𝗼𝘄𝗻𝘀 𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵 𝗼𝗻𝗲? (Note: Make sure to name a specific person, not a team.)

3. 𝗕𝘆 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻? (Note: Make sure you have a clear date and time, including time zone for initiatives with regionally scattered teams, marked.)

Three questions. Every meeting. No exceptions.

The answers are almost never as obvious as people assume.

#consulting #projectmanagement #execution