How Do You Expect your Team to Communicate: Closed Loop or Open Loop?
A few Saturdays ago I was cranking on work late into the evening, and as I wrapped up, I decided to watch Brad Feld’s Startup Boards series that the Kauffman Foundation produced.
This gets all very meta for me, as Brad Feld is on FullContact’s board. He also literally wrote the book on startup boards — he has called it Startup Boards: Getting the Most out of Your Board of Directors.
So when there is content out there by Brad on how to effectively operate Board of Directors, it’s probably good that I consume it.
The videos were very well done and really encapsulate Brad’s philosophy. I have learned a lot from Brad’s teachings, and try to use it when I serve on other Boards, like Rapt Media or Colorado Technology Association.
One of my favorite new terms that Brad used in one of the videos was “open looped.”
As in “Depending on how open-looped that board member operates, you might have to check in on them to see where they are at on a given task.”
Open-looped communication styles don’t close the loop or communicate status updates without nudging. I think of this as a “pull” protocol.
Closed loop communication styles always close the loop. I think of this as “push.” It requires much more discipline, time and energy.
When I heard that term, I told my wife Sarah about it, and asked whether she was “closed-loop” or “open-looped” in her communication style with peers, direct reports and management.
Sarah said something interesting: that she was probably way more open looped than she should be because she assumed people didn’t want to be bothered with updates from her.
I indicated that I often feel I close the loop more frequently to my team than they close the loop with me, but I still feel I suck at closing the loop in general across the organization. I really suck at closing loops when it comes to introductions (e.g. thanking people for an introduction and letting them know what came of it — but that’s a topic for another post)
For example, as I write this, I realize that I vowed to put my board to work this year, and I didn’t follow up with them after the January board meeting to really give them assignments and close the loop.
As a mental exercise, I ran through the 11 folks that I work closely with on a day to day basis and identified whether we operated “closed loop” or “open loop.”
Some operate completely open-loop and I have to query for status updates.
Some close the loop with me only when a task is completed.
Some close the loop with me and all other stakeholders, while others may close the loop with only me and leave others in an open-loop mode.
Some use tools and systems to “close the loop” for them — (i.e. please go check this system — it’s up-to-date)
The bottom line is that communication style varies wildly by individual and by team.
I prefer closed loop communications patterns in general, but not to the point where it gets mentally burdensome for both parties or approaches micromanagement territory.
This all depends on the bandwidth a team works at. Striking the right balance between the appropriate amount of signal to noise takes time and defining the size of the loop matters.
Tight, small loops mean frequent updates, like daily — or in times of crisis — every hour. Loose, large loops mean infrequent updates, like once a quarter.
But I do think it’s important to be very intentional about these styles.
For example, the other day, I gave Brad a particular task for Q2. He told me to manage him like an “undisciplined sales guy” — meaning he is going to operate in an open looped way and I am going to have to ride herd on him to get things done and receive status updates.
That’s completely fine, as long as both people are explicit about the operating protocol.
If Brad hadn’t been explicit about this, I probably wouldn’t bug him as much as is needed and I would end up frustrated that a task didn’t get done.
So, just to close the loop on this post — if you’d like to operate in a more open loop mode with your team, be intentional about it. If you’d like to operate in closed loop mode with your team, be intentional about that too!
Either mode is fine — as long as you’re being clear. Just be intentional about your expectations.