Dysfunctional office environments exist for countless reasons. Sometimes you need to deliver your project in spite of it all. There’s no reason to lose heart. You can still deliver. Even if, in the short term, you cannot create culture change.
Almost all dysfunctional offices are a result of poor communication. Or all poor communication is a result of a dysfunctional office. Or they are one and the same. If you pay tremendous attention to communication, your project will create a bubble of positivity within any office. You will put yourself in a position to succeed.
Not every environment is going to need the same level of diligence to make a project successful. At one extreme, you may have a long-standing relationship with the stakeholder. A nod and a wink may be all that you need to make sure you are on the same page. Successful history can breed that mutual trust, removing doubt you will deliver.
The other extreme is unfortunately more common. Crippling lack of communication is the result of many office dynamics. Lack of trust within an office occurs when there is scapegoating. Scapegoating is often the result of insecurity. You have likely seen these specific dysfunctional dynamics and many more. These issues can be deep-rooted and impossible to address in the time you have. So how do you deliver anyway?
This is when the project manager needs to step up more than ever. This is where you will need all your art to turn the project staff into a real team. Get ready to do the detailed hard work no one else wants to do. Find opportunities to prove your passion. Be willing to persuade. Don’t just get everyone on the same page, get everyone on the same team.
Create those little, short-run teams with a common goal. Communicate that goal over and over. Talk to your stakeholder every chance you get. Ask for her opinion, show her the progress, and help her feel ownership. Get buy-in over and over. Double-check over and over. Share everything you can and do the hard work yourself if the project demands it.
If you’re reading this and you object to this line of advice, try to remember office dynamics can’t always be about right and wrong. Sometimes, in the short run, everything just needs to be about the goals of the project. Effective communication is how you guide everything forward. Share the complications and the challenges and the successes and the celebrations. Keep at it and you can get your stakeholder working with you.
Stakeholders reluctant to bear responsibility are wary because they don’t feel ownership. You may think she should feel her responsibility just because her name is on a project document. But that’s not always going to be enough. The reluctance comes from not understanding the solution or the problem. Your stakeholder needs to understand what she is signing off on. Help her to share your common goal.
Think about what it means to be a partner on the project. Don’t put yourself in the situation where you are now working for your stakeholder, doing a job for her. You and the stakeholder need to agree about the problem you are trying to solve and how you are going to solve it. Or you will, without a doubt, deliver something they don’t want. Even if you solve the problem as you saw it, you don’t stand a chance of solving the problem as they saw it. Over-communicate.
And don’t just keep sending summary emails. And don’t send emails that imply that a non-response means understanding. Demand an actual affirmation. See these people in person, call them, and invite them to meetings. Keep them involved. They need this solution. You are partnering with them to build whatever they need. Own it with them.
Take everything on yourself if you need to, who cares? Why keep waiting for someone else to do their job? You have to let your ego go completely sometimes. There are going to be times when you can’t count on someone else to do what you think they’re supposed to do.
Is it right and just and proper? You know what? Asking that question is a luxury you don’t have in the middle of a project with tight deadlines. Deal with the culture another time. Deliver this project now.
It’s one project at a time. Get the work done. Make everyone happy. Then decide if you want to sign up for that again. You get to decide that. You can do all that work and that other person’s work, too — and still not have to give up any of yourself. You don’t need to feel like you are compromising your integrity. Just don’t scapegoat. And stay focused on getting things done.
In every way, your generosity will help your project succeed. You will come out better equipped for whatever is next. And if someone thinks they just got away with something by taking advantage of your good will, that’s their issue. And their issues don’t need to complicate your future. You’ve just delivered one more project. You will be free of the dysfunction.