When a company announces a new project or plan, the reaction of employees is varied.

Whilesome react with enthusiasm, others are cynical and decide that theproject is a failure. Surveys have found out that eight out of tenemployees believe a new project is bound to fail.

This is not to suggest that majority of employees wish for thecompany’s failure, rather it is the way projects are executed, themanagement operates and past experience that makes them so cynical.Some of the factors that make employees believe this way include:

Planning stage mistakes: Managers make errors in theplanning stage by setting impossible deadlines, tight budgets withouttaking the ground realities into consideration.

When planning the project execution, they fail to pay attention tothe facts. This affects the success of the project but what irksemployees is being forced to make unrealistic commitments, whichimpacts their involvement in the project and influences the outcome.

When a project is not progressing at the pace it should, managersusually ask the team to work overtime. As a result employees arestressed out and lose their enthusiasm. Instead, the manager shouldmake efforts to set realistic deadlines, plan for contingencies andtake into account the risk factors, help required from other teams andsuch factors before setting the deadline.

Absence of leader: When managers are absentespecially when employees need their guidance and support for executingthe project, it discourages employees from giving their best.

The leader is not available for clearing doubts and givingclarifications or to accept accountability for mistakes. This kills theenthusiasm of employees.

Wrong influence: When leaders use their influence andpower and use the expertise and resources for the project to meet theirown interests, then the project fails. These leaders avoid formalprocedures like planning and prioritising, which creates mistrust,erodes confidence of team members and they start feeling that theproject is just a waste of efforts.

A project can be derailed if the participants fail to honestlyassess the risks and more importantly report them. An instance of thisis employees failing to admit that they need more time to meetdeadlines. Rather they wait for another employee to make this admissionand consequently benefit from the extra time.

Limitations are not communicated to the leader and setbacks aresuppressed with the result that when the deadline arrives, the leadercan offer no explanation on why the project is not completed.

If the project seems to require more hands and if the manager wantsto borrow members from other teams, modify the project goals or itexceeds the budget, then something is seriously wrong with the projectplan and it may need a rethink. This can be avoided if the project isplanned in detail, estimates are done efficiently and the changefactors are accommodated.

Team members: Projects are bound to fail when teammembers fail to attend meetings, cannot meet deadlines or areincompetent to meet its goals. The manager must either remove them ortry to coach them or replace them to deal with the problem.

Encouraging employees to speak up about the problems they are facingand urging open communication can solve most of these issues in projectmanagement.

The manager on his part must build enthusiasm for the project in the team members.

He should ensure that everybody understands what the project aims toachieve and the benefits they will gain from working on it. This willact as a motivation and also remove any skepticism in the team.

If the project leader is aware of the problems he may run into, hecan be better prepared to handle them. In short, following the basicrules of project management, a proactive approach and being in touchwith the ground reality can ensure success.

And when more projects are successful, employees become less cynicalwhen new projects are announced and are ready to give their best tothem.

Published on The Hindu

www.hinduonnet.com/

Regards

Vinay Guntaka