GOFORWARD LLC

The Progress Check

Details

Friday, July 12, 2013 10:07 am

There are some organizations that have just completed their fiscal year while others are in the middle of their year. For those of you mid-year, it is time to think about the first six months and how you and your team are doing on deliverables thus far. It is important to involve everyone – at all levels – in a progress check. How does your team plan for the next six months? To ensure you stay on track to meet your goals and objectives? Here are some tips GOFORWARD uses to assist with a successful progress check.

Questions/Ideas to Consider Pre-Progress Check Meeting:

• Review the goals and objectives you have in place.
• What tracking measures are you using – and how do the numbers look at this point?
• How are you doing against your budget? 
• Now that you’ve reviewed the goals & objectives against your tracking measures – talk to your stakeholders.
• How are things going with your stakeholders? How do they think the team is doing? What do they think about the customer service provided so far this year?
• Ask for assistance from staff - get some of them involved prior to the meeting assisting with research or meeting preparation.

Progress Check Meeting:

• Schedule a team meeting to discuss the results of your findings. Ask for input, feedback from your team – what needs to happen in the next 6 months? What needs to be tweaked? What do customers/stakeholders need? Remember, this check-in should help to progress your team – negative feedback from the team or stakeholders should be used to improve, not decrease moral. Use your leadership skills to solve and move your team forward in a positive way.
• Talk about the team dynamics. What does your team need from you? What do you need from the team? Do we have any issues to resolve as a team? Make some specific suggestions – and ask for theirs.
• Don’t forget to thank the whole team and give kudos – and extra kudos to those who helped pre-meeting!

Next Steps:

• Apply what you’ve learned during this mid-year check-in and adjust the next 6 months accordingly.
• Tweak goals & objectives, if necessary and if approved by senior management.
• Tweak tracking measures, if appropriate.
• Establish and clearly communicate how staff should continue to reach goals and objectives for the next six months.
• Close the loop with staff on any changes – and talk to any stakeholders who may need to know about changes.