Who's really on the team...? (Introduction)

Have you ever been told to execute on a project wherein the kick-off meeting all parties were smiling, nodding their heads and voicing their enthusiasm about the project? Have you then later experienced some of these same seemingly enthusiastic and approving people seem to be doing everything they can to not support the effort?

Surprisingly, this is not all that uncommon an experience in project management. Hence, it’s critical for any project manager – official or otherwise – to identify who the real supporters are in a project. And, conversely, have contingency plans for working around those who aren’t – regardless of what they may say.

Case in point; a recent project I participated in required the input of a given person. My client – the project’s champion - required me to route any and all things through this one person and kept me dependent on them for any information, materials, access to expertise and so on.  

During the initial consultation with all parties, this person made several statements expressing agreement with the need for this project, the need for an outside consultant to come in (nobody internal had enough time to devote to the project so it would complete) and so on.  However, when it came down to it, despite multiple requests from me, this person gave me next to nothing in any of these areas. And the project stalled as a result. So, was this person truly as “on board” with the project goals as they had seemed to be? Or, is the reality the person is a project saboteur (unintentionally or perhaps otherwise)?

This person is an example of the kinds of barriers to progress that project managers need to identify and quickly so to keep a project moving towards completion. And have a counter to, but that’s a subject for another blog.