Credit:©Tjurunga | Dreamstime.com
I was in my customary aisle seat on a recent flight when the woman in the middle seat asked for coffee. As the attendant extended her arm, at the precise moment the coffee was passing above my laptop, we hit a pocket of turbulence.
That’s when the miracle happened. The flight attendant did a dance of such skill and grace, bending and flexing with the movements of the plane, that not a single drop left the cup.
Several of us burst into spontaneous applause. How could you not?
It happens in business as well, of course—that sudden, unexpected pitching and rolling of a crisis that seems determined to spill the contents of your sanity all over the project of the moment.
Here are some tips for managing a project in the midst of a crisis:
1. Reduce everything to its simplest components. The human mind complicates things far beyond necessity. Take everything down to its simplest components: What is the purpose of the product, what is the end result that needs to happen, and what’s the fastest way to get there? Only then can people get their brains wrapped around things in a way that will make it happen.
2. Keep heads cool with advancing language. When people discover a crisis in a project, it’s easy for them to lose their heads, saying, “I’m overwhelmed—we will never get this done.” Language is the precursor to results, so create a work environment that encourages the use of powerful and advancing language. “I don’t know yet how we’ll pull this off, but we are powerful, and we’ll figure it out, because we always do! So what’s Step One?”
3. Create a board report approach. Regardless of positions, everyone in a project should create a board report every week, copying all relevant players. A board report says, “Here’s what I said I would do and here’s what I did; here’s where I’m off, and here’s my corrective action to get back on track; and here’s what I am committing to do next.” The key is specifics, not fluffy language. Fluffy language gets fluffy results. Concrete language leads to great results.
So the next time turbulence threatens to bring down a project, remember three things: keep it simple, use advancing language, and report out specifics on where you are and where you’re headed. By the time the seat belt sign is turned off, you’ll already be on to the next successful project!