Focus: The Timeless Behavior in Project Success

 

Recently, I was reflecting on the evolving landscape of project management and methodologies promoted over the past two decades. My mind kept returning to one rarely mentioned, but essential behavior that is present in the effectiveness of all good project approaches. It should be fundamental, but it is clearly missing from most of the unsuccessful project efforts I’ve seen throughout my career. That behavior is a properly placed focus. The benefits of applying sufficient focus on the right things in any project can never be overstated.

Shine a light on it:

About 20 years ago I had the privilege of working within an organization that successfully modified its overall approach to projects. It was led by a CEO who was intent on building a culture based on getting the right people together to focus on those issues most critical to the company’s success. He would talk about “shining a light” on the issue at hand, coupled with developing a path forward toward a solution. Being part of that emerging culture as an IT director, we soon incorporated focus as a common thread in our projects and it didn’t take too long before it just became part of the way we did our work. As with anything new, the approach was initially met with skepticism and resistance. But being so logical, it was easy to get aligned, and good results quickly followed. Focus enabled our once languishing master data integrity efforts, ERP system rollouts and data warehouse solutions to thrive. System adoption soared!

In the ensuing years, we replicated these positive results by putting our focus on the right things for systems integration, standardizing our business processes, and building a Sustainability program. To this day, I have tried to stay true to the approach of putting focus on the critical project issues at hand and its has been a large part of the project successes I have been a part of.

Recent culture and organizational change efforts I’ve seen undertaken at numerous companies further illustrate the power of focus as a timeless behavior to project success. To drive new behaviors in an organization, it is essential to put the right focus on your efforts. Cultures change slowly through repetition and visible reinforcement from leadership. Focus facilitates the building of new habits in those most impacted by the change, and further reinforces their value to the organization.

Experience has taught me that the chances of instilling effective change with an unfocused project are low. Experience has also repeatedly shown me the timeless power of properly placed focus in improving the chances of project success. Whether your current project issue is related to scope, stakeholder engagement, change management, communications, or something else, focus will certainly put you on the right path to improving your chances of success. So, if your project is struggling, take a step back and ask yourself if you have the right focus. The answer will likely come quickly and allow you to dig in to determine where a properly placed focus will facilitate your project’s success.

Do you have the proper focus on what’s important to your project?