Learn from the Best
Over the years I have been able to contribute to numerous projects in various roles. Some of them were large ones with international teams and dozens of consultants working around the globe. Some were small in scope, short in timeline, or regionally focused. Some I have overseen and delivered with client staff only. A few were gigantic, long running transformations of entire corporate structures and cultures. Regardless of the set up of any project there are a few crucial ingredients that need to be incorporated into the project set up and execution to enable success. Projects lacking these vital ingredients will lag behind deadlines, miss budget targets and in the worst of cases fail to achieve their desired results. I don't necessarily consider myself one of 'the best'. However I certainly had the opportunity to gather rich experience by witnessing leadership excellence at its best over many years in different environments and situations. Here's my three pillars for successful project management:
1. Act as a Team
1.1 Provide Purpose
As a leader your main mission is to bring people together and provide them with a purpose. The job of a leader is first and foremost to answer the 'Why?' and the 'What's in it for me?' questions. Maybe you are leading the project and have to provide clarity for your entire team, maybe you're a junior associate and need to lead yourself. It is up to you to provide the 'North Star' and set boundaries for the journey. If that sounds abstract to you ask yourself how you communicate as a team. How do you assign tasks - is it top down or is it more in an agile and proactive fashion? You have to burn for your goals in order to ignite others. As a leader it is your job to have a vision. Ensuring that people see the vision and the benefits of a project clearly enables them to create their version of that vision. Given a certain degree of autonomy to make their own decisions will make it easy for people to buy into your vision and achieve their goals.
1.2 Adapt a 'Get Things Done'-Mindset
Who is not familiar with the phenomenon of work multiplication: You ask a fellow colleague to contribute a specific content to your task or project and all you get back is an email with a short 'FYI' note and an array of attachments: more work in form of some scattered, unstructured information which implies that now you should be able extract the content for yourself. It's a return to sender like mentality, where you get (more) work back instead of finished results you can build upon. Another example of work being passed on is the 'throw a bone' gambit. In this case someone raises a vague question or states a problem without a thought on a possible solution to it in hope others might pick up on the topic and create a viable solution. This type of mindset does not help projects advance in the long run. Instead try to instill a proactive and productive environment. Rather than addressing problems or questions among a broader circle of participants ask yourself, what you can contribute to the solution. Take ownership of the problem and squeeze the opportunity to contribute something valuable, even if it might only be a small part of the solution. Sometimes just as much as putting down a problem on paper or visualizing certain aspects of a topic already adds value in that it helps people to better understand. Be a value creating result machine. Don't be a work multiplier.
1.3 Act with Integrity
Every project means change for people. Be aware of the implications of change on people's lives and show some sportsmanship. Consider your role and your responsibility in the change process. How can you help people overcome fear? How can you help them muster the courage to move from a familiar state to a new and strange state? Always consider that a small change itself can already be challenging to some people. Make yourself clear what is important and be empathetic about people's situations. Don't bulldoze your way through people's lives only because you are assigned to. Integrity is knowing the difference between what you have the right to do and what is the right thing to do.
2. Plan and Deliver as You Go
2.1 A Plan is Nothing, But Planning is Everything (J.D.Eisenhower)
In the military we had a quip for plans: Any plan will not survive the first encounter with the enemy. The reason being that if you have planned for scenarios A, B and C, a smart enemy will always do D. This does not mean that a plan is not vital. Like in most aspects of life, planning is vital in business too: If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. The difference is a plan is static, whereas planning itself creates options and flexibility in a dynamic fashion. A common misconception I witness often is that agile methodologies don't require any planning. That's wrong: in order to ensure adaptivity and flexibility in a volatile project environment firm planning is even more important than in circumstances with less uncertainty. So create a plan and revise the plan frequently, depending on the volatility you are facing.
2.2 Balance Planning Reliability and Adaptivity in Execution
If the plan does not fit, have the courage to adapt your plan. In that case take everyone with you. Have the courage to communicate openly and explain why the change in plan is necessary. Don't make any changes that don't have a sufficiently strong case. E.g.:Yes, we need to deviate from the set of KPI we agreed upon a year ago, because only now we have certainty over how our new processes work. No, we should not add another variation of master data set to our products as this will open Pandora's box and be a precedent to create unnecessary complexity. Find the optimal balance between a firm plan with crucial guiding principles and a pragmatic corridor of flexibility to adapt for necessary changes.
2.3. Deliver Value Instantaneously
If you're in consulting you'll be familiar with the daily rate your company charges the client for your work. Always ask yourself, if the client would have paid you for your past 15/30/60 minutes of work and what the value added was. If you feel you did not add any value or you are unsure or can't really tell, try something different. In case you're not in consulting this principle might strike you as strange or overblown. I assure you: it is not. In fact, you might already be applying this principle to your everyday life: think of some part of your daily or weekly routine, for example when you do the weekend shopping. Do you make a plan and follow through as efficiently as possible in order to maximize your free time or do you take large detours and let yourself be distracted every now and then? I guessed so.
3. Fail Fast and Move On
3.1 Create Sandboxes and Encourage Mistakes
People learn best when they make the experience. A team that is not only allowed, but utterly encouraged to make mistakes will learn significantly faster than any other team. The crucial thing is to make those mistakes in the right environment so that their consequences reduce risks and hazards. In software these so-called 'sandboxes' can be test- or QS-systems. Create test systems in your project. Pitch a draft of an idea to a small group of stakeholders, before presenting it to the steering committee. Try to create minimum viable products - for example a mock-up of a dashboard on paper or in a spreadsheet. Don't overplan or overcommit without the feedback and the approval of your client. Ensure close feedback loops and focus on small improvements in iterations instead of large chunks of 'deep dives' that might not be on target.
3.2 Remove the Clutter
Cut meetings - cut the duration, cut the list of participants. Throw everything out that is not 100% efficient and necessary to proceed. Don't schedule any 'alignment meetings' as long as not everybody is 100% clear about what options with what implications are lying on the table. Do short but effective meetings, if you just want to catch up on the progress of your teams. Prepare workshops and make sure everybody invited is prepared too. Wasting time is the most common and worst form of waste - you'll never get your time back. Leave a meeting, if you can't contribute and haven't pulled any value from it for the last 15 minutes. Be radical when it comes to time management.
3.3 Push On
Stay positive and emit a positive attitude. Some days you'll just have to take a beating or end up in dead ends all along. Sometimes you'll feel disappointed and doubt everything. Remember that you're on a marathon. Maybe it is even an uphill race. But you'll cross the finish line eventually. Don't give in. Take a break and step back if you feel overwhelmed. Change your environment. Go for a walk, have a meeting in nature. We all pressure ourselves enough. Ask yourself: Has your client been happy recently? Have your team members been happy? Are you happy? If yes: isn't that enough? In case not, what can you contribute in the next 15/30/60 minutes in order to change it? Shed your fear. You have nothing to lose. If you're not enjoying this in the long run then make the necessary changes. Start changing yourself first.
Everything is going to be good in the end. As long as it is not good, it's not the end yet.
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