How do you cope with ambiguity and complexity in your project coordination innovation and creativity tasks?

Complexity and ambiguity are part of every project. It is essential to have clear goals and expectations from the start, but not every possibility can be foreseen, hence regular checks like auditing, monitoring, and reporting are kept in place when dealing with such things at the micro level. At the macro level, where things are more strategic, and the direction of a project is being defined, it is crucial to understand what can and cannot be achieved within the available time, and resources. It is vital to have open and honest discussions with clients, internal teams, and other stakeholders to set realistic expectations. Also, it is wise to plan for extra time and cost to tackle uncertainty.

In my experience, one shall always expect that something will detour from original goals. The Murphy’s Law is a reality and we shall be aware that something wrong will happen and, when it happens, you must to use your creativity and positivism to act as quickly as possible and take it as a lesson to be learned.

I have (finally) learned that not everyone is comfortable with ambiguity. That's ok. If you, like me, ARE comfortable leaning into the unknown, entering a process with a sketchy idea of an outcome, be sure that you acknowledge that many people find this terrifying and destabilizing. Work together and communicate often to keep everyone involved in the process included and engaged.

In my professional career, in many occasions I needed to deal with vague or erroneous goal definitions which always cause problems to all people involved. My experience showed me that, in most cases, the “client” has only a brief idea about what is needed/wanted and no vision at all about the consequences and costs. The project manager must to seat and discuss with the client each objective, specific needs, pros and cons, as long as necessary in order to clarify each project goal. Then, the PM will be able to fully explain each goal to the team.

Agreed. And go one step farther and elicit the aide and knowledge of subject matter experts to develop that plan and end goal. Often the owner is not the end user. Make a SMARTER goal. Evaluate and review and reset!!! Keep an agile focus!

I also find that a clear diagram that illustrates moments of divergence and convergence can be helpful: let the whole team see that some of the tasks will require opening up to many ideas, details, inputs, while other tasks will involve synthesis and clarification. Remind the team that all of these detailed tasks add up to an overall process that will deliver on a goal/end point/product.

I like to use a feedback capture grid that asks stakeholders, team members, clients to contribute thoughts around 1. What is working, 2. What they would like to see change, 3. What ideas are generated by the conversation/presentation, 4. What questions have arisen/they would like to see answered.

Setting up workshops with various team members, and stakeholders are a good way to bring them to the same page. Everyone involved in a project has their own agenda and their own way of doing things. Bringing them together helps bridge communication gaps.

Always seek the “pie in the sky” seek to achieve the ultimate goal of a project and more. Keeping your vision on more than just the task at hand but how that task will relate to others in the larger picture!!

Always work with someone with strong financials and good resources, so that the project does not suffer mid-way due to a cash crunch.