Several discussions on LinkedIn recently have prompted me to think once again about how we place our projects and organizations at risk – sometimes severe risk – by relying on what amounts to “magic words and enchanted beans”.  And by that, I mean the tendency to either talk about buzzword tactics or strategies or throw tools at problems and believe we have actually implemented them.  Not only does this ignore the hard work of applying something we’ve never done before, it ends up as a fool’s errand and could cost us dearly in the end.  Give you some examples you say?  Certainly!  I’m glad you asked …

THE MANAGEMENT CHANT
Imagine that the VP, or C-level, or director has been to a major conference.  She or he comes back “down from the mountain” full of ideas and fire – all based on those beloved best practices and innovations that were pitched throughout the conference.  Perhaps there is a briefcase full of them; perhaps there are just a few.  But the course of action rarely varies from the following sequence:

1. A meeting is called – and the bigger the better.  Town Hall sessions work extraordinarily well for this purpose.
2. The work of “industry experts” is cited with all the fury and exuberance of an old-time tent revival preacher.
3. An enemy is identified and, to quote Walt Kelley, “He is us!”
4. But don’t lose heart – we have a new strategy, a new direction that will save us from all our ills.
5. The “magic words” are revealed and an internal communication strategy is rolled out to make this new principle our “core value” moving forward.
6. The new strategy is now considered “implemented” and the benefits roll in by the scores … or maybe not …

Six months or a year goes by and business continues as it has all along.  The same roadblocks and issues are dealt with and the posters and slogans have rips and tears in them.  Many have been taken down or even had something else stapled up over them.  A post-mortem, if it were done, would reveal there was never more than an “evangelistic campaign” for the new idea and, it ended up the butt of office jokes – just another in a long line of magic words.

THE NEXT TOOL TO SAVE US ALL
The study of “best practices” has been done, the RFP’s reviewed, and the vendor selected.  We’re completely sold on the new suite of tools to manage our (fill in the blank) as any other world-class organization would.  The ROI is amazing and we have only to launch the tools to start seeing immediate benefits.  And yet, a shadow lurks in the corner … it’s the ghost of tools gone by the wayside because we’ve played this game before.  But this time will be different, right?  Perhaps – but the odds are history won’t be changed quite that easily.  Instead, we fall victim to our own devices like:

1. We have to “customize” the tool to fit our exact needs.
2. We’ll only need the experts temporarily while we ramp up and then the tool will be practically self-supporting.
3. Support agreements for years 2, 3, 4 … oh, we’ll deal with that later
4. And planning for upgrades?  We were promised it would be seamless no matter how much we carved up and re-engineered the core tool.
5. And the list goes on …

What we end up with is a rather expensive clerical system rather than a pot of “enchanted beans” that changes the way we operate.  Instead of alter our own practices, we compromise a commercial tool and then expect improved results based on what we were sold in the first place – you know, that pristine marketing demo where everything works perfectly in a 2-hour span.  And the frustration with “the tool” grows to the point where workaround systems populate like nobody has ever seen before.

ENTER THE RISK MONSTER
In each of these scenarios (or worst case BOTH of them simultaneously), we intend to move the organization and our project forward.  We never wanted to merely chant “magic words” or plant “enchanted beans” … yet that’s what happened.  And in doing so, we magnified the risk of failure, disillusionment, and frustration.  And the biggest risk we introduced was to the trust of leadership.  The people actually doing the work will think twice (or more) about the next campaign or tool.  They may even begin planning their next career move – placing more risk on organizational knowledge.

So, what’s the moral of this little tale?  Take care to examine the real work involved in change – and don’t get star struck by the glitz and glamor of the latest thing.  Like I said in a previous article, the hunt for unicorns may sound fascinating, but you need to question whether it makes sense for your organization.

Bio:

Mark Moore has held multiple professional positions in IT and business for nearly three decades serving organizations both small and large, public and private.  With over half that time as a project manager, he has successfully managed major initiatives spanning multiple years with a cost of over $3 Million and teams of over 250 people.  He has been a Project Management Professional since 2002, served as President of the PMI Western Michigan Chapter, and presented at multiple NCPMI Annual Events.  Mark holds a Masters of Education degree from Colorado State University with a concentration in Adult Education and Training.  He is an experienced writer, speaker and presenter on project management and team building topics.  Mark is the Principal Consultant for Broken Arrow Associates, LTD.  He and his family live in a rural area outside of Raleigh, North Carolina.

https://insights.cermacademy.com/2013/10/29-the-great-pretenders-mark-moore/