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Facts are in. Not speaking on projects is a key contributor to project failure. Worse, it's also leads to failed careers. Three years ago Greg Howell and I authored a paper Two Great Wastes™ which we presented at IGLC-12. The paper was somewhat speculative. We had observed teams that just weren't making the progress that knew was possible. After studying a number of teams we noticed a pattern. Many of the poor performing teams were composed of people who didn't speak up and/or leaders who weren't listening. We coupled those observations with some research into some big disasters. We concluded that project deterioration was a function of not listening and not speaking. We named those behaviors the Two Great Wastes.

Teams that can't or don't speak up are doomed to fail.

The Concours Group validated our conclusions with their study. As reported in Tekrati and previously reported here¹, Silence Kills Project Management — and Senior Executive Careers², teams that can't or don't speak up are doomed to fail.

"The ability of senior leaders to execute on business strategy depends largely on whether employees are encouraged to speak up about project failures. A simple dynamic — called "organizational silence" — causes 85% of failed business programs and projects, according to a research study by The Concours Group and VitalSmarts."

The study produced a surprising conclusion:

"The best predictor of the future of a project is the quality of just a handful of high-stakes conversations that must occur along the way — but tend not to. When even one of these five crucial conversations fails, a silent crisis plays out in a deceptively simple dynamic that produces failure 85% of the time."

The report claims that project teams must speak about five issues to avoid project failure:

• Fact-Free Planning
• AWOL Sponsors
• Skirting
• Project Chicken
• Team Failures

It doesn't take much not listening before even those who do speak learn to shut up.

But speaking up is only half of the issue as we've observed. Projects need leaders, clients, and team members who are listening. It doesn't take much not listening before even those who do speak learn to shut up.

Get your own copy of the Concours' research.

1. I reported on this study in Revisiting Two Great Wastes™ in August 2006. [ ⇑ back ]
2. "The study collected data from more than 1,000 executives and project management professionals across 40 companies and a wide variety of industries, including pharmaceuticals, airlines, financial services, government agencies, and consumer products. While most of the 40 were Fortune 500 multinational organizations, about 10 percent were smaller, regional firms. Some organizations had sophisticated project governance, management processes, and policies, while others had far less developed approaches. The analysis encompassed more than 2,200 projects ranging from $10,000 IT projects to billion-dollar organizational restructuring efforts." (from the Tekrati article) [ ⇑ back ]