Coaching 300: Act and Audit

Imperative Explained

Act and Audit means driving hard while maintaining visibility into the team’s capacity, risks, and sustainability. “Good” looks like setting expectations clearly, naming the cost, checking load regularly, adjusting when strain rises, and running structured audits of commitments and health. Leaders who act and audit protect performance and people.
This imperative drives two outcomes: higher resilience during tough pushes and lower disengagement when stakes rise. Teams feel supported, not exploited—and they push through challenges with clarity and confidence.

Five Behaviors

• Name the cost — Be honest about the sacrifice.
  
  
• Set clear expectations — Define success and constraints.
  
  
• Audit load — Track capacity and strain.
  
  
• Adjust intelligently — Shift work before burnout hits.
  
  
• Close the loop — Review what worked and what didn’t.
  
  

If You Don’t

Teams burn out or disengage. Performance becomes inconsistent. Hidden strain erupts into turnover, quality issues, and missed commitments. Customers see slips caused by exhausted teams.

If You Do

Teams push hard and stay healthy. KPIs improve: engagement during crunch periods rises, initiative persistence strengthens, and workload sustainability stabilizes. People trust leadership because the push is justified and monitored.

Mini-Case

A VP led a high-stakes launch with an aggressive timeline. Instead of pretending the push would be easy, she named the cost, set expectations, and ran weekly audits of workload and risk. The team delivered on time with no burnout-related attrition, and post-launch performance stayed strong.

Try It This Week

1. Name the cost of one push.
   
   
2. Clarify expectations for a key deliverable.
   
   
3. Audit team load in one conversation.
   
   
4. Shift one task to protect sustainability.
   
   
5. Run a micro-retro to close the loop.
   
   

Learn More

For sustaining performance under pressure, see Resilience 200: Lengthen the Pause. For sharper decision clarity, revisit Integrity 100: Run on an Inner Scorecard. For long-term system strengthening, explore Accountability 300: Turn Scars into Systems.