The Agony of Defeat?

 

Like most everyone I know, I spent my Sunday afternoon watching the Olympics. I was a swimmer in high school and like most people in the U.S., I've been watching Michael Phelps and the U.S. Swim Team. On Sunday night, I watched the men's relay team's loss to France. It was an exciting race, but it was the way the team seemed to handle the loss that impressed me the most. Sure they were disappointed, but they were also upbeat. "We're all young, we'll be back."

That might not be his exact words, but I liked the sentiment. Setbacks are tough—particularly when they happen in crunch time. But like the Olympics, projects sometimes have those same setbacks. How we deal with them is more important than that they happen—because they will happen.

In a conversation I once had with a leading Gartner analyst, she said something like, "Projects are messy things. That's why we call them projects."

We were talking about risk and how projects always include some level of risk. The problem in many organizations today is that they are so risk averse that most ambitious projects are doomed before they even start. It's as if there's this unwritten code that suggests, "Yeah, we know this is a risky project, but we need to do it. Don't make any mistakes. This needs to come off without a hitch. No excuses."

Nobody can do their best work with a gun to their head (and that includes project teams).

I'm not suggesting that we ignore risks, but I am suggesting that they are a part of life that should be looked at honestly. In my opinion, risk mitigation isn't risk elimination. It's about looking at potential problems and planning on an action plan if things go wrong. And, I'm convinced that they often do—business leaders just don't like to talk much about it.

Most successful project leaders I know work hard to ensure that risk is identified, quantified, and accomodated within their project plan. They know that when things sometimes go wrong, the sky is not falling, it's simply time to regroup. Some of them even have business leaders who get that, unfortunately there are many that do not.

There is no easy answer for project managers who need to educate management about risk, how it is inherently part of project-based initiatives, and how to deal with problems when they arise. It takes time and repetition. However, the U.S. Men's Swim Team is a great example. "We're all young, we'll be back."

What are you doing to educate your organization about the risks associated with your projects? How do you plan to deal with the problems that will inevitably crop up?