Who hasn’t experienced changes in management teams during projects, whether in public organizations with fixed terms and frequent turnover of managers akin to changing "socks," or in entrepreneurial projects where managers and employees seek promotion opportunities in different channels or with competitors? And suddenly, you find yourself facing a complete overhaul of the management team! Today, we will briefly discuss the issue of changing management teams during a project, the negative impacts on the project, and perhaps sometimes the opportunities it presents.
A change in the working teams and significant role holders in the middle of the project can introduce inconsistencies in work processes and approaches, causing confusion among team members and project stakeholders. Additionally, it requires extra time and resources to onboard new team members, which inevitably diverts significant attention from the project goals and main tasks.
Therefore, the central question is whether this is indeed the case. If so, what are the main reasons for the potential harm to the project?
Here are some key reasons and their meanings:
Delays in Project Timelines = Money:
The project manager needs to initiate an entire process with the team members and explain the role of each employee within the team.
There is a need to train and form a new team and teach them the accepted approaches in the project.
Not every team under formation responds with the same intensity. We have learned in organizations that there are diverse teams, each responding differently to the time pressure they encounter. Hence, it is reasonable to assume that we cannot influence this except by hoping for high adaptability to the new situation.
Compromised Project Quality:
If we try to minimize the process initiation time and learning time to save time and resources, the quality will undoubtedly suffer.
To maintain loyalty, you need to explain the project to the new team and keep objectivity.
Disruption of Work Processes and Cooperation:
It is essential to constantly ensure optimal synergy and integration among the new team members.
Patience and mental resilience are required to explain the previous considerations and decisions made in the project.
Therefore, the replacement of role holders or stakeholders in a project demands heightened attention to our ability to pull the rug from under the tableware swiftly enough to minimize the impact on achieving the project's goals. Hence, meticulous planning and high attentiveness from the project manager are required when dealing with team member turnover in the project.
Alongside all the threats mentioned above, are there opportunities in changing the team?
The answer is unequivocally yes! Certainly in long-term projects and public organizations where you want to refresh and change teams to continue promoting the project's interests with full force, especially in places where you identify that the team is not as effective as initially, and people have become "indifferent." An example is in strategic projects of 10 years, where it is wise to implement team member turnover and baton-passing between the planning phase, which can last 2-3 years, and the execution phase, which can also last 2-3 years. In this case, baton-passing is excellent because the dynamics between a planning team and an execution team are entirely different and can significantly advance the project with full force!
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