When failure is bad leadership

Lately, someone in HR asked me if there is a lesson learnt. I was surprised by this tricky question as it was clearly showing the huge gap in between two different cultures.

Who leads knows that every single day brings up a new lesson and there is not a lesson learnt having more importance than others as every single lesson is a building block of who we are, what we do and how we do it.

For example, I tend to be a perfectionist but the side effect of it results into lengthily explanations which are very good for giving guidance and culture but are not welcomed by investors searching for the shortest possible synthesis in quick bullet points. I had to learn how to communicate with investors and how to properly pitch presentations with well explained contents. In this process, some investors also learned how to better discriminate technologies insulating contents from the many hypes and noise buzzing the market.

Therefore, there is not one, two or three lessons learnt. There is a good management and a bad management. Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it.

When you want to step up your game in project management, there’re a lot of tips, resources, and guidelines. There’s an endless selection of how to lead better, communicate better or simply just be better.

However, when examining the flip side, failure, we sometimes cringe at the fact that it could happen to us. Perhaps this is why it seems to be one of the least discussed topics. Who wants to admit to their failure? Yet failure still happens, the failure in startups is nearing the 96% even after a first seed capital.

We could even say that it’s rampant especially when it comes to ill-defined projects. That’s why it’s so important to evaluate your project at the start. Closely examine all, roadblocks before starting your project, knowing exactly what lays ahead . Basically in my career, rain or shine, I have considered 10 main points worth considering as mission critical.

1. Poor Preparation

You need to have a clear picture of what you’re going to do, in advance as much as possible. Otherwise, you may find yourself up stream without a paddle. You need to know what project success looks like at the beginning and don’t lose focus of it. Hence, if you don’t have a clear focus at the earliest stage of the process, you are making things harder on yourself. Knowledge needs execution and these critical issues should always walk together as knowledge without action will not take you anywhere, execution without knowledge is like speeding on the highway blindfolded. It’s disastrous.

2. Inadequate Documentation and Tracking

Tracking milestones is how you are going to know whether you are meeting expectations. Proper recording and monitoring allow to identify where more resources are needed to complete a project on time. Companies pulling back on resources on this issue will miss their target or worse, fail.

3. Bad Leadership

What is a bad leader? In any place where people are just executing out of the bigger picture and are not feeling part of the project that is bad leadership. Everyone, at each management-level is responsible to ensure that the project is successful. Management should not micromanage but provide support to ensure that everyone can follow through with the expectations placed upon them.

4. Failure to Define Parameters and Enforce Them

It’s paramount that you’re able to work well with your team. If and when tasks or goals are not met to standard, you need to walk back without throwing anyone under the bus , rank tasks by priority and assign them to the most proficient individual.

5. Inexperienced Project Managers

A project manager has a lot of responsibility. You need to assign people to management roles who have matching education and experience. In some cases, and perhaps often, inexperienced managers are given projects. They may be very capable of managing projects, but the key is to keep them at a level where they can succeed. Otherwise, you will set them up for failure. On the other hand, there’s nothing wrong with a challenge, just don’t make it beyond their reach.

6. Inaccurate Cost Estimations

There may be times when your cost estimates are completely off. As you know, when resources run-out, the project stops. Prevent this by identifying the lack of resources early on making sure that budget is not restraint to the minimum even more if it is a new project in need of calibration and adjustments.

7. Little Communication at Every Level of Management

Whether it’s between upper management, middle or with the team, it’s disastrous to have poor communication. Everyone should feel free to come forward to express their concern or give suggestions. When everyone is on the same page and there’s transparency, workflow is at an optimum level.

8. Culture or Ethical Misalignment

Company culture must be comprised of competence, pro-activeness, and professionalism. If it isn’t, team members will not be motivated to do their best. Basically, everyone involved must be invested in their part of the project to successfully complete it.

9. Competing Priorities

When there’re not enough resources, there’s bound to be competition between personnel resources and funding. Having good cost estimations at the start will eliminate this problem.

10. Disregarding Project Warning Signs

When a project is on the verge of failing, there will be warning signs. The first warning sign is when employees start expressing their fluster or discomfort and this won't fade away with some bias and a pat on the shoulder. Listening to them is a vital issue and acting immediately can save the project. Otherwise, the whole endeavor goes down the drain. The typical mark of a bad leader is not learning from failures. Call it a lesson learnt if you want so.