Even with the best of intentions, the sponsor/PM dance can feel more like one is doing a jitterbug and the other a waltz. What can the PM do to better ensure sponsor engagement and address where the sponsor is drifting?
We are social beings. So why is it so painful to collaborate in real life? Why does collaboration look so great in theory—and hurt so much in practice? How conflict is handled has a great deal to do with how groups do and don’t work.
When a project team’s innovative solution to achieve its time-compressed goals was rejected by the sponsor, widespread resentment followed, a good project manager resigned, and the initiative faltered. Whether or not the idea would have worked, when leaders routinely stifle creativity the consequences can be dire and far-reaching.
Technology has brought tremendous advances in how we manage our projects, but in some areas it can hinder us. One area is communication, which has become increasingly a virtual activity. In pursuit of ease and volume, the quality of interactions is devalued, putting projects at greater risk.
Rigidity, late-blooming requirements conflicts, triangular relationships and simple geography conspired to deliver half of what a major technology project promised. On this effort, it seemed, you could change everything but the way the team worked.
Working closely with Bell Canada business units to deliver a complete communication network at the 2010 Winter Olympics, project manager Richard Brodowski established an “enabling, not inhibiting” approach that allowed his team to quickly learn from mistakes and make decision at the ground level, continuously moving the project forward.
Olympic-sized projects mean more potential communication problems with stakeholders who control workers in your project. Adopting a combination of routine and targeted tactics can keep the project humming.
Using web conferencing for a remote workforce is nothing new. What is new is that increasingly more and more people are jumping onto it these days—and sometimes don’t know what they are getting themselves into.
We need individuals to have their own mind so that the team has the advantage of diverse thought. It takes tremendous patience to give individuals the room and time to contribute in their way--and persistence to continuously bring the team back together for what matters.
"Impartial observers from other planets would consider ours an utterly bizarre enclave if it were populated by birds, defined as flying animals, that nevertheless rarely or never actually flew. They would also be perplexed if they encountered in our seas, lakes, rivers and ponds, creatures defined as swimmers that never did any swimming. But they would be even more surprised to encounter a species defined as a thinking animal if, in fact, the creature very rarely indulged in actual thinking."