Sometimes I'm left surprised when an issue hits my desk and I begin to work backwards to find out what happened. In too many instances, I can trace it back to follow-through. Someone in the organization knew something, or was assigned to do something and for some reason forgot. What's even more irritating is when I'm the guilty party!
Recently, I was rightfully called out by one of my peers for not communicating a decision impacting a critical project out through the organization. She had every right to call me out on the lack of communication. It was my error and I could do nothing but agree with her and acknowledge the failure. I like to pride myself on the fact that have strong communication skills and working relationships with my peers, and so I take this one personally. There are many excuses that I could use - I'm too busy as we move several key projects into production ahead of our year end production freeze; the Project Manager should have communicated that out to the team. Ultimately, I made the decision and I had the responsibility to communicate the decision across the organization - especially when that decision was going to put pressure on other teams across the organization.
This is not unique to myself. As I began to explore at the beginning of this post, too often I look at the root cause of an issue and it all goes back to someone knew and didn't think to share that knowledge.
I recognize that some of this is human nature. In the heat of the moment, decisions will be made that we believe will move the process forward and get the entire organization closer to the end goal. While that may be the case - follow-up is critical. Let's face it, we've all sat on the receiving end of some decision that made our lives miserable. We've had to deal with the fallout when that information comes at the last minute. I will be the first one to step up and call someone out when they do that to myself or one of my teams - it's only fair that I take the feedback when I'm the one causing the problem.
To allow this type of honest feedback - you need to be willing to trust the teams you work with on a daily basis:
- Your direct reports
- Your peers within your supervisors team
- Your peers across the organization with whom you deal with on a daily basis
One of the best books that I've read on this topic was written by Patrick Lencioni, "The Five Dysfunctions of a Team".
This book leads you through a scenario of how a group of individuals that didn't work or trust each other was transformed into a highly functional team.
I was first introduced to this book, by my current boss - our CIO. It was the first thing that he wanted me to read after I was hired. In fact, he sent it to me before I even officially started. It is now one of my favorite books. I in turn have required all of my direct reports to read the book. I encourage my team to be honest with each other and to hold each other accountable in their daily interactions.
We have been hired for a purpose. We are here to make a difference, to move the ball forward. That means holding ourselves and others accountable for the deliverables that people throughout the organization rely on so that they can do their job. We must open ourselves up to others, understand the story that is driving their actions and be prepared to receive open and honest feedback when we fail to live up to our commitments.
Don't get me wrong - this isn't a directive for you to walk around the building pointing fingers at people and telling them they're not doing the job - chances are if you did you'd have a line of people at your desk telling you that you didn't do your job. What you should do is be willing to engage in a positive open communication. Explain what you are seeing - you may not have a full understanding of the situation and be prepared to change the direction of the conversation based on what you hear. If the person truly is responsible for failing to deliver, than it's up to you to find a positive way to work with the person and manage the situation. Help them help you!
If you'd like more information on my background: LinkedIn Profile
We’ve all had those moments when we finally realize people on our projects aren’t living up to the promises that they’ve made. Ugh …. Can’t we all just do our jobs! Apparently, not! The real question, what are you going to do about it?
We all make promises in our lives – to our wives, our children, our parents, our bosses, our teams. It is part of life; it is part of our character. Sometimes these promises are small; sometimes these promises are the difference between a company meeting its goal and failing. Unfortunately, we don’t always live up to our promises – sometimes it is minor, sometimes it can really screw things up. And, like it or not, it’s your job as the Project Manager to hold people accountable.
One saying that was drilled into me by one of my bosses was the phrase, ‘Under promise and over deliver!’ In short, take time to think through what is being promised and ensure that you give yourself enough time to deliver a quality solution – then when there is agreement on what and when you will deliver, beat the expectations. Find a way to deliver early or to deliver more than what is being expected. Or better yet, find a way to delight your customer by delivering more than they expected ahead of schedule!
Unfortunately, life happens and occasionally we end up running into a wall when unexpected bumps send us off the path we were expecting to travel. Whoops, didn’t realize that the changes were impacting several other applications that rely on this particular chunk of code – now I have to test a whole lot more than I was ready to test! Whoops, who knew, the vendor that was going to install the new server got delayed and won’t be here for another two weeks! Whoops, I thought it was only going to take a week to code that new service, it’s really going to take a week! Whoops, I just figured out – I’m not getting full requirements and now I’m going to have to spend some time documenting what really needs to be done before I can actually start the design and coding, that’ll be at least a month delay!
As a Project Manager you’re going to hear every excuse under the sun. There will always be a reason for why it didn’t get done!
First, you should never be surprised – in fact, if you’re doing your job right, you’re probably going to know things are getting off track before other people on the team are willing to admit that there is an issue. How? Simple, communication! Remember, in past posts, I’ve talked about the concept of walkabouts? This is your most valuable tool as a PM – walking around talking with people, 1-to-1 video conferencing , instant messaging, or phone calls. Stay in touch with what people are doing – when approached casually, they will usually tell you more than when they are sitting in a status meeting. It’s easier to share when they’re talking alone with you! You can use this time to verbally catch up on what is being accomplished and most importantly, to talk about what issues they are facing. What are the things that are standing in their way? Are they seeing any delays in the stuff that is working its way through the pipeline that is supposed to be used to help them get their assigned work completed? If so, who or what is causing the delay?
Then, don’t over react! Don’t punish the person that is giving you the news – otherwise they’ll stop! Find the root cause of what is causing the delay – 9 out of 10 times, it’s not what you initially thought.
Eventually, you will figure out what is really causing the delay. Then you need to open up a dialogue with the individual responsible.
- Does the individual just need to be reminded of the need for the work that they’ve been assigned to be completed on time so that they next person in the workflow can do their piece?
- Can you talk with the team manager and get other tasks reassigned so that the individual has more time to devote to your project?
- Is the individual not staying focused and therefore delaying work on your project – spending more time than they should on Facebook, Twitter or the general Internet?
- Is someone intentionally attempting to derail your project because they don’t agree with the direction?
At some point, you’re going to run into a situation where the person does not want to cooperate. Then you’re going to have to use your communication skills to get through the situation. If you’ve never read the book, “Crucial Conversations Tools for Talking When Stakes are High, Second Edition”, by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan and Al Switzler – pick it up today, or download to your iPad/Kindle. This book is an excellent reference when faced with conversations that are going to be difficult.
The biggest ‘trick’ in the bag is to use the dialogue to bring all the information out in to the open and provide a safe path for both you and the other individual to have input into the solution. It is driving to get results with and through the people you are dealing with on a daily basis.
Your goal is to understand what is driving the behavior of the other individual, then to ensure that the individual knows that you’re looking for a win-win way to move forward. If you approach the conversation in the right manner, allowing them to share with you the issue and to be part of the solution, you will reap rewards. Stop, listen, let them tell you their story and allow a little empathy to show through, then you can begin tackling the issue of how to bring the assigned task back on track.
Tags: Project Management; Software Development Lifecycle; SDLC; Change Management; Crucial Conversations;
