The annual delivery race to the finish line…..1st April

It is that time of year again……where many organisations will have used 1^st April as the key date to have delivered multiple projects and programmes.

I certainly understand it is important to define a delivery date and gain commitment and momentum, yet it causes so many challenges and conflicts, in my opinion.

Here are just a few that we have found;

• Poor overall understanding of benefit realisation with business cases signed off and efficiencies not linked to finances = creating mass panic during March to recount and re baseline benefits
• Business resources spread thinly or not released fully, on both the delivery and SME side = this impacts and compromises overall quality and creates resistant behaviour
• Project members already being ear marked for the next activity and “dual running” before successfully completing the current work = burn out, increased stress levels and poor quality deliverables
• Your people feeling confused with the drivers for change, sheer volume of change and number of messages across a short space of time = lack of confidence and commitments to change
• Funneling so much change into key areas of the business in a short space of time = dilutes the quality and limits adoption rates
• A land grab for test environments that inevitably have to be shared due to time constraints = defects may not be fixed fully or risks taken to hit timescales
• Training resources are stretched and internal communications can be grouped together, merging key messages and events = poor understanding of change that could create re-work, poor engagement and resistance

All of the above creating avoidable stress on teams to deliver, accept and adopt change. 

Does any of the above resonate with you and your business? Does it seem magnified across the month of March?

It still amazes me that year in and year out it happens. It will certainly be well documented across numerous lessons learned workshops yet why do organisations take note?

It reflects all the common signs of change fatigue and saturation. It will de sensitise your business from supporting future changes and overall morale and resistance will increase.

We would love to help you reflect on this period of delivery and how it could be improved in the future, both in terms of overall phasing to reduce business impact and maximising benefit realisation.

Listen to your people…they are your greatest asset.