Personal Impact of project recovery
When spaghetti westerns were a big draw, the Clint Eastwood movie, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly stuck with me as a kid. In my project management career, I've used this saying more than once to describe multiple projects I've had to recover from certain doom.
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Organizing the chaos of a troubled project always carries that movie title, both professionally and personally for me. Good in that the client realizes success and I have personal accomplishment. Bad in that getting to that success requires implementing change, unappreciated negotiations and high levels of stress. Lastly, Ugly from nearly always resulting in the removal or dismissal of an employee and internalizing the impact without a good outlet or support group.
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As my skills grew, I discovered a knack for project recovery and sorting chaos. I’ll later discover, this need for chaos management was a trauma response, but that is a different story. My adept skills meant each consulting engagement was related to some sort of project recovery. There were multiple 'goods' here, I get to reuse my skills, the client gets back on track and the consulting company gets a win. The common theme I found was the project either lost its vision or never had one in the first place. My friend Tom Gittemeier points out in his Vision post that vision is ‘The’ place to start.
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A first step with these engagements is to meet as many people as possible to get acquainted with their roles, skills and personal dynamics of the ecosystem. Something I've learned over the years is that everyone has the same set of goals, yet it does not guarantee success. People do not rise to meet goals; they rise to the level of their systems which is not the same. An analogy is when I signed up for an 89-mile gravel bike race 1 month before the start. I didn't implement the proper level of training, and the price was finishing last after 9 hours in the saddle. It was a personal achievement, but the impact was clear and a learning lesson. This is not to say that project teams are not adequately prepared for the work, rather they find themselves in situations and circumstances they are not prepared to accommodate mentally, technically and emotionally.
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Everyone likes ‘Good’, why wouldn’t we. Good represents the path to success and prosperity. Here’s the thing when walking into a (The sky is falling) situation, 90+% of the time the solutions are easier than realized. A quality process evaluation typically will identify the problem from which a solution can be recommended. This doesn’t mean you need a full Six Sigma process evaluation, rather some basics of root cause analysis do the trick. Those prior interviews are data gathering sessions for later synthesizing back to the client with recommendations. A little googling will find you a few formats to apply the content into various dimensions, i.e. people process, tools and so on. Defining that clear strategy for how to get the project from a glaring state of Red and trending upward is the Good part of recovery for the client and yourself.
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Personal dynamics and change is a tough area to navigate. Even for myself, change can be challenging, regardless of the benefits. It becomes harder when change is imposed on a project team who felt they were doing well. Implementing change, I classify as the Bad part of the process. The division of acceptance is typically split 50/50 of those happy to see the turn while others are opposed and need constant convincing, negotiating and sometimes bartering to make the move. The stress of having to defend the new strategy is exhausting. There are those rare occasions where the new strategy is to shut down or restart the project. This is a rare path, never ruled out, yet equally stressful due to the impact it has on the team.
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There is an unspoken psychological, therapist-like, aspect to being a senior leader in a chaotic workplace. Listening to what your employees are saying, reading between the lines and truly getting to know them is a skill. Empathetic leadership takes practice but is critical to how I approached organizing the chaos. Every person has a story that is impacted by internal and external factors. I’ve seen and experienced such impacts at the same time. Still, the client has entrusted me with identifying the problems which in most cases can revolve around a single person. Every person desire to be successful and be seen for the quality of work they are known for.
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There is satisfaction in seeing someone recover from a performance plan and making it out the other end a better employee and person. This requires dedication to those employees and their personal accountability. It’s the recognition of toxicity to the environment that makes project recovery situations Ugly. There is positivity in the removal of toxic employees, most impactfully in the team morale improving, affecting more positive outcomes in productivity. The process of getting there has consequences for you as the leader, the team and the individuals in question. For me, the emotional toll was too much to bear. Tread lightly and seek support when you’re faced with dismissals.
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For the project managers still in the mix of project recovery I offer this advice.
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Yes, I’ve had great success at converting chaotic projects into successful outcomes. Over the years it has come with impacting costs that I was not able to withstand. Time and time again of absorbing the emotional impact left me isolated and unable to manage myself and my work life. As I mentioned before, people rise to the level of our systems and not their goals. My systems were failing, which would lead me to build a support group and foster my next beautiful chapter in life.