Post on 19-Jun-2020
transcript
Leadership When the
Project Crashes
David L. Davis PMP, PgMP. PBA
Crash
• The Project has “gone live” and
problems occur.
• The Customer is negatively impacted
• Normal operations have been
severely hampered
• Executive attention
– Internal
– External
• Crisis mode
Dave’s View of a Gap
1. We need to build difficult situation Leadership Skills
2. Abundance of Leadership Advice within sunny-day
scenarios
3. Leadership is a characteristic that emphasizes it’s
importance during a crisis
4. Leading through a crisis is a career catalyst
5. Leadership can occur anywhere in an organization
6. Leading is also very much a team effort
Can’t Forget the Emotional
Intelligence 1. Understanding people’s
motivation system is important
during a situation
2. You cannot change behaviors,
you can work within what you
know
3. People’s approach to situations
changes during crisis
Chaos????
Emotions Replace Logic
The Blame Game
No Ownership
No
Decisions
Accentuate Your Leadership
1. Establish an aura of control – Take ownership
– Identify a possible root cause and POA
– Provide team hope
2. Utilize your Emotional (Trust) Account
3. Filter noise and focus – Task completers
– Major stakeholders
– Others
4. Plan, Communicate, Status – Owners of work
– Frequent Check Points
A Matter of Energy
• Project problems require
significant energy to
resolve
• Get the energy in positive
action to solve the problem
– Avoid finger pointing
– Allow venting (safe room)
• Keep behavior focused on
solutions.
Establish an Aura of Control
1. Confidence
2. Trust
3. “On Top of It” / Under Control
4. Transparency
5. Focus
6. Thinking skills
7. Decision Making
8. Prioritization
9. Timely and relevant status
10.Contingency
11.Resourcefulness
12.Hope
Dave Perspective
• Most stakeholders do not expect
all problems will be eliminated.
• The expectation is if a problem
arises, a good project manager will
fix it and get things back on track
with the lowest amount of pain to
the business.
• If you don’t take charge of the
crisis, you reduce your influence.
Ownership
• I will see the activity through
resolution
• I will coordinate with stakeholders to
authorize activities
– It is my project
– It is my responsibility to make it right.
• I am the source/author of status and
information.
• I will run the status reports.
Possible Root Cause and
Plan of Attack (POA)
• Decision on what is the root
cause and fix it
– Prioritization
– Cause and Effect
• Create the plan (set of tasks)
to address the problems.
• Emotional Intelligence to sell
and implement.
Dave Perspective
• No blame
• Do not use an individual’s
name unless it is in direct
relation to an activity that is
being preformed as part of the
POA.
• No, so-and-so should have
done…
Hope
• The emotional assurance that things will be ok.
• A problem exists and we are doing the right
things to correct it.
• I am a partner in solving the problem.
Dave Perspective
• Hopeful thinking - not intelligence or skill -
has the greatest effect on people's
success.
– Positive psychologist, Charles Snyder
– Hope is an energy enabler
• Forbes - Ways Leaders Keep Hope Alive
– Hope Promotes Empowerment & Clarity
– Hope Helps Increase Productivity and
Underscores a Positive Work Ethic
– Hope Instills Family Pride and Togetherness
Utilize Your Emotional Trust
Account • During the project, you have been
building a trust account with all
stakeholders.
• You are probably making
withdraws at this time.
• If you didn’t build trust in the past,
you are most likely to fail now.
• Trust reinforces Hope and
conserves energy
Dave Perspective
• Trust is able to change the ability
to influence behavior from “WIFM”
to “How can I help?”
• Don’t be too proud to use your
trust accounts.
• Show gratitude.
• Trust is one of the most powerful
components of a project
manager’s effectiveness.
Dave Perspective
• Crisis brings out the best and
worst in people
– Encourage involvement
– Beware of the opportunist
• You might have to be harsh, but
most people will focus
• You might sacrifice some sanity to
allow the team to function.
• Values will be the foundation of
your success
Task Completers
Adapted from Human Resource Skills for Project Managers: Project Management Institute: Sylva, NC; Verma, Vijay K.
pp. 216–223
Forcing (Dictating)
Collaborating (Consensus)
Avoiding (Withdrawing)
Accommodating (Smoothing)
Concern for Others Low High
Conce
rn for
Onese
lf
Low
H
igh
Compromising (Bargaining)
Assert
iveness
Cooperativeness
• During a crisis the project
manager will most likely be
dictating work activity.
• Negotiation will be
lessened.
• You need to keep a
relationship and respect
the value of the people
completing tasks.
• Don’t underestimate the
power of “Thank You”
Dave Perspectives
• You must make sure the task
completers understand what they
are to do.
• Ask questions / Listen for Answers
– Do you understand what you’re
expected to do
• Paraphrase it back
• How do we know we’re done?
– Do you have what you need to do it?
– What do you see as the risk?
Good Listening
People are attracted to it!
• Engage Active Listening...not just with your ears, but also
with your eyes and heart...
• Use a Powerful Body Language...Look in your folk’s
eyes, and lean their way, to show connection.
• Provide a Caring Focus...listening starts with the heart.
• Provide Content Focus...listen for the content, not just the
intent...;
• Deliver an Empowering Attitude...encourage and edify all
that has been said, show gratitude for them thinking
enough of you to share...
• When you listen, you are...;
Leveraging & Increasing Success That Empowers Now
Doug Firebaugh is Chairman/ CEO of PassionFire Int
Major Stakeholders
• One of the reasons to establish the aura of
control
• They want to help
– Be prepared to answer how can I help?
– And give honest answers – send out an email
endorsing POA
• They want status
– Who is doing what?
– Organizational involvement
• You may want to ask them for coaching.
Status
• Establish status report structure
– Written
– Verbal
• Timed with open bridge
• Send out quick notes
• Next status
• Develop minor intrusions for task completers.
• Status MUST be action/results/time focused
– What has been done
– What is currently being done
– What will be done after this
– How we will know when we are done !
Do Others Help or Hinder?
• People start to accentuate their “remarkableness” – Cliché’s replace normal
communication
– Sports analogies become metaphors for real action.
• People turn Hollywood – “Failure is not an option” is not
Leadership
– Dramatize
• Your Emotional Intelligence and Soft skills will be crucial to overcome these human faculties
Dealing with Behavior Disorders
• You cannot pretend there aren’t
politics working in the background
• The Embellisher
– Remarkability
– Cognitive dissidence
• The Squeaky Wheel
• The expert
– Assign them a task
– You may have to absorb their advice
to shelter the task completers.
Crisis Prevention / Contingency
• Plan for backout
• Critical signs of acceptance
• Real World Examples
– Nixon and letter to astronauts families
– OSU vs. Michigan
• You should be documenting for a
Lessons Learned
Filter Noise and Focus
• Mentally create three domains
– The people doing tasks to fix the problem
– Major stakeholders
• Influencers
• True pain recipients
– Others
• Create a mini-WBS and treat the
activity to the crash like a project.
– Defined beginning and end.
– Tasks (dependency, quality, timing)
David L. Davis
Speaker, Storyteller, Santa
PMP, PgMP, PMI-PBA, MBA
Senior Program Manager OhioHealth
dldavispmp@gmail.com