You’re working at full capacity. There’s no slack in the diary. The delivery date for that huge project is in sight and you’re on track. Thank God! You’ll be able to take it easy this weekend. And then comes the call… things have changed. There’s a last-minute shift in direction. Can you completely rework the whole of the last stage of the project by Monday?
We live in a changeable world. Mid-flight changes are becoming more normal. So how do you handle them? We thought we’d share what works for us. But if you have good ideas – or different ideas – please do share them with us. We’re always ready to learn more
1. Make flexibility a philosophy
Members of our small team have always turned their hands to lots of different types of tasks and projects. Partly, this is because our smallness makes this necessary. However, what we’ve noticed is that a team member who can happily map out a content marketing strategy, write for a business school and then storyboard a video script in the same day, is less likely to be phased when things change.
Flexibility also needs leaders who can quickly re-prioritise – and pragmatic list-makers and project managers who can say: “OK, if we move this job to Tuesday, work additional hours here and kill two birds with one stone there… we can do it.”
2. Scope work accurately
A hero of ours once said: “Clients can make any changes they want… but there are always consequences for changes.”
In an IT or development project, there are really clear stages – and deviations from them are authorised via change requests. In a creative project, where stages and deliverables can feel less tangible, it’s important to have clear, signed-off documentation before you start. Then when a change comes, you know where it is, how far back you have to unravel – and what the consequences may be.
The consequences could be timelines – the project is delivered later. They could be financial – you deliver at the same time, but it costs a little more. They could be in quality – you get something close to what you now want, to the same timelines – but it may not go into quite as much depth.
Working all of this out is only possible if you have clear documentation to start with.
3. Don’t automatically say no
You’re slammed. Your client needs a change that feels impossible. Don’t just go back to the contract and say: “Sorry, you signed this off and this is what we’re going to deliver.” Listen to what your client wants. It might be exciting and fun to do – and achievable.
4. Don’t automatically say yes
However, don’t underestimate the implications of changing course. If you really can’t do it, don’t say yes – you’ll be doing no-one any favours. It might be you can’t do it because the change is unachievable with the resources available. It might be that you know you can’t perform under pressure. It might be that you know your team is exhausted. (We always tend to offer a compromise rather than an outright, “no”.)
5. Get a plan of action together and make sure everyone knows what it is
When plans change – particularly at the last minute – what you need to guard against is more and more change being added in. There’s a fine line between being flexible and having a project run completely out of control. And don’t get us wrong, we’ve been in the latter situation and learned a lot from it. You simply have to draw a line in the sand and say: “This is what we can now do in this amount of time, for this budget.”
Then update the project plan, quick sticks. Everyone’s roles will have shifted, and expected outputs will be different. As obvious as it sounds, just make sure everyone knows what the differences are – and keep checking in to make sure everyone knows what’s now expected of them, and of the project itself.
6. Communicate more, not less
If you’re looking for ways to find extra time, the one thing you should not cut is communication. A team that’s talking to one another can achieve amazing things. A team where stressed people refuse to answer emails and go into panic mode is another thing altogether. Don’t overdo it – people need time to work, after all. But make sure there are regular check-ins, and that team members know the reasons for them.
7. Don’t panic
Trust yourself. You have the skills, you’ve been here before – and you can get this done. (And if you don’t, maybe you should read point four again.) Don’t lose your head. Keep to the processes that work and don’t skip steps that could create more work in the long run.
Instead of looking at a huge to-do list and feeling overwhelmed by it, break it down into small steps and crunch on through them. Make sure people know who to shout if they need help or support.
8. Act with grace under pressure
There are lots of ways to react to having lots of work to do. You could stress-binge your way through packets of Hobnobs. You could become a diva, snapping at your colleagues and demanding that people tread on eggshells around you. OR, you could breathe deeply, dive in and treat the situation with good grace.
Yes, this is going to be an extraordinarily busy two days. But it’s only two days. Being angry and negative about it just wastes precious minutes.
9. Remember to sleep, eat well and move
Yes, this 11th hour burst of activity might have meant cancelling your yoga class – because taking two hours out of the day just isn’t do-able if you don’t want to be working at midnight. However, it’s important to remember that we all need fresh air, fresh water, decent food, sleep and to move around. If you skimp on any of those, you’ll make yourself ill – and less productive. If you think you have a colleague who needs a reminder to move, give them a quick Zoom. If you need support yourself, shout up.
10. Debrief and acknowledge
When the project is finally delivered, make time to learn from it. Why did the change happen? Could it have been avoided? What can you learn for next time? Do you need to build additional resources in? Should you have said “yes”? Take a moment to breathe, reflect and celebrate.