The first question in your O3's

Hey folks,

just wanted to post an actual experience after the 'always ask the same question at the start of your o3's' cast.

I decided to do it.  It feels dumb, but I always ask 'how's it going'.

Generally the responses are 'not bad', 'ok', 'pretty good' but no matter what the actual answer, each person normally keeps to that answer and are consistent.

But last week I had '...pause......busy'.

And there you have it, something had changed, there was the cue for us to spend that time talking through stuff - it turned out to be too many percieved top priorities so we went through the work list, picked out the actual top focuses, discussed how they could be achieved, to the quality needed, where they could look to for guidance and re-stated when the targets were.

The direct was happier at the end, still aware of the high workload, but better able to actually get to grips with it.

If you aren't asking the same question at the start of your o3's I highly recommend it.

cheers

Fitch