Question

What do you think is the most effective strategy a Project Manager can use to manage project change? Explain how not following such strategy can lead to issues with meeting project objectives.

Answer 1

The changes in project may be due to a number of reasons like supply issues, resources crunch, changes in regulations, political instability or law and order problems to name a few. The effective change management strategy should be to minimise the impact of the changes on the quality of work, cost, time schedule, efforts and other deliverables.

A project manager should assesss the potential impact of the change on the project performance and come up with a revised plan ( better if it is ready in advance as a plan B) of action to minimize the impact. He should take all stakeholders in confidence before moving ahead with his new plan. He /she needs to demonstrate exemplary communication, convincing and motivation skills to be able to get everyone on the same platform and take their affrmation. He / she needs to use communication, mentoring, coaching, motivating and guiding skills to make the human reources adapt to the new situation. The broad objective should be to minimize the deviation in cost, time and quality with the agreeable plan.

Not following this strategy may lead to communication gaps which in turn may lead to performance gaps. A state of panic that follows may deteriorate the project plan further and take it away from original objectives, with impact of changes felt everywhere.