A subject came up with some members of our team about a practice we have adopted: The Integrity Meeting. In some workplaces it might be called a verbal warning. We use the term Integrity Meetings because people want to be known as having integrity. We all mean to do what we say and don’t usually intentionally seek to avoid doing what we say.
The goal of the Integrity Meeting is to get the entire team back on track to be “in integrity” with the promises we made. This must be the goal – and keeping this focus can steer the discussion away from finger pointing, accusations, and toward solutions.
In the Integrity Meeting – as with many issues of Project Management when there are problems – the beginning of the solution is to find out what is true. A good place to start is to return to the promises made to the internal or external clients and then compare them to the current situation. What did we promise to deliver? When did we promise it would be delivered? What was the cost we charged for our fulfilling our promise? Who was responsible for which tasks?
Once we’ve established the baseline of where we should be, we can begin assessing how far out of integrity we are. Some of the missed promises are not indications of subpar performance or personnel. As examples, we can be waylaid with other projects, have client induced scope creep, or too many priorities. These are management issues. Performance or personnel issues might be a poor work ethic, a project design scope that was mis-sized, attendance or incompetence.
In addressing these circumstances, it is not uncommon for tempers to rise. After all, no one wants to be singled out for being “out of integrity”, and the person addressing the issue(s) can become the target for attacks. It’s vital for the project manager to keep the end goal in mind. The goal isn’t to identify blame or guilt, but to reset the promises we have made to our customers and learn how to continuously improve. No one or organization makes all the promises made, and yet very successful companies handle these issues in a professional manner: 1) let the customer know as soon as possible when the promise will not be kept, then 2) re-promise the new delivery.
If a team member demonstrates a consistent inability to maintain integrity, that person is a detriment to the project and must be removed. This may have no standing on their employment within the company, but the integrity of the Project Manager is at issue if they do not keep everyone accountable to the promises they made.
Business is often discussed in terms of money and contracts, but we can also talk about it in personal terms. In business we make promises and keep promises. If the promises we make in business are not kept, then the money will cease to flow and contracts we signed for profits will be used as evidence against us.
By using Integrity Meetings, we can get our projects back on track.
If you need help getting your projects done on time and on budget, or even dealing with matters of integrity within your company, Waddell Group can help with that! Please reach out to Rich Gall at rich.gall@waddellgrp.com.
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