The Chaos of Not Closing the Loop

When I was a kid growing up in the 1970’s there was a popular electric football game manufactured by Tudor. This was even before the first hand-held electronic football games, where all the "players" were little red dots and lines. It consisted of a metal playing surface painted like an actual football field, complete with yard lines and end zones. The plastic players were detailed with your favorite team’s uniform and helmet colors, and each position-player was molded into a permanent stance that best suited him for action. As for the ball, it was a tiny little piece of brown foam cut into the shape of a football. Yeah, high-tech stuff right here:

My buddy Eddie had one of these games. Eddie and I spent a long, long time setting up our “teams” for the first play of the game. We thought-out highly detailed game plans, and invested appropriate amounts of time to painstakingly align each and every player in the perfect position to move the ball forward (or stop the ball carrier, if you were the one whose team was on defense). From the offensive line to the wide receivers to the running backs, we knew the players, their capabilities, and their roles. We had the plan, knew the plays, and it all added up to helping us achieve our goal of scoring (or stopping) touchdowns and ultimately winning the game.

Once we had everything in place, Eddie flipped the ON switch to power whatever mechanism was located under the metal football field's surface. The field suddenly vibrated to life, and hopefully set our teams on the proper course of action. We cheered in anticipation, we hollered encouragement! Then, after that first nanosecond, the players began to move in every other direction BUT where we wanted. Players from the same team collided, the quarterback spun in circles, other players vibrated themselves completely off of the surface and onto the oblivion of the living room carpet below. After a mere five seconds, the utter carnage was great and terrible. More times than not, our teams lost yardage. Furthermore, touchdowns were a rarity that happened by sheer accident. To make matters worse, it took so long to reset everything after each play, we soon became discouraged and lost interest entirely.

We had the right players, the right goals, the right tools, and provided proper encouragement. What we didn’t have was a way to stay engaged once the game went “live”. We simply turned our players loose and hoped for the best outcome.

I really hope your leadership style isn't like our electric football game experience. I mean, Eddie and I were eventually rescued by the invention of Atari, but who is going to rescue you? It's one thing to have all the vision, strategy, and people in place. As a leader, you must close the loop by implementing follow-up and follow-through methods to make sure your people stay on-track to accomplish the goals you set for them. Without your verification and inspection, they will succumb to the chaos and carnage of the realities in which they work. The last thing you want is to have your people vibrate off the playing field because you didn’t guide them through to completion.

One thing to clarify: I am not even remotely in the neighborhood of discussing or agreeing with anything that resembles micromanagement. If you hired the right people, set their goals and expectations, gave them proper tools, and encourage them regularly, why would you need to micromanage? In addition, the right people - those who are self-motivated - do not need to be micromanaged. Do they need you to lead and guide them, coach them, and keep them pointed in the right direction? Of course.

So, work hard to set them up for success before you turn the switch to ON - then follow up to make sure they are on track. Otherwise, like me and Eddie, you may end up with something like this:

Thanks for reading.

J.