Comments on: Real Project Crises

By: Teri Simonds

Teri Simonds — Tue, 05 Jul 2005 20:47:46 +0000

Excellent advice, Johanna. I’m managing a small test team for a start-up company and in the space of three months, one team member’s daughter got married, his wife became very ill (and almost died), and both of his parents died, all at a critical project juncture. Acknowledging these crises at the time and working with the team to get through them was absolutely essential and I can’t imagine not doing that. I would add that it’s also important to be aware that even though the initial crisis has passed, there may be a recovery period (especially with grief) that lasts a long time. Being compassionate is a critical skill for a manager to have.

By: Joe Azzopardi

Joe Azzopardi — Tue, 05 Jul 2005 15:27:31 +0000

While not as traumatic as death, the Fortune 500 corporation I worked for decided to sell our our manufacturing operation to a third-party vendor. Within the first year, it was shutdown and the work was moved offshore. I “lost” 200+ colleagues, most of whom I’d supervised at some point, some of whom I had become good friends with. My management couldn’t understand why I was so upset, after all, my position as PD project manager was “safe”. Needless to say, I’ve kept the friends, but dumped the company.

By: Rick Martin

Rick Martin — Fri, 01 Jul 2005 19:58:59 +0000

I have experienced this kind of misfortune a few times during my 20+ year career. The first time was at my first job out of college and a technician on our team died in an accident. Our manager was a great mentor to me (before I knew what mentoring was) by the name of Tim Starkey. Tim not only acknowledged the loss, but made a significant statement by personally delivering the news to each of us. We took the afternoon off to hold an unofficial wake, something that would have pleased our deceased co-worker. By his actions, Tim made this a unifying and strengthening experience.