Are You on the Naughty List?
Yes, I have a naughty list. It is filled with clients, prospects, friends and family members. Each person on the list has violated the same pet peeve of mine, they failed to follow up, follow through or respond.
Through my years of work as an executive coach and organizational behavior expert I have found follow through to be one of the top predictors of individual and organizational success. People who stand behind their words and have a high say versus do ratio attain higher levels of success than those who don’t follow through. The litany of excuses that are made for poor follow through only exacerbate the problem. A lack of follow through or response, sends signal that you are not a priority or that you are not important to me. This highlights a self awareness and sometimes self-absorption problem. Leaders who put others first and who cater to the needs of others have more followers and achieve greater results. Having an execution mindset begins with being highly responsive.
As I reflected on the naughty list, I asked myself this question, “Do I think I am on anyone’s naughty list?” Of course my hope is that I am not, but then again their naughty list might have different criteria than mine. I pride myself on being very responsive and I work hard to cater to the needs of others. When I look at the names on my naughty list, it is rather disappointing. There are good friends, family members and clients with whom I have done significant work. It highlights a problem in our overstimulated world with too many communication channels and an overabundance of information. That said, when I look at some of the most successful people I know in the business world, they seem to pride themselves on immediate response. I have publicly traded CEO clients, board members, VC backed growth company CEO clients, doctor friends, lawyer friends, entrepreneur clients, business owners, senior management team members and emerging leaders who all make it a priority to respond quickly. These are people I can count on. They are clearly not on my naughty list. One would think that people in high profile and high responsibility roles would not have the time to be so responsive, but the oppositive is true. They have achieved that level of success, because they are responsive. With the additional responsibilities they have found a way to manage their communications, delegate effectively and provide themselves with the time to follow up and follow through.
I am not one for public shaming, so my naughty list will remain anonymous. If you are reading this post, chances are you are not on my naughty list, but if you are on the list and reading this post, a quick reply would be appreciated. In my coaching work, I do call my coachees out when they are unresponsive. I find that as an executive coach it is my duty to help make them better and part of that is letting them know the signals that they are sending with their silence. I don’t feel the same about reaching out to those on my list who have been unresponsive. I will say there are at least thirty people on the list.
In an attempt to re-engage with a couple people on the list in the past, I tried to use humor. I sent them emails asking if they were ghosting me on purpose. In one case it worked and in the other case it did not elicit a response. Regardless of the approach taken, my hope is to help people build greater awareness that their lack of response is a poor reflection on them and it can also reflect poorly upon the company and the brand that they are representing.
In 2016, I wrote an article titled “I Go Through- The importance of an execution mindset”. That post highlighted the importance of execution to individual and organizational success. The name of the article came from the song title I Go Through by O.A.R. one of my favorite bands. Going through is an important skill to hone. In my work with individuals and organizations, I work hard to model that behavior in hopes that demonstrating the act of going through will motivate others to do the same.
For sake of relationships, my naughty list is an annual list. Because you were on the 2022 list doesn’t mean you will be in the 2023 list. I wipe it clean every January. Hoping the list shrinks in future years.
