Having a reputation as a finisher is a great option to build your influence in an organisation. It’s all about making great commitments and then following them through to the end.
Not everyone is a finisher, especially those who are visionaries, focused on generating ideas rather than getting in to the execution. Even so, visionaries need to find some finishers to work with, to build trust that their ideas will actually come to fruition.
As always, it’s important to recognise the role that suits you, and to make sure you are filling it well.
Finishers make sure that things get done. They either do it themselves, or more likely they divert resources, people and focus on to getting something over the line.
The reputation gets built by finishing things that aren’t easy. Innovation, changes to practices or processes and complex projects where other people have failed are all rich areas to get some big wins and build a history of success.
A really important area to work on is not taking on too much. Finishers fail when they are chasing too many projects at once. Recognise your capacity to achieve great outcomes, and practice saying no to things you can’t commit to completing.
This gets harder as you become more successful and where your reputation starts to spread. More people will ask for your support, and want you to get things done for them. You need to step up to higher impact efforts, and find some people earlier in the finisher journey who you can delegate on to.
Finishers are highly valued in an org. Ideas are nothing without execution. If you want to take this role, figure out your capacity. Say ‘yes’ to important things and deliver on them every time. Say ‘no’ to things you can’t fit in, and get comfortable delegating as you grow.
James Osborn 