Close the loop

At some point of time we are asked to complete a task, either home (Honey’s do list) or at our job. In our job we are asked to complete something related to our areas of competency, they can be problems to solve related quality, equipment performance, equipment malfunctions, cost reduction, cycle time reductions, safety or elimination of waste. These areas of opportunity are generally pinpointed by someone and delegated to somebody, and they are expected to be completed or followed up, worse case delegated to somebody else, whatever is the case they must be completed, not forgot neither ignored. This process by control systems analogy is called “Close the Loop”

Our ability to close the loop can make a difference between a trusted employee and employee who is not trusted, because sometime those tasks can be critical for those who identify them, due to normally those who work every day in the same area can develop “workplace blindness” and only be perceived by out siders, being safety issues the most critical.

Employees that are good at close the loop have the following characteristics:

1. They are highly accountable; nobody doubts they will full fit their commitments.
2. They are selected to complete critical task; nobody doubts they will be successful on complete them.
3. They are very often recognized by their achievements.
4. They always close their circles effectively, meaning they are not open again by asking feedback on their actions to close them.

Employees who are not good at closing the circle have the following characteristics:

1. They are not accountable, meaning that we doubt on select them to complete a task, because we are afraid task won’t be completed.
2. They are not trusted.
3. Generally they are not object of recognition.
4. They never make sure their actions were effective, normally they never come back because they are afraid become accountable by their actions.

The bottom line here is that we need to ensure we full fit our commitments, close the loop, because failing on doing so can drive on consequences on the perception of others to our performance. Failing on close the loop at home by no paying services, credits or taxes on time can drive on penalties losing money and trust. Failing on close the loop on our jobs may drive us to head the employee black list or those who are on development programs, ending on being let go to persuit other oportunities some place else.

How good are you to close the loop? Do you identify at your job people is good at close the loop and those who don’t? Let us know your opinion, it is important to us.

References:

1. Marin, Mario “Cierra el Circulo” https://innovando.net/cierra-el-circulo/?preview=true&preview_id=266&preview_nonce=1588707199 February 2012 Mexico. Recovered August 2012.
2. Bolander, Jarie “6 Steps to Closing The Loop” https://innovando.net/wp-admin/post.php?post=266&action=edit#wpseo_linkdex February 2010 USA. Recovered August 2012.