In the early stages of a project, when wild enthusiasm often abounds, we may hear motivational speeches and, rather than a focus on planning and requirements we here about expectations and aspirations.  There may also be statements by the Project Owner to its contractors and consultants that “if you succeed…we all succeed” and “we are one team” and “we will work collaboratively”.

But after the honeymoon then people, at least some people, will recognise that a project must be delivered.  There will also be the recognition by some that the aim of the project is not to wrestle with the problems caused by proverbial alligators but rather to drain the swamp and terminate the risk.  Project risks, just like alligators, tend to creep up and ambush the innocently unaware.  Projects can be so easily ‘talked’ through rather than ‘walked’ through in the early, heady days of initiation and problems, just like risks are dismissed quickly.

Talking about risk can be perceived as negative as it detracts from fanciful but board-room popular concepts such as ‘finishing early’, ‘exceeding expectations’, and that somewhat statistical impossibility of being under budget, ahead of programme and enhanced quality.  Risks emerge, costs escalate, delays occur and scope changes.  When the latter occur, a troubleshooter will try and fix things, but for others it’s time to… “Let the Blames Begin”

Blame

“Let the Games Begin” as a saying may have been around since 776 BC when used in the Olympic Games and perhaps 530 years later in Ancient Rome.  Hollywood has popularised it in epics featuring gladiatorial combat, chariot races and other, violent, spectacles.  Blame may not be seen as violence, but it is a weapon and is used for self-defence, or rather self-preservation, as well as attack.

Blame has probably been around since the humans first came into being and unlike other apes, it’s an art form in humans and an unfortunate part of societies.  Primarily, blame is, a means of shifting guilt or shame onto somebody else even if they are not at fault.  As a defence mechanism it preserves the self-esteem of some but in attack mechanism shifts the blame onto somebody else who, in turn can either suffer or pass on blame.

But it’s not just blaming people it can be about blaming events or circumstances outside of a person’s control and effectively making excuses for poor judgement.  Blaming somebody or something else also shifts responsibility for doing or not doing something away from the blamer.  This may be overt in the form of direct accusations shouting and belittling or covert with gaslighting, innuendo and hints that somebody hasn’t done their job properly or something uncontrollable has happened.  But not everybody blames others.

Locus of Control

Controlling a project is essential to its successful outcome.  And how people deal with an emerging crisis with trouble on the near horizon is also about control, control of themselves and how they react.

Reaction to a crisis brings about an inherent fight or flight mode based upon whether a person can deal with the situation or blame somebody or something else.  In 1954 the psychologist Julian B Rotter developed the concept of “Locus of Control”. He advocated that there are two ‘loci’ namely an internal locus and an external locus.

For people with an internal locus of control they tend to take responsibility for their actions, are not easily influenced by the opinions of others and work at their own pace.  People with an external locus of control tend to blame outside circumstances or others for mistakes.  They are also influenced by the opinions and the status of the opinion-holder, after all “the boss is always right”.

Project Control.

Most of us will be familiar with the Demming Cycle, sometimes simply PDCA, which had its origins as the Shewhart Wheel in the 1930’s and became the Demming Wheel in 1950.  The PMI used to advocate a similar approach for each Phase of a project with the Process Groups of initiating, planning, execution, monitoring and control, and closure.

Planning is essential to all Phases of a project and as the saying goes ‘fail to plan, plan to fail’.  After planning is the doing, or the execution and to ensure that the plan is being followed we have checks.  If the checks show that something is awry then action should be taken to correct things and get back on track, that’s the ‘control’ in the ‘monitoring and control’ process.

Without the discipline of ‘control’ and courage to implement action we end up checking what has been done, doing it again, and checking it etc.  That’s fine if everything is going according to the original plan – but if not then it’s tantamount to insanity.  Effectively failure is tracked, and the leadership required to take action and re-plan is stultified.  In the analysis paralysis that results the project ends up in a ‘do check’ tailspin with doers and checkers blaming each other.

The Blame Game

When a project is struggling and the checking/monitoring doesn’t result in any action the ‘project wheel’ stops turning and merely spins.  The result is a rut, and the more the wheel spins the deeper the rut becomes.  At some stage it will be remembered that “if you’re in a hole stop digging” and hopefully before the blames have begun so effort is spent on getting out…but oftentimes unlikely.

At the first sign of failure those with an external locus will have no hesitation in blaming somebody for the problems.  Getting in with their version of the truth first and influencing those who are not directly involved is a sure-fire way of making sure blame is attributed and apportioned prior to any excuses or rational reasons being provided.  Under the pressure of blame those with an inward locus work harder but are not given the opportunity to take stock, perhaps stop digging, and plan a way out of the hole that has happened.

The ‘do-check tailspin’ can quickly result in a project spiralling out of control.  People are caught up in a whirlwind of more and more meetings, producing more reports and increased busyness which are inversely proportional to resolving problems but directly proportional to wasting time.

Conclusion

Blame is inevitable in projects, after all somebody must be responsible for things going wrong, even if events are uncontrollable.  However, blame just prevents us from moving forward and while it may provide some reprieve from the grief cycle and its inevitable course of denial, anger, bargaining depression and acceptance it doesn’t fix the project problem.

Denial, rather than a river in Egypt, is a rejection of a situation and can be associated with blaming others.  Blame and blaming can quickly produce toxic working environments and in the resultant intellectual abuse those early aspirations of everybody working together as a team can quickly deteriorate affecting the project and individuals alike.

And remember if you’ve been told “if you succeed, we all succeed…” there’s that unspoken sentiment that “if we fail…it’s your fault” … the “blames” had probably already begun.