Why does the project progress often get delayed by issues I had not foreseen?

Dear Susanne,

I always start a risk log at the beginning of a new project, but as the project progresses, we often get delayed by issues I had not foreseen. What am I doing wrong?

Risk management is such an important part to get right on any project. Doing it well is less about logging risks in a register and more about your way of thinking and the culture of the project. I have noticed that many project managers take ownership for the risk management process without really involving the team. They may also forget to continuously identify and monitor risks as the project progresses, and they sometimes ignore risks that relate to people, strategy and ‘unknown unknowns’. The underlying problem is that risk management is seen as a mechanical process instead of really engaging with it and ensuring that it adds value.

A team effort

Risk management works best when all team members collaborate and share their knowledge and insight. When risks are identified, analysed and planned in collaboration, the depth and quality of the process improves, and it reinforces accountability and ownership. I would encourage you to set up a meeting with the sole purpose of identifying and dealing with risks. Ask your team what they worry about and what could prevent them from delivering on their promises. Deliberately discussing risks on a regular basis helps you create a risk‑awareness culture, enabling the team to better spot risks going forward.

As you brainstorm risks with the team, consider different scenarios and viewpoints, and examine each part of the project. Remember to include risks that relate to organisational strategy, the political and economic environment and interpersonal conflict. Examples could be changes to the client’s strategy, the possibility that client and supplier will interpret the contract differently, the risk that trust breaks down between different teams, that one or more stakeholder groups will be opposed to the change, or that the global supply chain will be interrupted. If you assume that people problems will occur, you can be proactive and put in place techniques ahead of time to manage relationships and communication.

Expect the unexpected

Another aspect to bear in mind is to appropriately deal with ‘unknown unknowns’, i.e. risks that you aren’t easily able to foresee. I still remember my conversation with Elmar Kutsch, Associate Professor at Cranfield School of Management, when I met him years ago. Kutsch said that project managers in general pay very little attention to unexpected risks. It seems there is a tendency to focus on familiar and measurable risks as opposed to those that the project team cannot predict. One of the ways you can get around this is to involve people from outside the project. People who think in unconventional ways and have a different viewpoint may be able to spot the unknowns that you and your team cannot spot yourselves. Some risks, however, cannot be identified either by your team or by outsiders, as they are inherently unknown. An example would be the global pandemic. All you can do is build in resilience and flexibility so that you can cope with the impact of the unexpected, wherever it comes from.

Lastly, remember not to assign yourself to all the items in the risk register. Despite your good intentions, taking sole ownership doesn’t leverage the team or create a shared sense of responsibility. Find the courage to assign the right owners – even if they are more senior than you – and to gain their buy‑in and acceptance for fully managing a risk. You need to be able to involve the steering committee and draw on their experience when needed. Encouraging a discussion around the project’s main risks at a steering committee level can be a great benefit to all parties.

Susanne Madsen is an internationally recognised project leadership coach, trainer and consultant. She is the author of The Project Management Coaching Workbook and The Power of Project Leadership (second edition now available). For more information, visit www.susannemadsen.com

THIS ARTICLE IS BROUGHT TO YOU FROM THE WINTER 2022 ISSUE OF PROJECT JOURNAL, WHICH IS FREE FOR APM MEMBERS.