Why Projects Go Wrong
Projects can fail for
any number of reasons, but communication should not be one of them. This is within the control of the
organisatons and there is no excuse for not making sure that everyone knows
what’s happening and why. Get this wrong
and you get resistance, delays, cost and delivery overruns and processes or
equipment that end up not being up to the job.
I was asked to be the lead on a project which had already
been started by the client. One of the
first questions that I asked was, “Have you explained the project to those
involved?” The answer, of course, was
“Yes”. The reality was somewhat
different…
When I started talking to people, they none of them really
had a full picture of what was going on, and those who did all had different
ideas about what it was all about and what they were trying to achieve. More importantly, I found that IT had been
left out of the loop altogether, and yet their input was critical for success.
So who are the people you need to speak to? I see a number of levels:
The Sponsor:
The person who wants the project implemented. This is likely to be a senior manager or director
who may also hold one or more of the roles below.
The “End Users”:
The people who end up with the new processes or equipment
and who have to use it or implement it.
If you don't get their input, you risk alienating them and providing
wrong equipment or processes, making their life more difficult, potentially
losing customers and invalidating the project.
The Stakeholders:
The people who have an interest in terms of impact of the
project on themselves, their functions, their processes, their authority, their
resources. Forget these (as my client
did with IT) and you find the project derailed until ruffled feathers are smoothed
over or until the practical issues involved are addressed.
The Decision-Makers:
You could also call these the “Movers and Shakers”. They’re the ones who can get things done by
authorising expenditure, resource allocation.
They can make things happen (or not).
The “Money People”:
Whatever people say, Finance still has to sign off, so get
their input and advice up front.
The Law:
By this I don’t mean the police
(although they may be involved), but rather your legal advisers, compliance
department, auditors, tax advisers, HR department - anyone who may have input
on a legal, regulatory or compliance aspect of what you’re planning to do.
You could probably think of any
number of additional groups based on your organisation, business sector, country
or government. The point is, if you
don't get people “on side”, your project will run into difficulty (as this
client’s did, hence my being called in).
I started by addressing the
various groups, making sure that everybody understood:
- Why we were doing what we were doing;
- How it was going to be done
- Who was going to do what
- By when it would be done
- Why it would be a good thing for all concerned.
I then invited questions. To support me, I had all the decision-makers
who could answer the more intricate ones, or the ones that called for
allocation of people, money or equipment.
Not only did this mean quality answers, but unforeseen issues were
raised, and people were confident that the “right” managers with the “right”
authority were on board and that things could and would happen when they said
they would.
We still had some changes to make
and it took time, but by the time I left, the project was running smoothly
enough to be handed back to the client.
And all because we communicated.
I have spent more than half my life delivering change in different world markets from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With more than 20 years in the world financial services industry running different service, operations and lending businesses, I started my own Performance Management Consultancy to offer solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk management. I work with individuals, small businesses, charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email . My website provides a full picture of my portfolio of services. For strategic questions that you should be asking yourself, follow me at @wkm610.
Labels: Leadership, Productivity, Strategy, Teamwork
posted by William Martin @ 15:38
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