Upon navigating the uncertainties presented in this COVID-19 Pandemic, it’s helpful to first, understand the context of the challenge we’re facing, to put things into a clearer perspective. Eddie Obeng through his project classifications divides project types into four quadrants based on the clarity of goals, and clarity of enablers.
Which one accurately fits the situation? As you might have guessed, the answers will be different for everyone depending on their organization’s vision and capabilities. However, for most that caught unprepared, it will be the “Fog”, or “Lost in the fog” – They don’t really know what to do and how to do it.
Further explanation can be found in the book “Managing Unique Assignments: A Team Approach to Projects and Programmes” as follows:
“He calls open projects ‘the walking or lost in the fog type of projects’: ‘you can’t stay in one place, and so it follows that you have to move. According to Obeng, in open projects, you and your interest groups are uncertain. This uncertainty has a bearing not only on what must be achieved but also on how it is to be achieved. In his view, a characteristic of this type of project is that an attempt is being made to do something that has never been done before, for example carrying out a quality-improvement programme or developing an entirely new product for an entirely new market. The approach for these projects depends on the project leader’s skill in continually carrying out the cycle of acting, evaluating and learning from what has been done and then replanning.”
According to Obeng, the right type of leadership for this kind of situation is, you might have also guessed it, “Innovator”. In his book “Perfect Projects”, Obeng mentioned the following traits for such leadership:
- Build trust – Make promises and keep them
- Find a wide range of stakeholders many of whom do not initially see themselves as stakeholders
- Be prepared to go to where team are, logically and emotionally (match and lead)
- Communicate widely and use questions effectively
- Listen effectively to both logical and emotional concerns
- Demonstrate calmness (even when panicking)
- Describe and capture nature of problem faced
- Clearly articulate a vision (usually opposite of problem faced)
- Show genuine concern for team
- Keep stakeholders informed on a day-to-day basis
- Encourage team to communicate amongst themselves
- Capture any learning team makes – Proceed one step at a time
- Reassure team members – Be creative with any new opportunities or insights which present themselves
- Give hope to stakeholders – Praise initiative taken by team
- Provide intellectual challenge through questioning and problem description
- Analyse complex situations and distil few actions likely to give biggest results
- Accept offers of ideas and efforts from team
- Involve team decision making & provide a stable ‘base’
For those reading my previous post about navigating your way in this covid-19 pandemic and thinking to explore the opportunities hidden in this crisis, you will be heavily benefited by the diversity of ideas coming from a team effort, therefore, for someone doing it alone should consider of having allies that can work together to accelerate your wayfinding. (byms)
