I was talking to someone recently about exceptional project management, as in their industry it’s normal for projects to go 5 times over budget, take 3 times as long as planned, and under deliver on specification. And the reason they said for all of this? The client.
When things go right, we tend to say it’s because of what we did. When things go wrong, we tend to blame other people. And it kind of looks like that.
However, unknowingly, we teach others how to behave around us. When I’m calm, others tend to be calm around me. If I get caught up in my head, then others seem to do the same around me too.
A couple of years ago I ran a multi-million pound project and the client asked why does your project team seem to be calm and get things done when the rest of the people in the organisation are stressed and freaked out? Well, it’s because I, and my project team know the effect State of Mind has on everything we do.
When people are in their right mind they make decisions that stick, and get on with what needs to be done, and perform at a level to what seems exceptional to those around them. When people are not in their right minds, however brilliantly capable they are, they tend to make poor or non-decisions, change their minds, blame others, and have a whole heap of personal thinking going on that clouds their judgement. And the consequence? Projects overrun on budget, timescale and delivery.
And exceptional project management is very simple when you understand what’s going on inside you, and the role your own State of Mind has on you and those around you. When you don’t understand this, projects can seem very complex. And when an entire organisation and industry thinks like that, underperformance becomes the norm. And exceptional project management can seem like fantasy. But only if you think that way.