When a project fails, the consequences can be dire. Often, a significant amount of time, energy, and resources were committed to the objective, and not meeting the project’s goals means much of it was wasted.
If your company is plagued by failing projects, it’s important to identify potential root causes and correct them. Often, by reviewing what went awry and committing yourself to organizational development, you can achieve higher project success rates, ensuring your investment yields positive results.
You Can Avoid These
Insufficient Planning
As the old adage goes, when you fail to plan, you plan to fail. When a project is on the line, planning is a crucial part of the process. The phase allows you to set budgets, define the scope, outline requirements, identify milestones, allocate resources, and even select a methodology to guide your team’s efforts as they work toward completion.
Ultimately, a detailed and thorough plan is essential for a project’s success. Otherwise, ambiguity, indecisiveness, scope creep, and a multitude of other missteps can send a project off the rails.
No Risk Management
More often than not, a project is going to encounter a problem before it reaches completion. Typically, these issues are fairly predictableand could be mitigated with an effective risk management process.
However, many companies only focus on risk management during the early planning stages. They fail to reassess the risks as the project moves forward, even if significant changes occur along the way. This means the previous information may no longer be accurate or helpful, leaving the project team scrambling to find solutions when a hiccup occurs.
Examining the risks associated with a project is an essential part of success. It allows your company to plan for the inevitable, ensuring a single or even multiple complications don’t result in a project’s failure.
Skill Gaps
When a project involves previously unexplored technologies or concepts, skill gaps can significantly hinder your chances of success. While some employees may be able to learn as they go, a lack of familiarity may increase the odds of mistakes, something that can cost you time, money and resources.
In some cases, the missing skill may not be achievable for members of the project team without formal training. This means, if such guidance isn’t provided, they won’t be capable of reaching all of the objectives, making failure inevitable.
Often, skill gaps can be covered in one of two ways. First, you can choose to hire a new employee with an appropriate skill set. Second, you can train one of your talented professionals in that specific area, allowing them to develop as professionals and provide additional value to the project team.
Do You Need an Effective Training Program to Overcome Skill Gaps?
If you are working to develop a robust training program to overcome skill gaps in your workforce, increase project success rates, or otherwise help your company thrive, the professionals at Clarity Consultants can create a customized plan based on your specific requirements. Connect with the experts at Clarity today and see how our strategic approach to learning and organizational development can benefit you.
When a project fails, the consequences can be dire. Often, a significant amount of time, energy, and resources were committed to the objective, and not meeting the project’s goals means much of it was wasted.
If your company is plagued by failing projects, it’s important to identify potential root causes and correct them. Often, by reviewing what went awry and committing yourself to organizational development, you can achieve higher project success rates, ensuring your investment yields positive results.
