The project is in progress and, no matter what stage it is at, the project management team and all other stakeholders will see it from different perspectives.  Management is called upon to face reality rather than rely on their forecast of what should be happening or what should have happened.

But when the going gets tough, and the tough get going, others may well have left physically or metaphorically by ‘keeping their head down’ and ‘going with the flow’.

If a project is failing, there can be a temptation to abandon the project; people leave, or management allow the project to fend for itself.  In any event there is a view that any other opportunity is a greener pasture and that the ‘next job’ will be better.

The Challenge

For some project personnel the project may be just a job no matter what state it’s in, be it sickness or in health.  They are not married to the Project and have a mercenary attitude and just ‘suck it up and tough it out’ no matter what happens.

If the project has gone awry then some people, no matter how good or bad may feel threatened and eventually leave.  If good people go the project suffers and there is that all too often observation that “the project needs people with get up and go – unfortunately they have got up and went“.  But what does this result in?

Those who leave a ‘failing’ project, which includes a failure to provide job satisfaction, in the hope that the ‘grass will be greener‘ on the next project will not have learned completely may make the same mistakes again.  Similarly, executives who abandon hope a project but then adapt half-learned lessons for future projects put those future projects at risk on basis of inadequately learned lessons.  Are these missionaries who preach a better job next time or are they misfits who teach a wrong lesson.

If those that look to the ‘next job’ rather than fixing the project problems in hand and learning may be destined to make the same mistakes again.  They will not have seen or experienced the solution to the problems and may well carry forward the same failings; is their experience ‘theoretical’ based on avoiding failure or ‘practical’ based on real failure.

The Solution

In order to avoiding ‘next job syndrome’ provide perfect project planning with no organisational or personality problems and amicable solutions to every difficulty with a limitless budget…ROFLOL [Rolling On the Floor, Laughing Out Loud]:

Although potentially possible it is not realistically viable given that we are human with opinions, egos, different cultures, different experiences and different attitudes.  As the English poet Alexander Pope said “To err is human” and projects are no exception.

Projects are far from perfect but, with the right attitude, they can be changed no matter what the situation.  Projects that show signs of failure should be corrected in as proactive and timely a manner as possible.  Timely decisions and communication can mitigate the inertia of decision making and prevent disillusionment and dissatisfaction thereby reducing the temptation to think that the grass will be greener on the next project.

People who feel that they are being blamed, or likely to be blamed may also develop ‘next job syndrome’.  Toxic management styles and politically fuelled projects create a blame culture; “To err is human. To blame someone else is politics” was cited by the American politician Hubert H. Humphrey.  “Blaming it on someone else shows management potential” may be jocular but forgiving and mentoring rather than blaming will increase morale and may well prevent an epidemic of ‘next job syndrome’ and a tendency for management to alienate trouble projects.

Conclusion

Projects that do not go according to plan can result in disappointment, despondency and despair and the greener pastures of a ‘next project’ seem very inviting.  When such people leave or move on the lesson they have learned is one of ‘let’s not do that again’ rather than a full lesson in solving a problem or completing a project.

The risk of relying on partially learned lessons is that the same mistakes may be made again. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing and half-a-lesson may be more dangerous than none at all.  This is particularly true of people who advocate that their last job may have been perfect, however it may have also encouraged them to seek greener pastures!

If we truly wish to learn and make ‘next job syndrome’ an opportunity rather than a risk then we must refrain from doing things the same way and learn our lessons, no matter how painful, and acquire real knowledge.

“Insanity is doing the same thing in the same way and expecting a different result” and if we don’t change an attitude of abandoning ‘this job’ and dreaming of the ‘next job’ we will possibly be creating a nightmare for both.

Bio:

UK Chartered Engineer & Chartered Geologist with over thirty-five years’ international experience in multicultural environments on large multidisciplinary infrastructure projects including rail, metro, hydro, airports, tunnels, roads and bridges. Skills include project management, contract administration & procurement, and design & construction management skills as Client, Consultant, and Contractor.

Provision of incisive, focused and effective technical and managerial solutions for all project phases; identifying and dealing with troubled projects, and leading project recovery and change through hands-on interaction.