The irony of avoiding problems to reduce stress
The Insight
As the project manager, when problems arise on projects, everyone looks to you. How you respond is crucial.
Do you avoid calling that person because you know you’re going to have to discuss the problem? Or worse, do you dodge their call when they try to reach you?
Maybe you sit at your desk doing nothing but stressing over that issue, and then take the problem home and loose sleep over how to handle it.
Frankly, we’ve all done this and we’ve learnt the hard way that you cannot avoid the inevitable for too long.
Projects are complex. This isn’t news, in fact, their complexity is typically what keeps you employed as a project manager. You are the project’s guide through the planning and delivery landscape. Your key task is to identify and deal with issues that put the project at risk.
A sure-fire way to make a project, and yourself, suffer is to put off dealing with tough issues when they arise. Your avoidance strategy will be noticed, and you will quickly lose the respect of your team, clients and contractors.
Avoiding problems allows them to worsen.
The Impact
There’s nothing like a tough problem to uncover where everyone’s priorities and interests lie.
We can’t avoid the stress brought on by problems, but we can manage it using effective techniques.
Talk it through with someone. They don’t even have to be on the project but verbalising your thoughts can help familiarise yourself with the issue and give you a better grasp of the situation.
Reframe the situation in a broader context and uncover any associated positives. This helps change the focus – the problem is still there and needs to be dealt with but in the context of everything else that is happening, it will be more proportionally perceived.
Determine the first step to resolving the problem. Then the next… and the next. When eating an elephant, take one bite at a time.
Identify who you need help from. Maybe they are the first to test your solution with. Maybe they can help you determine the solution.
Face the problem head on. Get over the shame associated with the problem and deliver the solution with the same style to deal with everything else.
Create a deadline and stick to you. There’s nothing like an approaching deadline to spark your productivity.