How do you manage and improve reliability of commitments/ promises in your projects?

Communications Management Construction

Tony Jacob Director& Principal Consultant| Constask Management Solutions LLP Kerala, India

In construction projects, it is often necessary to devote a significant amount of time and effort to ensure that tasks are being completed and that people are fulfilling their commitments. In some cases, this can be as high as 70-80% of the time spent by engineers and foremen.

I am curious to know how you manage such situations in your projects and what steps can be taken to improve the reliability of commitments in construction projects.

Posted: Dec 5, 2023 11:24 PM

Sort By:

Kiron Bondale Retired | Mentor| Retired Welland, Ontario, Canada

Tony -

This is not unique to construction projects as I've seen it in business development, product development and technology projects too.

Kicking a project off on the right foot by getting commitment from team members and developing working agreements with them about ownership of their work helps. However, it is equally important to ensure they have been involved in defining what needs to be done (rather than it being imposed) and giving them the opportunity to pull work rather than pushing it on to them.

I also suggest confirming their availability to do the work at the level you expect. Their manager might indicate they are available, but the team member might have more on their plate than they can handle.

Kiron

...

1 reply by Tony Jacob

Dec 06, 2023 8:10 AM

Tony Jacob

...

Thanks Kiron for sharing valuable insights; appreciate your time

Posted: Dec 6, 2023 7:15 AM

Tony Jacob Director& Principal Consultant| Constask Management Solutions LLP Kerala, India

Dec 06, 2023 7:15 AM

Replying to Kiron Bondale

...

Thanks Kiron for sharing valuable insights; appreciate your time

Posted: Dec 6, 2023 8:10 AM (Updated by author: Dec 6, 2023 8:10 AM)

Abolfazl Yousefi Darestani Manager, Quality and Continuous Improvement| Hörmann-TNR Industrial Doors Newmarket, Ontario, Canada

They should be tied to the benefit of the project. In other words, there should be something in it for them. Communicate the values of the project. Sometimes, you need to hold them responsible by contractual arrangements or any other enforcement tactics.

Posted: Dec 6, 2023 8:54 AM

Keith Novak Tukwila, Wa, United States

I find that in some business cultures there is a pressure for everyone to over-commit with no plan how to actually meet those commitments. The expectation is to figure out how to bridge the gap between actual capabilities and commitments in order to close the business case. I have even had managers tell me quite bluntly that we can provide whatever estimates the program demands, but in the end the job will take what it takes.

If people believe they are set up for failure, they are likely to meet that expectation. It leads to apathy towards performance to plan because the plan was never grounded in reality to begin with. It also leads to employees leaving for other jobs before the unrealistic commitments are due.

For my own part, I am very open and honest that I can't promise things beyond what we some reasonable confidence level we can execute, but I can commit to aggressive plans and to making every effort to improve on those plans.

Posted: Dec 6, 2023 11:40 AM

Please login or join to reply

How do you manage and improve reliability of commitments/ promises in your projects?

Sponsors

Newsletters