Follow Up on the Work
Follow-up inspects progress. It does not take the work back.
September 15, 2026
Originally published in One More Rep, a weekly newsletter for people managers who want to get better through practice. Subscribe here — it's free.
Week 37. Rep 37. Last week you practiced setting clear expectations and making a clean handoff of ownership. This week you'll check in on the work while it's still in progress.
Read
The Moment
You set the expectation clearly. You confirmed shared understanding. Ownership was transferred and accepted.
The deadline approached and you hadn't heard anything. No news is good news? The deadline passed, your direct told you they were finished...and the work wasn't what you expected or maybe it didn't arrive at all.
The Pattern
The first instinct is to put all of the blame on your direct. But, that's not the whole story.
Follow-up is the rep that is easy to skip entirely or do wrong. You skip it because checking in feels like micromanaging. Or, maybe you soften it with a "how's the project going?" You get a "good" in response and accept that as progress.
Neither of these gives you true visibility into the work. And without visibility, you can't surface problems before they become missed deadlines or rework.
Why This Matters
Follow-up inspects progress. It doesn't correct behavior and it doesn't take the work back.
The difference between follow-up and micromanaging isn't frequency; the difference is in the question you ask. "How's it going?" invites reassurance. "Where are you with the client proposal?" requires a real answer.
Strong follow-up creates execution visibility without stepping on ownership. That's the rep this week.
Rep
This Week's Practice
This week you're running Rep 2 of the Accountability System on work that's currently in progress.
The three moves:
Ask for status. Anchor the question to the work, not to how the person feels about it. "Where are you with X?" "Are you still on track for Thursday?"
Validate progress. If the response sounds like reassurance, ask one more question to surface real execution progress. "What's left to finish?" "What tells you you're on track?"
Check for obstacles. Once progress is clear, surface risks and leave ownership with them. "Anything getting in the way?" "What might slow this down?"
Your Rep
Run the three-move follow-up on at least two pieces of work in progress this week. After each one, write down what you learned that you wouldn't have known without asking.
What to Notice
Success looks like:
You anchored the question to the work, not to how they feel about it
You got a specific answer about where the work stands
Resistance looks like:
Accepting "it's going well" as a progress update
Skipping the obstacle check because things seem on track
It's working when:
Your team comes prepared with progress updates
A risk surfaces before it becomes a problem
Common Mistakes
Mistake #1: Confusing follow-up with check-in. "How's it going?" is a check-in that invites reassurance. Follow-up is anchored to the specific work and requires a specific answer.
Mistake #2: Taking the work back when you hear a problem. If an obstacle surfaces during follow-up, your job is to help them think through it, not to solve it for them. Ask what their next step is.
Reflect
What did you learn from following up that you wouldn't have known if you'd waited for the deadline?
Did you feel the pull to take the work back? What did you do instead?
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Cristina Stensvaag is co-founder of LeaderReps and creator of One More Rep, a weekly practice-based leadership newsletter for people managers.