Consultants are often called in when there is already a blazing fire and the roof is threatening to collapse. A project has failed, employees are annoyed and those in charge are at a loss. Plans that have hit the wall are part of everyday working life, but hardly anyone talks about it. Yet this is precisely the first step towards restoring credibility and gaining momentum for a new start. Of course, admitting failure is not easy for anyone. Especially not when too much money has already been spent and too much time has passed.
Failure is not synonymous with bad work. Many projects are planned to technical perfection. In project management, there is a mechanical idea of how the result should work within the organization. How important people are if it is to be good is too often ignored. The existing corporate culture is also enormously influential: it does not change as a result of a new tool, for example a new and stylish intranet, but as a result of changed circumstances. It is the normal zero of the company, the reference point for all actions.
Back to go and flight forward
If something goes wrong, the world doesn’t end, but it should be communicated internally – properly and really well. Internal communication can take colleagues by the hand at this point. Those who communicate what has gone wrong in an honest, authentic and approachable way and learn their lessons publicly have the chance to make a fresh start. In contrast to PR, IC should not talk in glossy terms. Openness is the only currency that still counts with colleagues. And let’s be honest: everyone knows what’s going on anyway.
The first reflex, according to the motto “a lot helps a lot”, is usually that we simply do even more of what we have done so far. Seems to make sense, especially if you have already invested a lot. But it’s not a good idea, because – and we all agree on this – things have to change.
Five first steps in which IK can provide good support:
- Investigate the causes and start there. Was the direction wrong or were there just a few wrong turns?
- Don’t cook in your own juice, but ask your colleagues what they would have liked to have seen or needed: “How can we do it better next time?”.
- Catch frustrations by giving them space. This is the only way to give the second attempt a realistic chance. A Fuckup Night, to which everyone brings their best failures, could be a format for this.
- Restart the project, no matter how much changes. A new start must also look like a new start, for example with a new logo, a new room or even new colleagues in the team.
- Objective self-criticism is right, but a little humor in dealing with failure can also work wonders.
Of course, it is not about celebrating failure, but about opening the door to an open culture of mistakes and courageous learning within the company. Only in such an environment do people show initiative, dare to try new things and realize their full potential.
Copyright lead image: Ian Kim / Unsplash