Turning tough times into a path forward

Ever flirted with disaster or survived an epic fail?  Effective program managers can engage effective to spot issues early, understand the landscape for resolution, and support leaders in making decisions for how to adjust quickly.

Remember that horrible project or situation you faced – epic, career-impacting failure, impending doom, a crushing defeat.  Every leader has survived at least one of these, and the best leaders have not only survived but bravely navigated through multiple situations gone awry.  How do effective program managers lead through crisis and support senior stakeholders to reveal bright new outcomes ?

1.     Maintain perspective, flexibility and approachability

Rarely do projects go exactly as planned, and so maintaining flexibility is a critical skill.  If you’re used to creating and working a plan down to the letter, it’s time to start thinking in terms of agility. Supporting the changes in the enterprise needs is often more valuable than rigid adherence to a linear path.  The more patient and supportive you are with team members, the more upfront information they will provide.  Part of perspective is understanding both the big-picture business issues and the points of view of the team members.  No matter what philosophy or framework guides your business, being reasonable and flexible so that team members are willing to come to you in a crisis will serve you well.

Recently my team and I supported a organization focused on driving a new business model to enable their employees to provide better service to their customers. We faced significant challenges that included resource constraints from the client, difficulty planning a transition of this complexity with the 3rd party partners, and many players in the program with unrealistic schedule expectations.  We started with an overall plan working backwards from the desired date, and helped all the participants come up with the plan for the sequence of events to hit that deadline.  Documenting the approach and how to meet the date helped leaders and stakeholders to understand what had to go right…and to visualize the potential trouble spots. 

2.     Treat the real problem – whether it’s a gap, an action, an issue or a risk

When confronted with an update of something about to go off track or already off the rails, gather the facts as quickly as possible. The facts include the “story” or context around what is going on, the actual data or evidence of the issue, and the team’s point of view on what the options are.  Distinguishing between a symptom and a root cause is essential, and this set of objective facts helps circumvent the blame game and get people working together for the same outcome. 

Last year, my team and I were working on engagement for implementing complex process improvements in an organization of over 1500 people.  The team members were quick to flag issues with one person’s contribution, and many action items and issues that were getting lost or being left unaddressed, causing irritation for our program participants.  Upon closer examination, the issue wasn’t solely one individual – instead it was the structure we were using to document and communicate, which conflicted with team members’ work styles.  When we addressed the root cause of the documentation method, team performance and happiness improved, and we were able to get the program back on track within 1 week. 

This is a straightforward example; not all root causes are as easy to spot.  The important part, however, is to have a comprehensive set of contextual and concrete facts to ensure you are thinking a problem through and not simply punishing the messenger.

3.     Communicate directly with leaders and seed discussions in advance

Picture the situation – you’re at an update meeting or a governance discussion, and leaders in the room are surprised by some new status reporting that shows multiple items off track.  The sponsor loses his or her temper, frustrated that this wasn’t known earlier.  Multiple participants shrink back in their chairs, or you imagine remote participants turning down the volume on their conference phones.  As the program manager, you’re on the hot seat to settle the discussion and move the program forward.

This type of situation can be difficult for anyone – the leader, the program manager, the team and all participants.  It’s not always avoidable, but by communicating directly with leaders and seeding discussions in advance for significant issues, you can ensure a discussion focused on decisions and outcomes.  Documenting a touchy situation  and reviewing it ahead with key stakeholders is a key technique that can help everyone understand and ask questions without putting people on the spot in a group setting.  When there isn’t any time for individual conversations, sending material ahead of a meeting and stage-setting the discussion is another way to use actual meeting time for solving the matter at hand.   

Use of a template for major issues and careful word selection is key – I often coach team members to write a scenario out in terms of problem statement, impact, options, and decision required.  Plain and direct language, both written and verbal, gets the point across and puts the focus on progress.

Navigating difficult situations and being able to distinguish between big issues and small distractions is a critical skill in program management.  Difficult situations don’t have to be team-crushing – with smart management they simply bring everyone one step closer to the end goal.