CAREER SPECIAL..A Stress Free Guide to Remembering to Follow Up at Work

A Stress Free Guide to Remembering to Follow Up at Work

Everyone has at least one coworker who just can't be trusted to get you what you need to do your job. You know the one: you like him enough, but it seems like you have to follow up with him on everything you need from him. You don't want to be a jerk, but you need results. Here's how you can get those results easily without straining your working relationship or your sanity.
It's not fair, but when you have a job to do that depends on your team and they don't get you what you need to do that job, to people who aren't in the loop, it just means you didn't get your job done. It sucks, but use it as motivation to make sure the people you work with—even if they don't work for you—get you what you need when you need it, and that you learn how to escalate when you have to. Here's what we mean.

Let Everyone Know Up Front You'll Follow Up

One of the most proactive things you can do to encourage people to get back to you is to let them know that you'll follow up with them later, and to let them know when. It may take a few actual follow-ups for your colleagues to realize that you're serious about it, but once they realize you'll come calling at a specific date and time if they don't get back to you, they'll start getting back to you without help. The important thing is to start training them to understand that you'll follow up, and they shouldn't be surprised when you do.

Include a Deadline in Your Requests

The next step is to start telling your coworkers when you need information, and then start pinging them as soon as you need it. Start signing your emails with the footnote "I need this by Tuesday, so I'll check back with you then to see how it's going." They'll know you're coming, and over time, they'll start getting back to you on their own. You'll also get a paper trail that shows you're being clear about your deadlines and your follow-ups, which you'll need if you have to escalate. Plus, you'll be able to follow up without feeling like a jerk because hey, you warned them. Set their deadline up front, and you give yourself the freedom to check back when you need to.

Use Technology to Help You Remember to Follow Up

If the problem is really that you're so busy you can't remember to follow up, there are plenty of tools that can help you remember to check back with someone who owes you something. Here are a few:

• Boomerang helps you remember to act on emails that come in to your inbox by removing them and making them reappear at a scheduled time. This way you can fire off an email to a coworker and CC yourself, or select the message that inspired you to ask your coworker for help, and use Boomerang to make the message disappear. In a few days, Boomerang will bring the message back, and you have your reminder to follow up with your coworker.
• Followup.cc reminds you to follow up with others, or can follow up with them automatically for you. Here's how it works: email your coworker, but in the CC or BCC field, add an @followup.cc address that corresponds to when you want an automatic follow-up message. For example, 3days@followup.cc will make the reminder message show up three days from now. aug21@followup.cc will, predictably, make your follow up message appear on August 21st. If you put the Followup.cc address in the To or CC field, everyone will get it so you don't have to send a follow up message. If you put them in the BCC field, it'll come only to you.

Don't Forget the Human Approach

Telling them ahead of time is great, and using automated tools to fire off emails is certainly helpful, but nothing beats the old fashioned "call them on the phone" or "get up and walk to their desk" approach. After all, if you're having trouble with a coworker who never gets back to you on time, their inbox is probably stuffed, or they're just busy or disorganized. Sometimes the only way to get what you need from someone is to stand next to their desk until they give it to you. Photo by Everett Collection (Shutterstock).
This method definitely requires you to get past feeling like a jerk, but there's an easy way to deal with that too: remember how you feel when your boss comes down on you for not getting the results you're supposed to, and remember how little your boss cares when you complain that you're "waiting on someone to get back to you." If it helps your relationships with your coworkers, level with them and let them know that you need what you need and you're on deadline, otherwise you're in hot water. If it's chronic, talk to their boss (or ask your boss to intervene.) Ultimately it's your responsibility to get what you need to do your job—go get it!

(lifehacker.com/5919223/a-stress+free-guide-to-remembering-to-follow-up-at-work)