A parable for failed project management, and how to find success …

Working with a team, managing a successful one, and leading for success all
have at their core a similar problem. How do we ensure that all team members
view the project — the drawbacks and the benefits — with the same insights and
understanding?

This is the Blind Men and their elephant problem. In the classic Indian tale, a
group of blind men come across an elephant, but because they each touch and
feel different parts (such as the tusks or the trunk) then they can never agree on
what the creature is.

Are the blind men so different from engineers, architects, business analysts,
consultants and project managers? Not really.

Of course the biggest difference is that the blind men aren’t a team. They haven’t
spent time in team formation, or together experienced any of the Five Stages of
Team Development:

1. Forming
2. Storming
3. Norming
4. Performing
5. Adjourning (leaving the team)
   

The analogy, however, still holds. Each team member can only ever see one small
aspect of the project — such as the analysis, the architecture, the vision, or the
footprint. It is only the project manager that has a grasp of all that is involved.
Only the Project Manager can see that the creature is an ‘elephant’.

As a study by Benham Tabrizi shows, most cross-functional teams do suffer
from dysfunction. For example, Benham finds that a lack of project management
fundamentals cause team failures. “Teams are hurt by unclear governance, by a
lack of accountability, by goals that lack specificity, and by organizations’
failure to prioritize the success” he writes. This is program and project
management 101.

In researching this article, I came across a concept popularized by Dr Karen
Sobel-Lojeski called virtual distance. Karen uses three axes on which to
measure team performance:

• Physical distance (i.e. geographic)
• Operational distance (i.e. frequency of meetings and team skill set)
• Affinity distance (the sharing of cultural values and attitudes)

By measuring teams on this scale, Karen was able to judge which teams would
fail. More importantly she was able to judge what actions could bring the
team back together again to achieve success.

The analogy here? Well, Karen’s research enables us to regain our lost sight, and
see what concrete actions we need to take as program and project managers in
order to increase our team’s performance. We all need to be able to see clearly.

Post Script:
BBC Radio in the UK actually conducted the experiment at London Zoo with 4
blind people volunteering. And what was their experience? You’ll have to click the
link here to listen and find out more …