Lessons Learned

Every February I think of the movie Groundhog Day. Bill Murray plays Phil Connors, a grumpy TV weatherman who gets stuck in a time loop, doomed to repeat Groundhog Day in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, over and over again. The seemingly never-ending day is agonizing to Phil. No matter what he tries, he can’t break out of the loop.

Sometimes it feels as if our organizations are stuck in time loops – repeating the same mistakes and ineffective behaviors over and over. We talk about improving and hope things will be different next time, but we can’t seem to break out of the loop to change the behaviors that make a difference.

In the movie, Phil wants to win over his female colleague, but his efforts keep failing. He finally realizes that he can take advantage of his situation. Each time the day repeats, he has an opportunity to learn more about her, find out what works and what to do differently the next time. In the end, he wins her love.

We have the same opportunities in the workplace to learn from any activity so that we improve our performance the next time we do something similar. After every project, meeting, and interaction with clients or stakeholders, we can perform an After Action Review. It doesn’t have to be long or drawn out. The goal is to quickly assess what went well, and what we could do differently next time to get better results.

How to perform an After Action Review

Do it right away. Review while the activity is fresh in your mind. Our memory is notoriously unreliable and you won’t remember details days or weeks from now.

Ask key questions and write down the answers

1. How well did I achieve my intended outcome?
2. What opportunities, actions or follow-up did I identify from the activity?
3. How effective was my behavior and that of the other people involved?
4. What could I do differently next time to get better results?

Take action
Capture the information, share it with others doing similar work, and consciously change your behaviour to incorporate what you’ve learned. Strive for continuous improvement. You’ll get better results, and increased productivity.

Unlike Phil, you’re not stuck in a loop repeating the same day over and over again. So break out of the loop of repeating the same mistakes over and over again.

Recently I found myself locked out on the balcony of my second-floor condo. I had gone out to clean the glass on the new sliding door. When I closed the door behind me, I heard a ‘click’ and realized the spring loaded locking mechanism had activated from the inside. I was locked out on the balcony without my keys or cell phone! My husband was out of town, the property manager was away, and I had no clue how I would get back inside. In my best damsel in distress voice, I called out to some nearby workmen who contacted a neighbor with a master key to let me back in.

The first thing I did was de-activate the spring loaded bolts, and the second thing I did was to put my cell phone and keys in my pockets.

I had never considered the possibility of this happening, much less thought about how I would deal with it! This got me thinking about contingency plans.

What is a contingency plan?

It’s a pre-planned alternative course of action in case things don’t go as expected. It’s Plan B in case Plan A doesn’t work out. It’s your backup plan.

• It’s reserving a tent for the outdoor wedding. You may not need it, but you’re prepared in case it rains.

• It’s cross-training your team so Jane isn’t the only one who can run that critical report. Work won’t stop if she’s sick or on vacation.

• It’s backing up your big presentation on a USB stick, loading it on the laptop, and bringing hard copy printouts – just in case anything goes wrong with any of the equipment.

What are the benefits of having a contingency plan?

A contingency plan enables you to think ahead while you’re calm and have time to work through what could go wrong – and how you would deal with it.  Then when the time comes, you’re able to respond quickly and deliberately. This prevents panic and reduces stress.

How to develop a contingency plan?

Ask yourself these questions:

1. What could go wrong? When?
2. How much impact would this have if it happened?
3. How likely is this to happen?
4. How do we want to deal with it if it does happen?

I learned later that several other residents had also found themselves locked out due to the new door locks. Since this could happen again, what would be a good contingency plan? The property manager could go door-to-door to show residents how to disengage the locks and remind them to do so before they go outside. He could provide a sticker to attach to the outside of the door with the phone numbers to call in case anyone did get locked out. And for me personally — I will make sure I have my phone and my keys with me at all times!

I’ve found that having a good Plan B makes a huge difference in your ability to respond quickly and calmly when things don’t go as expected. You’ve anticipated what could go wrong, you’ve thought it through ahead of time, and you’re prepared.

You’re not stuck … on a balcony… without your keys … or your cell phone…. hoping that someone will come to your rescue.

Alarm bells should sound in your head the minute you hear anyone on your project utter the word “surely”, as in:

• Surely everyone understands.
• Surely you can do that without any more effort.
• Surely they’ll fix it if I tell them it’s broken.
• Surely you don’t mean now.
• Surely you allowed time for three review cycles.
• But you’re the expert. Surely you knew this was required.

Your immediate response should be to stop, check, and verify. Assumptions like this can derail a project quickly if they turn out to be false. Whenever you hear the word surely, this should be your cue to take a closer look, and get confirmation.

Think of it as an old friend Shirley. She can pop up any time, anywhere on any project. Watch out for Shirley. Because Shirley is not your friend.

Opening a holiday gift and finding tickets to the big game. Surprise!

Telling your manager the day of the deadline that the deliverable will be late.  Surprise!

Oops. Not all surprises lead to delight and happiness.

This week I spoke at Humber College to students completing a project management program. I shared some tips for success based on real work lessons learned. One of these we call “No Surprises!”

Sometimes project managers are hesitant to tell their managers or the client about problems until they’ve done their best to resolve them. The risk is that you spend hours or days struggling with the problem to no avail. By then you’ve burned through budget and wasted valuable time. What was a small issue when it was discovered has ballooned into a major crisis now that the deadline is looming.

Think about it this way. Your manager has access to resources and information that you don’t have. He or she may be able to tap into an expert from another group who can solve the problem in an hour. Or, he may be able to decide that the affected portion of scope isn’t essential after all, and can be removed from the project. The key is to escalate the issue early – while there’s still time to do something about it.

Keeping stakeholders informed is essential. You don’t always know how your project fits into the bigger company strategy, how your status reports are being incorporated into senior management discussions, or how the outcome from your project is going to be used as an input to another project.

That’s why we say save the surprises for holidays and birthdays.

During some of my most difficult projects I’d wake up in the middle of the night with my mind racing, worrying about how to recover from the latest delay, or wrestling with how to create a simple picture to illustrate a difficult issue that no one wanted to face.   In times like these, the only way I could relax was to get up, go to the computer, and write everything down.  Before long, logic prevailed over emotion, my mind relaxed, and I’d be able to go back to sleep.

Unfortunately for my team, I wrote them emails while the ideas were fresh, often sending  a flurry of correspondence in the middle of the night. As their manager, I became concerned when I noticed I was receiving real-time replies.

So how do you keep from driving yourself and your team crazy?  How do you stay calm and rational so that you can remain focused on what’s important, and not get distracted by every shiny object that crosses your path?

My solution was to get everything out of my head.  I wrote down every problem, project, or action that was causing me stress. I looked at each item on the list and asked myself: what is the value to be gained from this activity? How does this fit into the bigger picture? How does this lead me toward my goals and objectives?

Once I elevated my thinking to this broader context, things fell into place. I was able to see what was most important, what could be delegated, and what really didn’t need to be done at all.   It was surprisingly effective.

When you’re facing what seems an insurmountable jumble of issues, take a step back and focus on those things that will provide the biggest return for the least effort – and the most value to you.

After all, isn’t a good night’s sleep a goal worth achieving?