The Value of No Excuses Deadlines

Whenever failure to deliver on a key expectation is not an option, NEDs become invaluable. No Excuses Deadlines (NEDs) are deadlines that must be met along the path to fulfilling a key expectation. To utilize NEDs effectively, everyone along your Expectations Chain must accept the key expectation, believe in it, and share responsibility for making it hap­pen. Once there is clarity and commitment around the key expectation, you can employ NEDs to make sure milestones and deadlines are met along the way.

Think about a time in your life when you were part of a team or Expectations Chain that effectively applied NEDs to successfully deliver on a key expectation. Deconstruct the experience in your mind. Was the key expectation or desired outcome clearly understood by everyone involved? Did everyone demonstrate accountability and ownership for making it happen? What did you do when an individual or group along the Expectations Chains began to falter or seemed to be in jeopardy of not delivering their needed contribution? Were the NEDs clearly established, constantly discussed, regularly monitored, and consistently met? How did you feel when the expectation was successfully met? Contrast that feeling with a time when you didn’t deliver on a key expectation.

Keep this in mind: real change and true success begin with a statement of what you (individually or as a team/organization) want to have happen. Stating your expectation this way, making it as accurate as possible, helps you to clarify the outcome you need to achieve. When you add NEDs to your key expectations, it means no excuses will be accepted for failure to delivery on specified milestones and deadlines.

To learn more about how to effectively establish and fulfill key expectations through our Accountability Sequence process, we invite you to join the Accountability Community at www.partnersinleadership.com, where you can review actual client case studies.