
Leading in times of crisis: How healthy optimism works
Crises are as much a part of business as stormy weather at sea. But what if the storm lasts longer? 3 impulses for strong leadership in a crisis.
“No risk, no fun” or excessive caution? The risk culture shapes the way management and staff behave in projects. How to promote a healthy approach to project risk management.
Everything will be just fine? When it comes to projects, large companies cannot afford such naive optimism. Crisis scenarios such as the following are not uncommon:
An IT system go-live is delayed, not by days or weeks, but by several months. The reason is a software update that no one had planned for. Several project teams are unable to continue, and the company is forced to either ‘park’ people at high cost or let them go.
Who wants to be in the shoes of the people in charge here?
At best, the project team is prepared for such scenarios. After all, risk management is one of the fundamentals of project management. But while few would doubt this in theory, in practice the situation is often different.
Sometimes risks are ignored with a shrug of the shoulders, sometimes they are tracked so meticulously that everything takes far too long. Both extremes jeopardize project success.
What is the risk culture in your project environment? And what can you do in project management to ensure that everyone involved deals with risk sensibly?
We’ve put together the essential dos and don’ts for you.
The risk culture is characterized by
1. Risk attitude: How do management and employees perceive project risks? How risk-aware or risk-averse are they?
2. Actual practice: How do management and employees deal with risks in everyday project work?
The following three types of culture are often encountered in projects. Of course, they are exaggerated and never occur in their pure form in reality. Nevertheless, the typology is helpful because project management works very differently in different environments.
(To access one of the following sections directly, click on the subheading:)
Just do it, and don’t discuss it at length – this is typical of an Action Culture. Project participants accept risks in order to achieve quick outcomes. As a result, many initiatives start without structured risk assessment. The team usually only deals with problems as they arise.
The risk-taking attitude is seen as entrepreneurial. And it has its strengths: it encourages creativity and a fast pace. On the negative side, there are relatively many failed projects that might have been salvageable under different conditions, or that were not the best idea in the first place.
How can you maintain positive thinking in a culture of action and at the same time increase the chances of project success?
In this environment, project participants have a high need for security. From a risk management perspective, this is a blessing: No one questions the task itself. On the other hand, decisions and processes can drag on for far too long,so that important projects do not get off the ground properly or are put on hold as soon as a path no longer seems safe.
How can you incorporate high-security thinking into your risk management?
From time to time, project participants and stakeholders avoid responsibility. Nobody wants to spend energy on risk management. Indications of risks are acknowledged, but tend to be downplayed or ignored altogether.
These people like to present their own progress in a glowing light, even if this image does not correspond to reality. When problems arise that cannot be hidden, the first thing they do is blame others or external circumstances.
This is a difficult environment for your project management. What can you do?
Cultures cannot be changed overnight. This makes it all the more important to adapt in project management – so that the culture does not become a risk for the project itself.
Crises are as much a part of business as stormy weather at sea. But what if the storm lasts longer? 3 impulses for strong leadership in a crisis.
He conveyed confidence in a desperate situation: British polar explorer Ernest Shackleton and his team survived a two-year battle for survival in the Southern Ocean. What can leaders learn from him in times of crisis?
Getting an IT project across hundreds of organizational units to the finish line? Our colleague Mathis takes a sporty approach. In our interview, he tells us what excites him about project management as a consultant and why he goes to the boxing ring to compensate.
2021 Grosse-Hornke