By John Kinoti,
Nothing strikes fear into the heart of a project manager than being informed that due to prevailing unexpected circumstances the projects and programs may go into a halt! – This is the current situation almost is facing due to the COVID-19 global crisis where everything is now a standstill. That example is hyperbolic, but according to the infallible Murphy’s Law, what can go wrong will go wrong, and stranger things than that example have happened in the past.
Before becoming a project manager, it is likely that as a lower-level development actor or employee or investor in an organization you have previously experienced a project crisis and been witness to your manager freaking out, pulling out their hair, and lashing out at employees. If you haven’t, count yourself lucky. It’s not only unpleasant but counterproductive to solving the situation at hand.
Any seasoned project manager will have experienced their fair share of crises in the past, and hopefully has adopted measures and practices to handle hardships and extreme challenges to project performance. Crises come in all shapes and sizes, whether financial, technological, or public relations. Whatever you are dealing with, there are steps to take before and during a crisis to prevent or mitigate the damage a crisis causes to your organization, programs, or projects including our lives.
The first and most vital step in crisis management is managing the crisis before you need to manage it and this is ensuring you are in tune with any possible signs or warnings of the issues that are unfolding. The second most important is to develop a detailed contingency plan with a crisis management team. It is rather unlikely that you will come up with a series of comprehensive contingencies on your lonesome.
This is in addition to informing all your project teams, beneficiaries, and partners about your crisis, management planning. The third aspect that you need is to keep a cool head and be optimistic. In the face of disaster, as a project manager, you lead the ship. Your team and colleagues are going to be looking to you for guidance and moral support. Lead by example. If your team sees that you are concerned, focused, yet calm, and collected, they will mimic your demeanor. Panic does nobody any good and exacerbates an already tumultuous time. If you lose your cool, so will your team. If you are optimistic that you will pass through this trying time intact, your team will feel motivated to work hard at resolving that which is plaguing your organization. By no means give anyone false hope, but optimism is contagious and motivates your team. Finally contain the crises and the first practical step to take after crisis strikes are to stop it from spreading any further. At this point, you cannot prevent it any longer, but you can control it, and then take measures to eradicate it as you now look for the causes of the crisis. Even in the eastern region, we can navigate the COVID-19 crisis by following the above steps as we hope to restore calmness and normalcy in all the endeavors.
