What's my next action? - Leadership Questions #8

May 12, 2024

What’s the next specific action I can take to get closer to my goal?

Answers

Examples from my career

Taming chaos: When I joined a new company I was asked to take charge of an internal R&D system. I routinely asked myself what’s the next action I or someone on my team can take to move this initiative forward.
Coaching employees: When direct reports get stuck in their work I often return to the GROW coaching model. Coaching someone through the “Goal > Reality > Options > What will you do?” framework proved to be a more elaborate way of helping others come up with their next action.
Effective meetings: We’ve all been in meetings that lacked action and accountability. If I notice we’re running low on time and there’s not much to action yet, I ask “What actions would bring us closer to our goal?”. Combined with “Who does what by when?” this can be a powerful way to drive accountability and progress.

Examples from the community

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Vague is relative: What seems vague to you might appear concrete to others. What matters is that you can confidently do the next step in a given project, so optimize for that.
Single action versus action lists: You can brainstorm multiple actions from where you are to where you want to go in a project. However, this plan is often an illusion that becomes painfully clear when you try to work through the steps. Over time you will get a better feeling of just how many actions are sensible to create at a certain point. If breaking things down takes more time than doing the thing, you know you’ve gone way too far.
Only if you have to: Don’t use this technique if you’re steadily and happily progressing on your projects. There’s a word for doing unnecessary steps at work: waste.

Allen, David, Getting Things Done, 2015 (I would provide a page reference but lent my copy to a friend, so this article has to do for now)