Four tips to avoid Yes,but.... . during projects

Yes, but............ We encounter it often in projects. How do you deal with this as a 'professional who just does the project on the side' in everyday organisational reality. Read about excuses, causes and four tips.

Yes, but ..................

a) ...............my 'real' manager asked me if I wanted to do something for the department for a while. That went for.
b) ..............you are unreachable as a project manager because you are constantly in meetings.
c) .............I have to take my children to school and therefore cannot attend during the week start.

Recognisable 'excuses' or not? Yes, but........... you regularly come across during projects, especially when project teams are composed of 'borrowed' professionals from the line organisation. And of course, in these kinds of situations, it is very easy to point the finger at the professional in question and throw in all kinds of terms, such as unsuitable, unprofessional, unmotivated, uncooperative and so on.

Yes, but....... and the organisation

And of course, in relation to the individual team member, all these terms can apply. The Yes, but...........-excuses however, can often also be explained by looking at the usual course of events within an organisation. And then, after a good inventory, you may well come across the following as causes, linked to the three described earlier Yes, but...........-excuses

a) Within many organisations, project management is seen as a task that can be done on the side by the professional. The team member in question thus has to deal with 'regular' work in addition to his project tasks. And guess what really comes first when choices have to be made! The project is then seen as something temporary, on which the team member is often only allowed to spend a limited number of hours according to the schedule. Of course, the project is then very important, but not important enough when there are urgent issues in the 'own' department. This in addition to the tension caused by the fact that the request comes from the formal manager, who also influences the annual 'assessment'.

b) What is regularly visible within organisations is that project leaders allow themselves to live by the organisational consultation agenda. After all, the client needs to be updated, the steering committee wants to discuss reports and the other stakeholders also demand attention. Not to mention that for many project leaders, as for the team members, it is a task that is just added on. At that moment, the most important activity of project leaders often falls by the wayside: facilitating and guiding the team members to jointly realise the project objectives.

c) Putting employees from different departments together does not yet mean that together they form a good project team. What you regularly see is that project teams consist of professionals who are 'loaned' and supplied by line management. This regularly causes a kink in the project team cable. This is because there is a difference between work in projects and the 'normal' work being done, which requires different talents and skills. Not to mention availability, where part-time or full-time commitment plays a role as well as commitment, in relation to agreements made jointly.

Tips

This blog is only about three specific 'Yes-but.......-examples', which you may encounter during projects. But how can you avoid this within a professional organisation? Here are some tips, with the list being far from complete, of course. I gladly leave it to the readers to complete it:

1. Have the intended project leader identify in advance the specific talents and skills needed within the project team to successfully complete the project and, in coordination with line management, put the team together on this basis. You can use the well-known Belbin test for this purpose, but of course other tools are also available. This, of course, combined with the use of common sense.

2. As project leader and client, make clear internal agreements with the managers, who act as lenders, on the deployment of team members for a project. As far as deployment is concerned, it is preferable to do this on fixed days as much as possible, with access to a project room where the team can work together. Being together physically helps to form a project team that functions even better.

3. Agreement = agreement. Agreements are made together and in this, each team member has a professional responsibility. Being able to call each other to account for these responsibilities is important for the formation of the project team and the progress of the project, although of course there are always calamities that can lead to a failure to keep an agreement. However, this is the exception and not the rule. The skill to manage this process well, without falling into accepting Yes, but........... behaviour, is something to consider when selecting the intended project manager.

4. And another tip for the intended project leader: leading projects takes time and here facilitating the team is one of the most important activities. Book time at fixed moments for Nespresso moments. This keeps you more in touch with what is going on and prevents you from lapsing into "Yes, but..........".

For more information, please contact Richard van der Lee on 06 55 34 75 62 or richard.van.der.lee@improven.nl

Every project is an opportunity to learn, to figure out problems and challenges, to invent and reinvent. - David Rockwell