Dear Sunday Sparker,
The meeting was on Sunday.
I shared the presentation with my manager for review on the Wednesday before.
Big mistake.
You see, this is a presentation we do every year.
I learned from past years that I needed to share the slides early so I would have time to add notes or make changes.
This year, however, I assumed that my manager and I were aligned on the format and how we wanted to present the results.
What I forgot about is that WE changed. We evolved. We are not the same from year to year. And what we wanted to highlight each year depends on our performance and growth.
I forgot to factor in a major component: Leadership Maturity.
Maturity in leadership means a sharper focus and a better eye for what to highlight and what could be a distraction.
For example, in the past, I used to present 3 slides for each team I reported on. This year, however, my manager asked me to delete 30 slides and only present one slide per team, slides that I worked hard on, not digitally generated dashboards, not AI, it was me and good old Excel and PowerPoint.
My efforts, of course, did not go to waste. I gained insights into each team’s performance that I used when I presented the results.
But man oh man, deleting those slides stung like a bee.
In your work, communicate with your manager often.
Share your drafts as early as possible.
Make sure you and your management are aligned on the outcome.
Make sure you are serving your audience (we have also deleted slides that had been there for years because we realized our superiors were a better audience for them than team members).
Communicate early and often.
That’s a great work mantra to post somewhere!
What about you?
Have you worked on something for too long before getting feedback, only to find that feedback changed everything?
