LEADERSHIP

LEADING HIGH-STAKES ADVENTURES • 29
important—keeping their own bosses happy. You’re just one
more item on their already too long, to-do, today list. In net,
you need them more than they need you. You’re left on the list
for "tomorrow.” And, when it comes to making you happy or
keeping their bosses happy, you know who’s going to be disappointed.
Human nature often trumps best intentions. You
don’t need x-ray vision to see this one coming. The only sucker
in this punch is the unwary team leader.
Even when your extended team members are highly motivated
and responsible, “It slipped through the cracks” is a
common lament. For extended teams I recommend frequent
communications and careful control. And by frequent, I mean
just-one-step-short-of-being-a-stalker frequent.
Keep your communication cycle short—at least multiple
times a week. This rate of communication may feel like too
much, but keep it up. It only seems like too much to you, the
person most familiar with, closest to, and who likely cares the
most about the project. The more remote the team members
are (in terms of geographic proximity, operational visibility,
and personal or emotional buy-in), the greater the effort leaders
must place in communication and control activities.
One marketing communications study I’m aware of shows
the attention/intention rate of decline to be about 5% per day.
While we can argue about the percentage of erosion, in terms
of frequency of communications, shorter is better than longer.
Once you get your team members’ attention, don’t back off.
Carefully nurture communications and interactions throughout
each team member’s circle of involvement.
I want you to guard against two additional sidekick threats.
When problems arise in either of these, we often tend, due to
interpersonal dynamics, to hide and watch, to hope and wait.