Nugget 19: You will get far more engagement from the people you work with if you give them a decent and full reason why you are asking them to go above and beyond.
Explanation:
Very often managers, project leaders, or directors, just state “oh, we need to meet deadline X” when they are asking for an extra push from teams and seem to infer that just because a deadline exists that all other people regard that as in some way critical.
But I have found that spending five minutes of giving a decent explanation in your communications as to why you genuinely need it, and the end consequence you are trying to avoid by asking for extra effort works wonders, And by that I do not mean threatening “If action X does not get completed by the end of this week, then director Z will be mad”. {{The very worst incarnation of this push for deadline without a reason issue, is when the people doing the work know what the deadline is and the reasons for it, but you chase for them earlier. A perfect example is if something has to be done before the end of a day and people plan their work accordingly, But you are chasing them for an update at 9.30am. This helps no one, it doesn’t mean the project will be done better, quicker, or more professionally, it just means that the team is no longer going to give you any update unlessed force. Because you are unreasonable with your update expectations.}}
Show people valid business orientated consequence in a non threatening way. Ask for their assistance to solve a slightly more holistic problem. Don’t just demand, don’t just threaten. You can chase, you can cajole, but if you give people a good reason, then they will help you and understand why, doing it this way also aids them in providing answers as to why you are jumping the queue, If they have a good reason they can also use that to give to their boss to try and get extra resources for this kind of issue.
Ultimately, give people solid reasons, if your work is so important they should be easy to supply.
Disclaimer: As always these posts are not aimed at anyone client or employer and are just my personal observations over a lifetime of dealing with both management and frontline associates.