In the manager's everyday life – May 2026
- 1 day ago
- 4 min read
Why do some decisions have an impact while others quickly lose their power? It is not determined by the decision, but by what happens afterwards. In how the direction is followed up and whether it takes hold in everyday life.
You have made the decisions. Set the direction. Been clear about what needs to be done.
Yet something happens along the way. The pace takes over. Other questions push in. And what was important fades faster than you thought.
In this column, Maritha Holmberg takes a closer look at what actually determines whether a decision has an impact on everyday life. What makes some decisions change how work is conducted, while others just become another item on the minutes?
Monitoring is not control, it is leadership
In my previous column, I wrote about why many decisions don't have an impact. Here, I'll focus on what happens after the decision is made.
That's where direction either begins to show in behavior or gradually loses its power. And that's where follow-up shows what it really is. Not control, but leadership in practice.
Read also: When skills development is no longer enough
What I see right now – why some decisions live on and others die out
When I meet managers and management teams, ambition is rarely lacking. The goals are often clear and the decisions well-founded. The question is what happens afterwards.
In some organizations, decisions live on. It is evident in meetings, in what is revisited, and in how priorities change over time. In other cases, they quickly fade away. Not because someone opposes the direction, but because something else takes its place. What is most present has the greatest impact.
Many people recognize themselves here. Implementation is often seen as a question of resources, pace, or too many initiatives. That matters, but it's not the whole picture. It's also about leadership.
I particularly notice the first meeting after a decision. It is often the one that determines whether the direction begins to take shape or loses focus. Is the decision fed back and made relevant in the next step, or do we move on?
It may seem like a detail, but this is often where decisions are determined whether they affect behavior or remain as a formula.
What research and the outside world show
This is not just an observation. Harvard Business Review describes implementation as a recurring problem and points out that many organizations struggle with execution. The obstacle rarely lies in the strategy, but in coordination, prioritization and understanding further down the line.
Harvard Business School makes the same point. For a long time, research has shown that strategies are often not fully implemented in practice.
McKinsey's analysis of nearly 100 transformations points in the same direction. What separates those who succeed is not ambition, but the extent to which behaviors actually change in how work is led and executed.
It is an important shift. We often talk about leadership as setting direction and creating understanding. That is necessary, but not sufficient. If direction is not followed up until it affects everyday life, it rarely becomes more than just direction.
What shapes the organization is what we return to. What is brought up again gains weight. What is not followed up disappears, even if it was clear at the time.
What it means for you as a manager
This is where it starts to concern you as a manager. Not because you bear all the responsibility, but because you influence more than you might think through what you follow up on, ask about, and let pass.
Many managers are clear in their communication. They can articulate direction and expectations in a way that creates understanding. At the same time, it often becomes more unclear over time. How often do we revisit what needs to change? What continues to get space when pressure increases? What do we follow up on when the calendar fills up?
These are questions that are not always comfortable, but are often more valuable than new initiatives. They show how leadership actually works.
A question I often come back to is: What have you followed up on recently that actually changed the way someone works?
It shifts the focus from intention to effect, from activity to behavior. It also clarifies the connection to business goals. Because it is rarely a lack of decisions that holds back results. It is that too few decisions live long enough to influence how work is actually done.
Leadership is therefore not just about setting direction. It is about keeping it alive until it is noticeable in behavior.
When follow-up stops at numbers and status, but does not include how the work is actually carried out, behaviors are left to habit and pace. Then it is rarely the decisions that limit the results, but rather they are not kept alive long enough.
All good
Maritha Holmberg
Head of Learning & Development