Your Project Has A Public Face…And It’s As Important As The Inside Story You Know To Be True

You’re in charge of this project. You’re the authority on how it’s progressing and what has to happen before it’s completed, right?

That all sounds good, as far as it goes. But the fact is, once the project gets going, every stakeholder, constituent and observer of your initiative will make his own — usually quite arbitrary — judgment about what people should be seeing and hearing and when it’s supposed to be finished. And if those expectations aren’t met, you may find your project is suddenly in trouble as onlookers begin to:

• Speculate that “something must be wrong.”
• Express doubts about the likelihood of success in accomplishing the original purpose.
• Suggest that the original purpose is no longer worthwhile, if it ever was.
• Question your leadership abilities.

But you’ve invested blood, sweat, tears and reputation in the thing and so you defend it with “Things like this take time,” “We ran into unanticipated obstacles that took awhile to resolve. It’s all about to come together,” “You don’t know what’s going on inside like I do,” etc.

Every project has a public face, an external image, a public perception, that’s just as important as the reality going on inside the project. And you, as project leader, are responsible for managing that aspect of the project just as you manage every other element.

Failure to communicate clearly along the way about your progress — including showing interim deliverables — will invite stakeholders and observers to fill in the blanks based on their own fantasies and speculations. That kind of thing can result in the project getting shut down and your losing credibility as a manager and leader.

Don’t let it happen! In a previous post, we outlined what you need to do to provide accurate and on-demand info to stakeholders about the status of your projects so they don’t have to wonder what’s going on. And in another article, we provided simple forms and tools to accomplish this kind of communication.

You’ve worked hard on the project and you know you’re going to deliver a great result. And you’ve got a reporting and monitoring system in place so you’re on top of progress in every aspect. But your evaluation, based on your first-hand knowledge, may not be the perception outsiders are getting. Keep an eye on the calendar and your ear to the ground. Stakeholders and observers may decide it’s taking too long and, by that time, any explanation you put up in response is likely to sound weak and defensive.

So, while the “world” is waiting for you to finish, don’t let others jump into an info vacuum left by you to create their own — often negative — narrative and ruin your efforts and those of your team members. Be proactive and communicate. Make sure everyone sees, hears and feels what’s happening so there’s no room for damaging speculation.