IMPLEMENTATION


Whilst briefing the team you are likely to have to answer questions about the reasons for setting up a rescue project. You will need to explain that all other avenues have been tried and have failed. The team are likely to be very vocal in trying to deflect the problems for failure on to others. You in return must be clear and consistent in the message that the team need to sort out their performance. You should not let the team deflect blame on to other people or situations. At the end of the meeting the team should know that there is no more contingency and no more room for failure.

Often at the end of the meeting you will feel drained. You are likely to wonder whether any of what you have said has made any difference. It has. You need to continue to be consistent and not let your personal concerns show to the team. Although the team may not admit it at first, they often already know that there are many things going wrong. Normally they will be very keen on helping to put these things right. Most team members want to add value and they will be keen to help. All they need is some time to get over the initial shock of being told that they are not performing.

Once a failing task has been identified and the team have been briefed that things need to improve, a rescue project should be implemented. This project should be run initially by the project manager and then, once it is delivering to plan, the work package manager.

Perhaps the most important aspect of implementing a rescue project is communication. Communication ensures that everyone knows what has to happen at any moment in time. You should explain to the team that a rescue project is being put in place. Sometimes this briefing can be undertaken at the same time as the briefing where the team are told that their performance needs to improve. However, it is normally advisable to wait for a short time before briefing on the rescue project. This helps to ensure that the team have the message that their performance is poor.

At the initial rescue project briefing you should start by saying that whilst the rescue project is running any problem no matter how small has to be reported immediately. This covers problems with timescale , quality, resource or scope. The team need to be very clear that problems, whatever they are, need to be dealt with immediately. Additionally the team should be briefed to bring up problems continually. If a problem is not being cleared up they should bring it up again and again until it is sorted out. These instructions for the team may seem obvious. However, it is important to vocalize them to the team to ensure that the team feel they have permission to act in this manner.

As time progresses the team need to believe that they have changed your attitude towards them. They need to believe that they have converted you to being a supporter of the team and its abilities . The team need to believe that by working with you their reputation is being restored. You need to convince them that although they have failed in delivering the task there is no lasting stigma attached to the failure. You should explain that you believe in the team. You should tell them that it is for this reason that you are taking a personal interest in sorting the task out. You should point out to the team that they have a privileged position. They are able to cut through all the normal project protocols in order to get things done. There is no reason for failure.




Advanced Project Management. A Complete Guide to the Key Processes, Models and Techniques
Advanced Project Management: A Complete Guide to the Key Processes, Models and Techniques
ISBN: 0749449837
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2007
Pages: 69
Authors: Alan D. Orr

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