Ever feel like you are in the project from hell? Sometimes you may feel that you have been placed in a movie, or that God is testing you because of the hostility you are encountering in your project.
In the most virulent form this may take on the form of Luddites (see definition below) who are proactivity trying to derail your project. However, those who don’t believe in your projects goals or how it’s being run may be able to be persuaded by other means. Here are some ideas that have worked well in the past:
- Always run an educational awareness program at the beginning of the project. If you want change to happen, and technology is going to be a part of it, then staff members need to know what is out there and how its going to impact them. For example, if document or workflow automation is a part of the project, then run open educational seminars for all those impacted. Describe the technology and how its applied. What the benefits and changes might be.
- If organizational change is going to happen, discuss the potential outcomes without coming to conclusions before they are reached. Explain the decision making process for the project, and get their buy in.
- Hold regular “open lunch” review meetings. I often make myself available for lunch on a project with different departments. No agenda prepared just a forum to communicate. It’s amazing how this can help reduce misunderstanding on a project.
- If you really have a problem, then you may have to deal with it at the management level. Someone who is really trying to derail the project, and getting in the way of moving forward has to be managed, just like any employee or project issue. That’s why we get paid the big bucks!
Luddites
: one of a group of early 19th century English workmen destroying laborsaving machinery as a protest; broadly : one who is opposed to especially technological change (Merriam Webster Dictionary)
