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Flexibility: Knowing What to Change and What to Preserve

Categories: Governance, Integration Management, Talent Management, Leadership, Program Management, Organizational Project Management, Strategy, Portfolio Management

Imagine a supplier tells you that a critical component will arrive late. Your team proposes bringing other work forward to protect the delivery date. It sounds sensible. Then the installation team points out that the new sequence could block access needed for inspection.

You can recover time on the schedule and still make the work harder to complete.

This is where flexibility becomes a leadership practice. It requires understanding what changed, deciding which commitments and safeguards still apply, and examining the consequences of the adjustment for everyone affected.

Start with what changed

A plan reflects what made sense under a particular set of assumptions. When one of those assumptions no longer holds, the first question is what it affects.

A late component may disrupt the entire installation sequence. It may also affect only one activity, leaving room to bring other work forward. React too broadly and you can disrupt work that was still viable. React too narrowly and you may miss a dependency that will be harder to address later.

People close to the work can help reveal those dependencies. The supplier can clarify the revised delivery estimate, the installers can explain what access they need, and the inspection team can identify which checks must take place before the work is closed up. Each sees something the schedule alone may not show.

Decide what can change and what must hold

Purpose gives the team a basis for comparing alternatives. If the aim is to deliver an installation that can be inspected, commissioned and used reliably, the delivery date matters. So do the conditions that make acceptance possible.

The work sequence, the allocation of people and the scope of an interim handover may all be open to change. A required inspection still needs to take place. If the proposed sequence would prevent it, the team needs a different sequence or a way to preserve access. If neither is feasible, whoever has authority over the delivery commitment may need to revise it.

A procedure can also be reconsidered if an authorised alternative meets the applicable requirements and provides the protection needed. The reason for the safeguard should remain explicit when comparing the options.

Improvise responsibly

Flexibility is the ability to adjust how we act when conditions change. Responsible improvisation is one way to exercise it when the situation calls for a response we had not planned.

Suppose the team identifies work it can bring forward without blocking inspection. It agrees which activities can proceed, keeps the inspection route clear and sets a deadline for the supplier to confirm the delivery date. If no confirmation arrives by then, the team reviews the sequence before starting any work that could restrict access.

That is responsible improvisation: someone with the authority to act makes a practical adjustment, communicates its limits to those affected and sets a point for review. A reversible change with limited impact and within the team’s authority may need only a brief check with those affected. A change that could compromise inspection or alter a client commitment calls for closer scrutiny and the appropriate approval.

Verify what the adjustment changed

After the change, the schedule may show that time was recovered. That is useful information. It leaves other questions open.

Was access still available when inspectors needed it? Did bringing work forward create rework or overtime? Did another team have to postpone its commitments? Could the team handle a similar disruption without relying on the same person to coordinate every exception?

An adjustment can improve delivery and still impose costs elsewhere. Sometimes accepting those costs is justified. The people deciding should know where they fall, and those affected should have a chance to explain what the change means for their work.

Flexibility becomes regenerative when the response to disruption also strengthens the team’s ability to handle the next one. That may mean recognising a dependency earlier, knowing who can act on it, or having a tested alternative ready when the original plan no longer works.

Think of the last time your team changed a plan under pressure. What did the adjustment protect, and what consequences did it have for the people affected?

Posted on: November 10, 2026 09:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)