Sticky Notes: Practice Extreme Alignment

How can you stay aligned with so many more people than ever before—your boss, your direct reports, and your colleagues (sideways and diagonal) all over the organization chart?

• Provide drafts or samples of your work in progress. Check in with your boss, direct reports, or colleagues early on so you don’t go too far in any wrong direction.
• Ask your boss, direct reports, or colleagues to watch you work once in a while. This will give them a clear view of what you are doing and how you are doing it.
• In your structured one-on-one conversations, provide an account of what you’ve done, how you’ve done it, and what you are planning to do next. Who owns which next steps and when are you going to follow up with each other?
• Use self -monitoring tools. Monitor in writing via project plans, checklists, and activity logs whether you are meeting the goals and deadlines laid out in a project plan. Report to your collaboration partners regularly.
• Ask your customers, vendors, coworkers, and everyone you work with to give you honest feedback about your performance in relation to them. Ask them in writing, “How am I doing?” and use that data as feedback to help you improve.