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PROJECT SUCCESS AND FAILURE POST-MORTEM

Institute a systematic project success and failure post-mortem after every project. The post-mortem is a critical component of a project life cycle. The review should stimulate discussion around six recommended questions:

  1. What was the project’s objective, and what did we set out to do?
  2. What actually happened during the project?
  3. Why did the project go the way it did?
  4. What are the top three things we would do again in the same situation?
  5. What are the top three things that did not work in the project that we would not do again?
  6. What lessons can we take from this experience to the next project?

 

‘Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts.’
– Albert Einstein

 

FAIL FAST AND LEARN

Failure is derived from a Latin word that can be interpreted as ‘to stumble’ or ‘to trip.’ An essential capacity for individuals and companies to develop is the ability to learn from failures.

For many of us, COVID forced us to look at different ways to provide our services, manufacture our products, connect with our clients, conduct business remotely and operate under challenging restrictions.

We had to experiment and do things differently, some options worked, and some failed. Inevitably failures are a consequence of doing something new, and critical lessons can provide a complete picture of the costs and benefits related to assets, liabilities and the bottom line.

COSTS

  • What were the labor, material, and production costs?
  • What were the internal costs to the failure, the effect on morale or any fallout?
  • What were the external costs reputationally with our customers or on the market?

CUSTOMERS

  • What assumptions did we make around our customer’s needs?
  • What assumptions need to be updated?

TEAM

  • How effective were we working together?
  • What processes, structures or cultural items need our attention?
  • What skills do we need to focus on improving or gaining?

TRENDS

  • What did we learn about trends that directly affect our business?
  • What forecasts need adjusting?

BOTTOM LINE

What were the critical business insights learned?

WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNT OVER THE FIRST SIX MONTHS OF 2022 regarding your:

  • Business culture
  • Current organizational direction and strategies
  • Customers dynamics
  • Future trends
  • Processes, and
  • The changing market

 

‘ All organizations are perfectly designed to get the results they are now getting. If we want different results, we must change the way we do things.’
– Tom Northup

 

BUSINESS BOOK OF THE MONTH

CEO Excellence

 

 

 

CEO Excellence: The Six Mindsets That Distinguish the Best Leaders from the Rest
By Carolyn Dewar, Scott Keller, and Vikram Malhotra
Senior partners at McKinsey & Company

 

 

 

 

If you want monthly leadership and professional development tips, sign up for my JRC newsletter or check out my social media on Instagram for top leadership advice throughout the year. For any questions regarding conducting a project success and failure post-mortem, please feel free to reach out. Connect with me. 

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YOUR FOCUS IN QUARTER 3

As we enter Quarter 3 of 2022, it is time to reflect on how far you have gotten on your goals over the last six months, what has worked well, what has not, and what you will keep, start and stop doing. Make the next quarter matter. Continuous execution of small daily changes leads to tremendous results.

NARROW YOUR FOCUS IN Q3

As a business consultant, strategist, and executive coach, I work with successful companies and leaders who share a common practice of conducting quarterly reviews and previews.

By starting each quarter with an initial review, you are taking the time to set a benchmark and do a post-mortem on the past three months’ activity and results.

Analyze wins, identify ongoing challenges, and reflect on lessons learned. Evaluate what you will continue to focus on, what you will stop doing and new initiatives and priorities that need to be implemented.

After the review, you then move on to a preview of what is upcoming in the following 90-day period and identify priorities. These 90-day/quarter priorities ensure alignment and provide a transparent and clear focus.

 

‘You will either look back in life and say I wish I had, or I’m glad I did.’
– Zig Ziglar

 

QUARTERLY REVIEW PROCESS

  1. REVIEW your cash flow and identify your top five activities that provide you profit.
  2. ANALYSE your Key Performance Indicator (KPI) results, shortfalls and gaps. This activity will assist in the identification of areas that require your attention. Your KPIs drive your triple-bottom-line results and can often simply be viewed in terms of profit margin per:
    a.   employee
    b.   customer or client, and
    c.   production or delivery.
  3. IDENTIFY your core areas that can be improved upon to increase operational efficiencies. Quarterly process optimization goals are an excellent way to look at this with your team. Creating core processes saves time and provides standard operating procedures, combined with checklists that can reduce errors and increase efficiencies.
  4. REVIEW your long-term strategic initiatives and identify at least one that you can focus on in Q3 that aligns with your vision, will bring value to your team and stakeholders, and will add value to your customers and clients.

WHAT IS ONE THING YOU CAN DELEGATE THIS QUARTER?

Have you recently thought/said,

‘I don’t have enough time,’
‘There is too much to do,’
‘I never have enough time to focus on what is essential?’

If so, it’s time to evaluate how you spend your time and on what.

STEP 1.   List at least 20 things you do in your job or on a day-to-day basis, the more detail you have in your list, the better.

STEP 2.   Draw up a quadrant and in each box, write the topics you see on the image below.

Jenny Reilly Consulting | How To Delegate

STEP 3.   Of all the items you listed in Step 1, please put each one into the most relevant quadrant. Tally how many you have in each quadrant.

STEP 4.   Your objective should be to have most items in the top left quadrant. Everyone is more effective and productive when they work to their strengths and are engaged. If your quadrants are bottom-heavy, work towards making some changes and, when possible, delegate a minimum of one task per quarter to others where they may be a better fit.

 

‘The difference between successful people and really successful people is that really successful people say no to almost everything.’
– Warren Buffett

 

QUARTERLY THINKING

ONE:   What do you want to accomplish by the end of Q3?

TWO:   How will you unwind, unplug and recharge to ensure you bring the best version of yourself to the job weekly?

THREE:   Identify three core professional areas of strength and three core areas of weakness. In Q3, aim to work more in your areas of strengths and do some professional development work in at least one area of challenge to help you improve in the job.

FOUR:   Identify at least five areas you can say ‘no’ to this quarter. One of my TEC members, Joseph Fry, Founding Principle of Hapa Collaborative, operates under a ‘hell yes’ or ‘hell no’ system when defining where he will spend his time. I love his energy and focus on working in areas that matter to the business.

 

If you have any questions about your quarter 3 review and planning or want to learn more about the powerful benefits of executive coaching to elevate your professional success, please reach out to +1 604-616-1967 or jenny@jennyreilly.com and book a complimentary 30-minute strategy session. If you want monthly leadership and professional development tips, sign up for my JRC newsletter or check out my social media on Instagram for top leadership advice throughout the year.

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