Your team is missing deadlines. How can you get them back on track?

Whether it's missing deadlines or missing the mark on certain deliverables and products, when things are constantly wrong or missed you need to take a pause and figure out the root cause. By stepping back and asking "Why did this deadline get missed?", "What are the current responsibilities of the team?", and "Have expectations been clearly communicated and managed?" you can begin to unpack the underlying issue causing you to miss deadlines. Perhaps the reason is task saturation, missed communication, or personnel issues. No matter the cause, missed deadlines are fixable in the future. You just have to understand how you got into your present situation first and foremost.

To address missed deadlines, I think, we need to conduct a root cause analysis. Firstly, let's re-explain the targets clearly to ensure everyone understands their significance and urgency. Then, we'll assess if the team has the necessary tools and bandwidth to meet these targets. If not, we'll provide support or reallocate resources. Additionally, we'll check if there's a lack of prioritization, ensuring tasks are aligned with overall goals. If skills are lacking, we'll offer training or delegate tasks accordingly. Lastly, we'll foster a culture where team members feel comfortable admitting when they don't know something, encouraging open communication to overcome challenges effectively.

Schedule one-on-one meetings with each team member. I'd ask open-ended questions to understand their specific challenges: Are they facing technical hurdles? Feeling overwhelmed by workload? Do they need additional resources or training? Look for patterns across the individual discussions and project documentation review. Are there common challenges faced by multiple team members? Does a specific technical hurdle keep recurring? Identifying these common themes can point you towards the root cause. Sometimes, external factors beyond your control can contribute to missed deadlines. Was there unexpected client feedback requiring rework? Did a critical dependency from another team get delayed?

Let's say a team responsible for implementing a new trading platform misses a crucial milestone. Upon analysis, it's discovered that unclear project requirements and a lack of technical expertise were significant factors. The team holds a retrospective, identifies these issues, and prioritizes them. They then develop a plan to clarify requirements, provide additional training, and bring in external expertise if necessary. By monitoring progress and adjusting their approach, they get back on track to meet future milestones.

Consider a scenario where a team misses a deadline for implementing new compliance measures. The project manager immediately gathers the team to discuss the issue openly. They collectively identify gaps in communication and resource allocation as the main causes. The manager then outlines clear action steps, such as scheduling daily progress meetings, reallocating resources, and providing additional training where necessary. Regular updates are shared with the team, highlighting progress made and areas still needing attention. Through clear and frequent communication, the team successfully realigns efforts and meets the next milestone on time.

To address missed deadlines, it's important to set up frequent communication and scope updates. Implementing regular follow-up meetings will allow to continually update the team on project status and identify any potential roadblocks early on. Encourage team members to raise warnings if they foresee challenges and provide support where needed. Adjusting priorities based on real-time feedback will ensure resources are allocated effectively. Empowering the team to take ownership of their tasks will foster accountability and motivation to meet deadlines.

Comunica??o é a chave! E comunica??o é dizer e é ouvir. Muitos líderes se preocupam em ser claros quanto aos objetivos que determina, mas é menos hábil em ouvir seus liderados sobre os problemas no front. Esta falta de informa??o do que acontece na ponta pode ser a raz?o determinante do fracasso de um plano. Fazer reuni?es constantes com a equipe, em especial as 1:1, e visitar a linha de frente para vivenciar o que acontece é fundamental para melhorar a fluidez da comunica??o.

1. Prioritize Deliverables: Identify critical deliverables and prioritize them based on their impact on project success. 2. Trim Scope: Streamline the project scope by focusing on essential features and functionalities. Remove non-essential elements to expedite progress. 3. Reallocate Resources: Adjust resource allocation to address bottlenecks or skill gaps. Consider outsourcing tasks or redistributing workloads to accelerate progress. 4. Revise Timeline: Update the project timeline by setting realistic deadlines for revised deliverables. Ensure alignment with the team's capacity and capabilities.

Distribute responsibilities based on individual capabilities and expertise. Provide clear instructions and expectations for each task. Encourage team members to take ownership of their assigned tasks. Encourage autonomy and decision-making within their areas of responsibility. Offer support and resources to help team members overcome challenges. Foster a supportive environment where team members feel comfortable seeking assistance when needed. Encourage collaboration among team members to leverage collective expertise and problem-solving skills. Facilitate open communication and idea-sharing.

Celebrating achievements cultivates a resilient mindset, encouraging the team to persevere through setbacks and remain focused on future goals. In a scenario where a team misses a milestone for launching a new financial product due to unforeseen regulatory delays. Despite the setback, the project manager organizes a team meeting to acknowledge the team's hard work and dedication throughout the project. They highlight individual and collective achievements, such as overcoming technical challenges and collaborating effectively with stakeholders. By celebrating these achievements, the team feels valued and motivated to overcome the setback, regroup, and refocus their efforts on meeting future milestones.

"First, have a definite, clear practical ideal; a goal, an objective. Second, have the necessary means to achieve your ends; wisdom, money, materials, and methods. Third, adjust all your means to that end." ~ Aristotle Project managers need to realize that a plan can be changed. Especially projects that take more than 2 months. The world is constantly changing, an IT project barely has the same scope at the end of the project.