But Why?
This week in the PM Mindset Monday video I issued a challenge to get curious when something worked well or did not go well; to dig deep and get to the why behind the success or lack of it. I wish I was here to report on the results of a wildly successful outcome but the truth is my moment of pause and growth this week came after a tough meeting.
The meeting came at the end of a very long day (strike 1). The purpose was to do a final, final, final internal review (ever have one of those deliverables….the never ending feedback loop?). I was frustrated with our progress even before the meeting began (strike 2). I had started to lose hope that our time would be well spent in this discussion or that we could ever get this large deliverable completed (strike 3).
Is it really any surprise then that the meeting went exactly as I had expected? My saving grace was a team member grounding us with how far we've come. His firm but kind reminder helped to refocus our attention and allowed me to see the action I could to take to move us forward. After the call ended, leaving me uncomfortable and regretful, I considered my own advice, acknowledge these feelings and then got curious.
Why am I feeling so impatient with the team on this project?
Because it's should have been done months ago >> Insert righteous tone here.
Why?
Because we started it over 6 months ago and it shouldn’t have taken longer than 2 months >> Continued righteous tone.
Why has it taken so long?
Because we’ve had more pressing project deadlines come up and we can’t seem to find momentum. >> Less righteousness.
Why?
Because I am NOT making it a priority for myself or the team. >> Insert humble tone here.
Okay, so I am leading this project, among others that I keep putting ahead of this one. Ultimately I have NOT made it a priority. Well then, is there any question why we haven’t delivered? No, not anymore.
I began the questions with my victim goggles on, “if only the team would step up and get this done”. Then as I got curious and considered the why, I got clarity. If I wanted the team to focus on it, then I had better make it a priority myself, which is exactly what I did next. I looked for an open hour in my calendar, dedicated some heads-down time to the project and was quickly able to see how close we were to completing it. Next I made, and communicated, a plan to get us there. No blame, no shame, we are just going to get it done.
This simple get-curious exercise reminded me:
How grateful I am to be a part of a well-balanced team to pick each other up when needed.
You get what you expect so expect good things from yourself and your team.
Shift perspective to see a way forward.
When feeling stuck, take a look at your priorities.
Most importantly, I was reminded that it’s not about being perfect, it is about practicing each day to get a little bit better then yesterday.