There’s no requirement for monitoring whether a person or a team job gets done or not.

There is only a requirement for the job to be done.

To confirm, the job done as intended is everything.

Top-down monitoring and checking by senior leaders erodes ownership and responsibility for getting a job done.

It unintentionally and counterintuitively sends the wrong message.

Checking up on others is pernicious and inhibits initiative, trust, energy and human connection.

Human connection drives trust which in turn drives performance.

Focusing on the job to be done eliminates a cost to the business. It creates clarity and focus on who has responsibility for a specific outcome.

There are pre-requisites to accomplish this:

• ensure people have the skills and know the end state to be achieved

• ensure everyone has been given ownership of their outcomes

• develop and use a common vocabulary of ownership (on the mat we use the Japanese term ‘osu’ to communicate we own our performance and progress)

• capture data and report by exception

What top-down monitoring systems can you/will you eliminate today?

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