Being involved
in several projects and seeing the bigger picture inside the organization is
something to be thankful for. Most of the time, people who are immersed in
different scenarios face challenges that are also beyond their control. These
challenges make it difficult for an individual to progress and be able to
accomplish tasks assigned to him/her.
While most
tasks will greatly involve one’s talents and abilities, many are still
dependent on the decisions of other people in an organization or the
circumstances faced daily by a particular employee.
In
trouble-shooting dead-locks and reasons for slow execution, I enumerated a
number of reasons on what seems to slow things down:
Lack of
Direction/Too Much Direction
Anybody
without direction would probably get lost at a certain point, for a project to
be successful, a CLEAR and PRECISE direction is needed from the start. On the
same note, too much direction will only confuse people, making it harder to
move and proceed.
VIP’s
Very
Irritating People who wants to be Very Important People – these are people who
cannot compromise, they always have their own schedules and expect other people
to always adjust to their convenience. These people slow down action items and
communication patches needed to run a certain project.
Lack of
Exposure and Experience
Not all
projects are easily understood. Some projects are dependent on experiences of
the Head and also of the subordinates. If members of the team are not exposed
on the concept of a particular project or they havent even experience things in
real life, there would also be challenges in effective and fast execution.
Wrong pieces
used
Just like in
the game of Chess, the player (Leader) should know what pieces to move and when
to use them. When doing projects, team selection is important to assess, there
are certain people who might not fit a particular project and there are those
that would perfectly blend in
Long and
Useless Meetings
In every
project, meetings are required in order to plan and do checking. However,
meetings consume time, time is essential to project execution and so taking
time and putting them to proper use is very important. Long meetings, meetings
about personal grievances, meetings on complaints to contractors and suppliers,
will just make things worst. Meetings about SOLUTIONS, PROGRESS, AND POSITIVE
REINFORCEMENTS are just the meetings needed. Keypoint: Conduct meetings only if
things to be discussed cannot be done over email, personal phone calls, or a
group decision is inevitably needed to be solicited.
Indecision
One of the
biggest challenge when you join a project is the ability of your Head to
decide. Decisions are needed to be made in accordance with the grand plan. When
a Head fails to decide logically and on the right time, delays are sure to
happen.
Shame and
Blame Game
During crunch
time, coaches (sports) say things that challenge the team to fight till the end
of the game, to never give up and strategize. When doing projects and you reach
crunch time, throwing in the blames on people will only reap shame, shame will
demoralize people and demoralized people will eventually give poor outputs.
When we deal with people, no matter how professional they are, we should always
consider the human factor. This is the hard drive, this is where people get the
urge to push and do more. Blaming people and shaming them in front of others
will not do any good, but will definitely do much damage and furthermore slow
things down.
Essentially,
the organization should be designed as an institution run by professionals.
Able to withstand all challenges and meet the goals of each projects both in
Micro and Macro level. But many organizations still need to focus on the items
that I have enumerated above. These items, when dealt with accordingly, can
collectively be a good key in execution’s speed and the accuracy of the
results.
