How to Launch and Follow Through
From launch day onward, deliver the message, read results honestly against the criteria you set, and leave the next initiative better off than the last. This is the stage everyone sees, and the one the earlier discipline was for.
Developing
Start here. Build the foundation.- 1
Run the communication plan as written so each audience hears what changes for them, from the planned messenger, in the planned order. Take questions live rather than routing them to a mailbox, and log any you cannot answer with a date you will. Check the affected-audience list at day's end; anyone who found out secondhand is a row you missed, so send it now.
- 2
On the day the initiative goes live, record the first reading against each success criterion, even when the number has barely moved, because the early rows separate a slow start from a flat one. Keep the criteria as written at definition. When an outcome measure moves slowly, resist swapping it for an activity count that moves fast and answers a question nobody asked.
Proficient
Build consistency and rhythm.- 3
When a reading misses, name it to the team and stakeholders in a shared forum the same week, before anyone asks. State what the reading was against target, what changes, who owns the change, and when you will read it again. If a reading trips a kill criterion, escalate the same day, not at the next review.
- 4
Send the update on the promised day whether the news is good, bad, or dull, and score every report against the original criteria so nobody has to ask what it is measured against. A skipped report reads as bad news to everyone who notices, so you pay for the bad month without the credit for honesty.
Mastered
Operate at the highest level.- 5
When the initiative reaches its criteria dates or trips its kill criteria, run a retrospective against the original definition: what you predicted, what happened, and what you would change. Change at least one shared template as a result, and tell the next owner which change you made and why. A retrospective that alters nothing for the next initiative was a meeting.
Common Pitfalls
Avoid the common failure modes.- The channel goes quiet after the announcement, so people stop reading the next post. Put the current reading up this week, even if unchanged.
- The tracked numbers are not the ones in the definition. Activity crept in because it moved faster; put the original criteria back and report both if you must.
- A miss has been carried for two readings. Waiting for recovery is a decision you never announced; name it now and state the change.