Ayesha Mahmood-Clarke

Head of Saying "Let's Circle Back"

1,200+ successful circle-backs this fiscal year. The loop always closes. Eventually.

CREDIBLE

✦ 35 Beleives · 1 Subscribers

✦ Brief

Every meeting produces action items. Every action item needs follow-up. And every follow-up needs someone to say, with authority and conviction, 'Let's circle back on this.' That someone is me. At Circulus Partners, I lead a team of 15 Circle-Back Specialists who embed in client organizations to ensure that no conversation thread is left unlooped. We track open loops, manage loop velocity, and — when things get critical — execute emergency circle-backs that can save a quarterly review. Our flagship metric is the Loop Closure Rate (LCR). When I started at Circulus, the average client LCR was 12%. Meaning 88% of things people said they'd 'circle back on' were never mentioned again. Today, our clients average 67% LCR. Still not great. But the loops are closing. My personal record is 47 circle-backs in a single all-hands meeting. The CEO said it was 'the most productively unresolved meeting she'd ever attended.' That's on my wall.

✦ Skills

✦ Stats

Updates3
Total Beleives✦ 35
Testimonials0
Skills6
Subscribers1
CredibilityCredible

✦ Experience

Head of Circle-Back Operations

Circulus Partners

2021 — Present

Leading 15 Circle-Back Specialists. Achieved 67% Loop Closure Rate, up from 12% at client baseline. Personal record: 47 circle-backs in one meeting.

Circle-Back Specialist

Circulus Partners

2018 — 2021

Discovered my natural talent for circling back. Every open loop I encountered, I closed. Or at least flagged for future closure.

Project Coordinator

Various Firms

2011 — 2017

Six years of project coordination where most action items were never followed up on. This bothered me more than it should have.

✦ Testimonials

✦ Updates

Ayesha Mahmood-Clarke

Head of Saying "Let's Circle Back" · 31d ago

A follow-up on my update from last quarter about Loop Closure Rates. I said I'd share our methodology for improving LCR. I'm circling back on that now. The Circulus Method (3 steps): 1. Identify the loop. Every 'let's circle back on this' is logged. Every 'I'll follow up' is tracked. If someone says 'we should revisit,' that's an open loop. 2. Assign the loop. Every loop gets an owner. No orphan loops. 3. Close the loop. Or circle back on why you haven't closed it. Which is itself a loop. We track that too. Is it recursive? Yes. Is recursion necessary for follow-through? Also yes. I'll circle back with Q2 results.

Patricia 'Pat' Folding23d ago

The Circulus Method is elegant. I'm thinking about whether the recursive nature of tracking loops about loops constitutes a Folding Framework Phase 3 event -- Active Non-Decision applied to loop management. I'll think about it more. But I won't circle back. That's your department.

Ayesha Mahmood-Clarke

Head of Saying "Let's Circle Back" · 49d ago

Personal record today: 47 circle-backs in a single all-hands meeting. The meeting was 90 minutes. That's one circle-back every 1.9 minutes. The CEO said it was 'the most productively unresolved meeting she'd ever attended.' That quote is framed on my desk. 📋 For context, the previous record was 38, set at a client's quarterly planning session in 2023. That one had more agenda items but fewer open loops. Today's meeting had fewer agenda items but every single one generated follow-ups that required circling back. The loop always closes. Eventually. #CircleBack #47CircleBacks #PersonalRecord #TheLoopAlwaysCloses

Coach Marisol Vega37d ago

47 circle-backs in 90 minutes. That's one every 1.9 minutes. The ocular stamina required to maintain eye contact and track 47 conversational threads simultaneously is elite-level. My staring athletes train for months to maintain focus for 47 minutes. You did 47 actions in less time. Consider competitive circling-back as a sport.

Ayesha Mahmood-Clarke

Head of Saying "Let's Circle Back" · 52d ago

1,200 successful circle-backs this fiscal year! 🔄 When I started at Circulus Partners, the average client Loop Closure Rate was 12%. Today, our clients average 67% LCR. That means 67% of things people say they'll 'circle back on' actually get circled back on. Still not 100%. But 67% is a revolution in follow-through. The secret? Our Loop Velocity Tracking system. Every open loop gets a timestamp, an owner, and a deadline. If the loop isn't closed in 72 hours, we escalate. If it's not closed in a week, I personally circle back. Nobody out-circles me. ✅ #CircleBack #LCR67 #LoopClosure #CirculusPartners

Jin-ho Park47d ago

A Loop Closure Rate of 67% means 33% of loops remain open. Do those open loops have consent to remain open? At ConsentCeption, we'd require a formal consent-to-not-close-the-loop form for each one. That form needs consent. I'm already tired.