Achieving the Power of DONE

By Mary Kelly

​I don’t really like the word done because it reminds me of something being baked in the oven.

It is not my verb of choice, but it is a wildly powerful word.

It’s simple. Let people know when you did something. Let people know when something is done. Finished. Accomplished. Closed out. Crossed off. Done.

Close the loop. Close the loop with managers, coworkers, and suppliers.

Yes, they trust that you will do it, because you said you would do it. They believe you.

Yes, you have done it before and they know you are capable of doing it. They have confidence in you.
Yes, you are an expert in your field. They respect you.

Take the final step and let people know when you have accomplished what you said you would accomplish. Why? So they can take it off their plate.

Managers and leaders are juggling hundreds of issues and tasks. When you close the loop and simply tell your supervisor, your coworker, or your customer that you have done what you said you would do, it brings them a sense of relief. It allows them to close the icon. It takes that task off their plate. It reduces the stress.
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Yet some people push back on this idea of letting people know when they get things done for these reasons, and here are our responses:

“I said I would do it.”
Response: So tell them you did it to continue to build trust.

“It is something I do routinely every week.”
Response: Good! So letting others know it is done should be easy.

“They shouldn’t have to worry about the details of my job.”
We agree! Make it easy for them to NOT worry about you and your job and take it off their to-do list by letting them know the task has been accomplished.

Try letting 3 people know you have accomplished what they trust you to do. A simple one word response will suffice.

“DONE!”

It works.

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