Closing the Loop

Every time I go through a round of performance reviews I help my team highlighting behaviors that can set them apart. Being able to "close the loop" has historically been a skill that most people are lacking but can improve your visibility. This applies not only to ICs but to Managers as well. An idea without a plan loses value and just talking about it doesn't magically make it happen. I hear in many ways and forms people coming up with ideas for improvements, projects or process changes and discussing those with the team in the hope that someone picks up the clue. Unfortunately, that's rarely the case.

You can safely assume that everyone is quite busy and having that decisiveness to determine the next steps is a really good skill to develop. I tend to do this a lot. As a Manager it's a habit, I never end a meeting without a "who does what by when" but it's so refreshing when someone else takes the initiative to close the loop on something. Want to improve how we log information about our system? Write a proposal. Want to make a change to our process? Talk to the PM and follow up regularly. Got an odd system behavior that triggered a few alerts but resolved after a while? Coordinate with other teams to investigate and get answers.

There are always plenty of opportunities for you to contribute. Sometimes it might not be obvious or clear but look around, and spot what the team needs. Is there a complaint that, although small, comes up again and again? Take some time to explore how to mitigate that, talk to the people who complained, propose a path forward and coordinate with your manager to get that done! Developing this habit always leaves a good impression not only on your manager but on the people on the team. If you do this already, write it down! This is a really good behavior to demonstrate and prove your contribution to the team beyond the work you're assigned. Your manager might not notice but you want to make sure they're aware. I often push people to think about their contribution week after week, I want to know the good stuff and I want to be able to highlight every contribution.

Thoughts

Closing the loop, following up, following through and writing it down. Create these habits sooner in your career and you will contribute to increasing visibility and being an integral part of the team. Don't be afraid to take initiative and get out of your comfort zone.