3 ways to create clarity in your Program

So you have been given a mandate - you have been asked to go ahead and implement a new strategic policy or process and have been provided with an outline. The expectation is for you to go out into the world and deliver the goods. Well it isn't that easy but it is where most projects start. A background paper and some funding.

A lot of projects or programs I start on are floundering for direction. This is just evidence that they aren't adequately scoped. There is no shared understanding of what is to be delivered and if there is a team, they are often confused as they have questions that are unanswered.

That is where I step in and put my 30/60/90 day plans into play. The first 30 days is about the right program set up. Here are my top 3 tips for creating clarity around a project or program:

1) Listen and ask the logical questions: I am the biggest fan of '7 Habits of highly effective people' by Steven Covey, especially the habit of  'Seek first to understand then to be understood'. I recommend this should be in every new person's induction pack. It is amazing as to how many people join an organisation with the best of intentions but then don't respect the people within the business enough to listen first, then see how they can add value. There are some basic questions you need to ask so that YOU get an understanding of the program. After all, if you don't understand what you are responsible for delivering then how can anyone else understand?

Here are my top 5 questions:

1) What are we trying to achieve (in what timeframe and within what budget)?

2) Why are we doing this piece of work?

3) Who has been involved to date and how?

4) What Governance structures are there in place?

5) What communications have taken place so far?

Yes that's my top 5. Of course normally there are an additional flurry of questions but that helps get me started.

2) Get all the key players together - This is the first opportunity to get everyone around the table and thrash out any inconsistencies. A shared understanding is critical. Now at this first gathering, you will find more questions arising, which is fine. Capture those questions on your issues log (you don't need them all answered right away). This helps capture the 'grey' areas, so you can move the discussion along and it helps keep a record of questions that may require further decisions.  Putting structure around the process helps create clarity. Reviewing the questions on a regular basis help reinforce that progress is being made as questions and follow up actions are undertaken.

One of the most important tasks regarding the questions being asked is to put an estimated timeframe as to when the questions need to be answered. Often people want to know everything right away. This is just their emotive response to change -(I feel anxious so I want to know all of the facts now). It is unrealistic to have all of the answers right away, but having the question log and process to move through that log for clarity will give your stakeholders a greater sense of comfort for a period of time.

3) Put together the draft plan - whether it be a draft plan as a project manager, or a draft change strategy, you need to have put pen to paper or fingers to the keys to generate a draft that can be discussed and worked through. Don't come unstuck by needing to have the plan perfect. Once again that is a trap for new players. The truth is, you don't need ALL of the information to create a draft. What the draft tells you is what is possible, what parameters may need to shift and most importantly it can assist in identifying quick wins to get momentum to build.

The next step is to test the plan - the assumptions, the tasks etc. You can choose to create a draft with all of your key stakeholders depending on how strong your facilitation skills are and the culture of the organisation you are working in. Either way you MUST create a plan within the first 2-3 weeks and then have a baselined plan in the first 30 - 45 days.

From here you can include development of key messages in the planning process and as a priority.

By this time you should have key messages drafted up ready for review so you can start communicating with confidence. These are critical to start awareness building.

Once again many Change Managers want to know everything before they communicate, however this is unrealistic. The focus should be on communicating high level messages - especially the WHY to the right audience and then building momentum as you progress. Anything which is still unclear such as the 'how' or the solution itself will become clearer as the project progresses. 

Continue to push to clarity but also be comfortable with the unknown

A good change manager or good project manager can work well in ambiguity and continually push to clarity. Understanding what is to be achieved and having confidence that the business is willing to invest and is committed to the project, is the only certainty that is required. The role of the change manager and project manager is to bring it to life and facilitate that process with the business.

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