Project Managers many times find themselves between a rock and a hard place when it comes to delivering on their projects. We find ourselves working with Functional Managers who manage the people working on our projects, while we find ourselves managing the output, or deliverables, these people deliver.
What do you do when a date is missed by a person that is managed by someone else? Do you apologize to the Client or other Stakeholder that was depending upon that deliverable, even though it may not directly be your fault? Or, do you just go in with the facts of what happened, provide a new date and then move on? Saving Changes...
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Elizabeth HarrinDirector| RebelsGuideToPM.comLondon, England, United Kingdom
I have found apologising to be a very useful approach. By taking the blame on yourself it helps everyone move forward. It's never helpful to say, "Well, so and so got it wrong and it was nothing to do with me, but let's see what we can do to get round it."
You can also apologise for the way someone feels, not for the problem itself: "I'm sorry that you feel that way," or "I'm sorry that this has caused you inconvenience." It's a way of deflecting but still apologising and doesn't require you to say, "I'm sorry we didn't hit the deadline." Saving Changes...
Wayne MackRetired| RetiredSouth Riding, Va, United States
I would go with a combination of the two options - briefly apologize, then give an updated plan to address the missed deadline. One thing to avoid is place the blame on a member of your team (whether deserving or not). The customer or stakeholder does not want to be involved. As an introspective step, the project manager should ask himself, "Why wasn't I aware that the deadline was going to be missed?"
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Elyse NielsenSenior Project Manager| Ascension Health Information ServicesHaines City, Fl, United States
Good Suggestions to move forward with the apology, but there is also some behind the scenes work needed to be done as a PM. First, why was the date missed? and more importantly, how come there were no warning signs? Additionally, why did the accountable person not feel compelled to mention that it looks like the date is at risk and start managing expectations?
Its time to dig a bit under the covers of the project, because you have multiple warning signs of performance issues from an accountability to quality control.
Wai Mun KooPMO Director| Intergraph PP&MSingapore, Singapore
Agree with Elyse and Wayne that first thing to do is to find out the root cause of the problem and come up with an action plan. Apologizing is secondary unless you really screwed up big-time. Most of the time, people would prefer to see someone taking up the ownership of a problem rather than a clueless dunce running around apologizing. Saving Changes...
Jiju NairSenior Manager| Fannie MaeReston, Va, United States
I agree with Elizabeth. Apologizing should not be considered a taboo. A PM is a facilitator of teams and should be a 'role model' for effective behavior within the project teams.
Also, there always should be a context and background before the PM delivers his/her apology. In a business environment, a PM needs to be careful for not coming across as someone who gives the apology and walks away from real responsibilities. Analyzing the background of the issue and responding back with an appropriate feedback is the correct approach. Saving Changes...
Excuses for not delivering on time as agreed are not acceptable - having said that, unforseen circumstances may have created a situation where that person e.g. was assigned to some other critical project for a couple of days because the gods requested it, as PM you would know about it so reschedule quickly, get the work done then report back that the project has slipped possibly by a couple of days but memontum is picked up elsewhere, these things do happen. As for apologising nothing wrong with that, however, when working with projects a logical explanation with a solution in place is far more acceptable than saying sorry it was not my fault Mr bloggs let me down! Clients and stakeholders dont want your problems they want to see proactiveness, ensuring the project moves forward if it has impacted on budget then prepare an Exception Report and why more money is required.. follow and use your processes!. Saving Changes...
Hans RobbersSenior Director| SalesforceVlissingen, Netherlands
Great question and answers.
It shows there need to be a fine balance when to use apologies, as Elizabeth is stating two types content versus feeling, root cause analysis, adjusting the plan.
The balance can be found by looking at the the consequences on the major milestones, if they are not slipping it will be easy to apologise, in case of slippage proactiveness is required to support the apology (if at all) with a new plan.
Finally also a pm there is also a need to review the governance and to determine of a different strucuture is required to determine potential issues/risks in an earlier stage. Often the sponsor/steerco does not only want to hear the new plan and apologies but also measurements to avoid the same pitfall in the future
