He wrote “I am a director already”.Two weeks later they said VP.
Twenty years of water engineering, a title he had been waiting on, and a sheet of paper where he wrote the whole of it down in the present tense.
- 25Declarations in his own hand
- 9With movement inside two weeks
- 6Areas he sorted them into
- 4Projects sold, two of them major
My name is Zhiping and I am in command, inspired, freedom and healthy.
Four words down the left margin of the page: in command, inspired, freedom and healthy. Then twenty-five lines underneath them, every one written as though it were already the case.
Declared, then whatactually happened.
Nine of the twenty-five had something under them a fortnight later, which is the honest number that early. Four of the nine are below: the four about the job. His sheet also covers his hours, his pay and the people around him, and that was said to a consultant rather than to a website.
9 of 25declarations already moving, two weeks after the room
I am a director already.
He feels like one, and the people around him started saying he should be at VP level.
I manage and direct the recruiting process.
Job descriptions written, the posting up, résumés coming in. The interviews and the hiring decision are his to make.
I command visibility by myself, or through the company.
His SVP handed him an EXP pin to represent the company at a conference.
I have the support and a team to support me.
He asked the project coordinator and the junior engineer to take more on. They did it well. Two or three more hires are next.
Four projects sold in the same fortnight, two of them major, and four now running. It is the one result on the sheet that arrived without a declaration next to it.
Twenty-five wants.Six things to do.
Write the third column out and it starts repeating. These six moves each answer more than one line, and between them they cover thirteen of the twenty-five, which is the difference between a list nobody can action and a fortnight’s work.
The knowledge hub
A folder in the internal repository, holding lessons learned and project sheets, then shared with the team. One folder answers strong culture, an organised workplace, access to knowledge and the flow of it.
4 declarationsTwo or three more hires
Team support, the talent pool, time to work on proposals, and getting back to one job description instead of several.
4 declarationsAsk for the review, and the plan
A performance review inside a fortnight, then monthly check-ins against the title. Both of the lines about the promotion run through this one.
2 declarationsBe selective about proposals
Choose what he works on and hand the rest over, which is the same move as having the time, and the same move as having one job description.
2 declarations
What a present-tensesentence is worth.
The quoted line under each of these is his, exactly as he wrote it. What sits above it is what happened next.
- 01
He wrote the title before anyone offered it.
The first line on the sheet is not a goal with a date on it. It is a sentence in the present tense, and the fortnight after he wrote it people around him started reaching past it.
I am a director already.
- 02
He started directing without the title.
Job descriptions, the posting, the résumés: all of it his, before anything was formally his. The interviews and the hiring decision are next.
I manage and direct the recruiting process.
- 03
He asked, and the answers came back yes.
A performance bonus, received. An EXP pin from his SVP to represent the company at a conference. A coordinator and a junior engineer taking more on, and doing it well.
I command visibility by myself, or through the company.
- 04
Twenty-five wants, six things to do.
The value of the sheet is not the wanting. It is that the third column repeats, so a list nobody could action turns out to be a handful of moves that each pay for themselves several times over.
Aneta pinpoints your bottlenecks and comes up with solutions nobody else offered me. Middle manager or senior executive, her method will move you in the right direction.
Twenty years of expertise waiting on a title and a salary increase. Overwhelmed, under-appreciated, no time, and down about all of it, with the whole of it filed under things other people decide.
A sheet of twenty-five lines in his own handwriting, nine of them already moving inside a fortnight: a bonus received, an EXP pin from his SVP, the recruiting process his to run, and four projects sold. The rest has a move against it and a date to ask.
His sheet had six moves on it. Yours will have its own.
Three Sprints most months, and every one starts with a call so I can tell you straight whether three days would move what you are carrying, including when the answer is no.
What the three days actually are The same sheet, read back once