Managing Projects for Ministry

Session 5: Project Management Leadership, Final Insights, and Closing Dialogue 73

5. Your people hit a wall with the project, and all at the same time. Answer: Become a clown, cheerleader, coach, and inspiration. Do whatever you can to encourage your team to “persevere through the wall.”

6. You run out of resources. Answer: Seek to find additional resources from stakeholders and other investors. If you cannot, you may need to close down the project.

7. Members neither respect nor meet your timeline specifications, and aribitrarily change and shift them without notifying you. Answer: Provide more resource and encouragement at the same time that you tighten the standards of the deadlines.

8. Key team members will need to quit or will abandon the project. Answer: Be prepared to have a plan “B” in case of drastic needs, outsource their work, or be prepared to abandon or postpone the project.

9. Your estimated costs were so low that your project will not be able to continue without a drastic new influx of resources. Answer: Communicate the facts clearly to the stakeholders and be prepared to change the scope of the project entirely.

10. Strife and politics is creating conflict and affecting performance of key project members. Answer: Deal with the conflicts openly and decidedly. Let nothing pass. Be fair but be firm.

II. Final Insights and Comments