Project Lessons Learned Corporate Culture the Seeds of Failure

Project Lessons Learned Corporate Culture the Seeds of Failure

What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail?

Vol I, Issue 3 - 3Q2007 - Corporate Culture - the Seeds of Failure

The Right Attitude Can Make or Break a Project

Before you turn your implementation dream into a reality, you first must set boundaries that will
define the corporate culture. No project can succeed without a shared spirit of cooperation.
However, even though most companies are unwilling to admit it, there is often much in the
corporate ethos and culture that negatively impacts the likelihood of success. there are many
defining characteristics to every corporate culture. Making the following decisions will help you
ensure success for the implementation:

Consultants cannot override managers.
Managers give pre-defined responsibilities to the project manager.
Managers commit to company-approved project goals.
Within budget, committees have complete authority.
Responsibility for failure is shared by the whole team.
The project manager has final approval on program changes.
Committees have override authority vis-a-vis individual managers.
Management disagreements are resolved quickly.
The project manager is an operating user.
The project manager can make difficult decisions.
The training budget will not be reduced.
Management aligns its expectations with reality.
The company will not attempt to off-load blame to a third party.

IF you can make all of this happen, your corporate culture will help you attain success.

You probably cannot respond positively to all of these statements, but your project still must be
played out within the corporate culture, whether you like it or not. You probably will have no real
opportunity to change it, so you must learn to first recognize it, then evaluate its impact, and
finally work around it.

NOTE: No project can succeed without a shared spirit of cooperation.

Lessons Learned

Project Points
Our Publication for Clients,
Prospects & Associates

Lessons Learned are snips of knowledge
regarding mistakes in project development,
management, control and/or finance. They
are put forward for the benefit of Project
Executive Group subscribers.