Help Projects Go Better, Give Teams Shelter.

The Demands for more SPEED and FLEXIBILITY on Organisations in the Engineering and Construction Industry has never been greater!

THE REALITY IS they are going in the OPPOSITE DIRECTION.

How? You only have to look at your own organisation.?Something I have experienced over many decades, is how the idea of attaining more speed and flexibility, is interpreted by executives and directors as a need to have greater oversight and surveillance.

This is a CONTRADICTION!

Furnished with such oversight, you can understand the temptation for people in the upper echelons of organisational hierarchies, who are invested in the performance of the project, to intervene.

But I Urge CAUTION!!

As well intentioned as your superiors may be, compared to you they are relatively detached from the elements of the project you and your teams are operating in. They will have an abstract perspective of the issues, and they could come to you with their abstractly formed directions and detached instructions.

Have you ever noticed this?

In a Client organisation I worked in, a new MD joined and had an instant impact. Some called him the “Toe Clipper”, as he thinned out the employee base of the organisation. He also demanded instant access to project reporting. Not only did he review them but actively bypassed several levels of management to confront PMs (even Contractors) without warning and intervene with instructions.

The Change in PEOPLE was Visible.

They were on tenterhooks all day, anxious and afraid of the repercussions of anything they said or did.

As a result, people were more concerned with complying with the rules, standards, processes, and systems, in order to play safe.

People Prioritised Compliance over Initiative and Creativity.

Nobody wanted to speak up about their ideas or challenge the status quo. People also ended up more likely to hide their problems and issues, rather than raising them. They were afraid of owning up to mistakes.

So, people resorted to more convenient techniques such as shedding liability and blaming others including their consultants and contractors. Bickering between individuals, their team members and their superiors came out more than before.

More mistakes, more rework, more disputes.

This is an extreme example of overt top-down control. Do you get my point??As top-down control increases, so does the mindset of your teams to protect themselves.?Playing not to lose protects the downside.?With such a mindset, you can’t play to win, or guarantee a better outcome when you are focussed on compliance to cover your butt.

When an organisation exudes a top-down autocracy and control in the name of greater oversight and surveillance, you will have a supressed group of people working beneath you.?

This is clearly the antithesis of creating more Speed and Agility.

Compliance comes to the fore at the expense of better project performance through innovation and more productive ways of working. Without some sort of barrier or filter to protect your people, your people will default to covering up their tracks and hiding in the shadows. That's no good in any project environment – the evidence is astoundingly clear.

THERE IS A WAY you can do this WITHOUT Compromising Yourself or the Authority of your Superiors. ?

You know that even with such an immovable beast like this, if you are reading this and you lead teams, you must do what you must to allow your team members to operate to their fullest potential.?

Do not just push the top-down control all the way down.

So I implore project managers and senior engineers, and any leader, to become the filter for the team, so you can let them do what they are best at doing.?Allow them to access their initiative and creativity for better problem solving, problem prevention, and opportunity creation.

They will reward you and your projects profoundly whether they are aware of it or not.