I’ve experienced it and I’m sure you have too. You’re getting close to a deadline for a project and you’re waiting on 12 essential details to complete everything.
You’re so close to the deadline that having any conversations or communication will KEEP you from completing the project.
So what do you do?
You skip them… and get to work.
Seriously though… who has time to communicate early and often when you have a deadline to meet?
It’s easier to go silent and communicate less when there’s a big event or deadline right around the corner. However, one of the strategic behaviors I want all of us to consider as leaders is this:
We communicate EARLY and OFTEN.
Part 1: Communicating EARLY
This means we talk about stuff while we can still make plenty of adjustments. When you communicate late, there’s often no time left to make changes. On Nov 13, I wrote about how we plan in advance so that ‘lack of time’ is never an issue. Around CFC, we don’t want to fall into the “I didn’t have enough time” trap. That’s not a good excuse! By communicating early, we can keep each other in the loop before it is too late.
When you communicate early… you can let your team know about stuff while there’s still time to figure out key details and other solutions.
When you communicate early… you allow time for proper planning. See my post from Nov 13 for more planning tips and tricks: https://public.3.basecamp.com/p/HonuXbbxWwdGMvnDsXg1nJXG
Part 2: Communicating OFTEN
This just means we’re in the pattern of a consistent conversation — not a irregular monologue.
So far my personal attempts to achieve this have been:
- Monthly volunteer training meetings (Saturdays)
- Weekly(ish) posts here in Basecamp (like this one)
But I’m sure there’s more I could do and that we could all do…
Next steps…
- What, if anything, do you have to communicate that would be better for your team to know SOONER than later?
- How often have you communicated?
- What can we do better to make sure communication is happening EARLY and OFTEN?
