By Nick Hutchinson
As a teen I was a member of the Australian Air Cadets. In training we undertook navigation exercises. We would be given a map, a compass, some food/water and then had to locate and hike to the designated destination.
These exercises were always a fun experience as we traversed the Australian bush crossing rivers, going over hills and through valleys. Anyone who has done any field navigation exercises knows that at times it is not possible to simply use the compass to walk in a straight line. Sometimes there are impassable cliffs or rivers, or the bush might be so thick that you need to weave and dodge through trees. Other times it is a lake or a dam that you would need to circumvent.
Knowing these obstacles would arise, before we would even start our trip, we would sit down with our map and review any obstacles that were visible on the map – things like rivers or cliffs for example. We would then plan our course in the best possible way, ensuring we had taken all known risks into consideration. However there would be challenges along the way that the map could not have shown us – areas of dense scrub or fenced off areas that we could not pass for example.
In these situations, it was important to keep on course. We quickly learned that a small deviation early in the journey, if not accounted for, could lead to completely missing the end goal. Once a group on camp ended up 2km from their intended destination over a 6km journey! They finished late, depleted of resources and morale while the rest of us celebrated a successful journey.
Field navigation is remarkably similar to project management. Often, we obtain the right resources, create the best plan, identify the risks and obstacles, we know exactly where we should go, how to get there and even how to respond to unknown situations that we might encounter. Despite all of this, many projects still fail to meet objectives on time. We still fail to get there. This results in either increased cost to get back to the real destination or simply a failure to deliver – we compromise or give up.
What is the solution to this? Well, turning back to the example of field navigation, I soon learned that taking the time to stop during the journey and repositioning ourselves was one of the most important keys to success. Repositioning involved making sure we knew exactly where we were on the map - often involving understanding how the obstacles may have changed our course. Once we knew exactly where we were, we could re-plan the rest of the journey. Whilst this activity may have slowed our progress a little in the short term, its value was significant as in the end we reached our destination on time.
A further key to this repositioning was communication, not only within our group but also with those who could guide us from their own experience. Talking on the radio to people outside our travelling group – people who knew the land and were experts in the field meant we could utilise specialist knowledge and have the backing of experience to help us to our destination safely.
In any project, it is important to schedule clear project reviews along the way to reposition your team - this is more than your regular project management meeting.
We believe having a third party to lead this type of review for your project can be of immense value. Which is why we offer Project and Change Management services. We are skilled in helping you identify where you are, where you have come from, where you are going and what changes might need to be made to reach the destination well.
The team at Hutchinson Resources is looking forward to helping you navigate on your journey. Contact us today.
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