All categories/Workplace communication
Workplace communication · Level Advanced · Communication Follow-up Chasing
Chasing: firm without friction
Waiting on a delivery that keeps slipping.
Prompt
You lead with what the other side needs, then what you need. Emotion stays with you; facts and options go across the table.
Task: Waiting on a delivery that keeps slipping.
[Before you start, do three things]
1. Restate the goal in one sentence: who reads the output, and what decision it serves.
2. If I have not given you the following, ask me. Do not assume:
- the agreed date and current state
- where it is stuck
- consequence of delay
- whether they are blocked
3. Say how you plan to do it (at most 5 steps) and wait for my go-ahead.
[Go through each of these]
- replace 'is it done' with 'where is it now'
- two options: finish this week or re-date
- state the downstream date affected
- publicly discuss the task, not the person
[Process]
1. Read their situation and pressure first
2. Turn feeling into facts and impact
3. Offer a cheap way to respond
4. State the ask and the date
5. Check whether you decided for them
[Output]
One conclusion, facts, the ask, the date. Nothing long.
[Do not]
- Never embarrass anyone in public
- No 'you always' or 'you never'
- Do not send while angry
- Never handle a personal conflict in a group channelWhat to state before it starts
Leave these unsaid and the model fills them with an assumption. Most 'wrong answers' start here.
- the agreed date and current state
- where it is stuck
- consequence of delay
- whether they are blocked
Go through each of these
Where this kind of work most often goes wrong. Already in the prompt, so you do not have to remember it.
- replace 'is it done' with 'where is it now'
- two options: finish this week or re-date
- state the downstream date affected
- publicly discuss the task, not the person