To improve in an ongoing way, leaders must always make course corrections. There is no way things get better without changes. For anyone or any organisation to get better, checking in on performance is alone is not enough. A feedback loop is necessary.
Leaders must see what is working well and why it is so. This also applies to things not working the way they should. When not all the cogs are turning the way they should it is folly not to make the needed changes. The challenge is often on corrections.
It is rare that leaders and teams disagree that things could work better. The challenge often has to do with the nature of the changes. Difference in perspectives on how they need to be is often the challenge.
One thing that can get in the way of making necessary changes is, “When to make changes?”
Changes that are clear ‘life-and-death’ in the immediate sense must be made immediately. There are some important decisions that cannot be unmade for too long. Some can get your attention in later, though not too much later.
Those are ones you correct forward. Correcting forward, in particular, relates to changes needed in ongoing processes and systems. These apply to the repetitive; the somewhat predictable.
Some changes complicate things when you attempt to correct them mid-process [Click to Tweet].
Only if your enterprise would crumble in an instant should you interrupt processes in motion with change. Risk goes higher as moving parts increase.
Only if your enterprise would crumble in an instant should you interrupt processes in motion with change [Click to Tweet]
Create intervals where you review the near past, and then introduce needed change. Be careful not to create a sense of urgency that could become more disruptive than necessary.
Use the time between the completion of present processes and reviews to note, plan and prepare for the needed change. Correcting in the instant is not always helpful. Be more calculated, thoughtful and strategic by correcting forward.
[image: bossfight.co]