www.kw3consulting.com

Managing Project Escalations

Webinar

October 9, 2014

Kirk Williams

• Complex initiatives are tough

• Many moving parts, multiple teams, stressful

• Senior Leaders wants it done, done well and HATE SURPRISES

• The Challenge – issues get escalated too early or too late.

• Early and Late Escalations are SURPRISES

• Today, we will talk about 5 strategies to help you manage early and late

escalations

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The Challenge

Logistics For Today’s Call

• The call is being recorded

• Copies of slides will be made available at the conclusion of the call

• We will have a couple of poll questions so be ready to answer

• Please enter your questions in the chat box at any time

• Tweet your comments during the call - #escalations

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Kirk Williams

• Founder & CEO - KW3 Consulting

• Management Consultant for 17 years

• Worked for Accenture Consulting for 13 years

• Started KW3 Consulting 4 years ago

• Managed multi-million dollar business and technology transformation initiatives

• Consulted with small, large and Fortune 500 companies. Some include Wells Fargo, Cisco, JPMorgan Chase, Callaway Golf

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Today’s Discussion

Types of Escalations

Discuss Each Type of

Escalation and Key Strategies

Case Study

Key Takeaways

and Wrap-Up

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Poll #1

I want to learn about who is on the call.

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Knowing Communication Styles

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Dominance – direct, strong-willed and forceful

Influence – sociable, talkative and lively

Steadiness – gentle, accommodating and soft-hearted

Conscientiousness – private, analytical and logical

Types of Escalations

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Pre-Mature Escalations

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• People have their own agendas

• People want to be the “hero”

• Additional unnecessary work

• Diverts attention from the required

activities to get the project done

Strategies

• CONSISTENT STATUS

REPORTING VIEW

• Regular checkpoints with

senior leadership

• Stay fact-based

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• Status on key

functionality

• Green / Yellow / Red

Heat map to

highlight problem

areas

• Quick and easy for

executive level to

understand current

status

Accurate Escalations

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• You are ahead of the curve

• Proactive and Preemptive

• You are in control

Strategies• Consistent Status

Reporting

• Trade-off Scenarios

• Senior Leadership

Checkpoints

• Program Management

Processes In Place

Late Escalations

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• Team member(s) have missed an

important milestone or

deliverable

• Team members tend to work in

silos – “siloed thinking”

• Miscommunication has occurred

among the team

Strategies

• Trade-off scenarios

(3 options)

• Acknowledge mistakes

• Consensus building

Trade-off Scenario Template

• 3 Options

• Various scope options

• Pros and cons for

each option

• Dependencies

# Option Revised Delivery Date Pros Cons Dependencies Recommend (Y/N)

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Trade-off Scenario Template

• Visual Option

• Resource Implications

• Proposed timeline

• Scope adjustments

Poll #2

What type of escalations have you dealt with most?

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Case Study

Client

• A regional financial services company in Southern California

• A business intelligence implementation project

Challenge

• Some client resources were very nervous and wanted to be the hero

• Unnecessary escalations occurred

• Midnight emails from the CEO

• Called to the CFO’s office for 7am

Solution

• Structured reporting process – consistent view

• Stayed fact based

• Repeated buy-in from executives.

• Need executives to make the time

• Understood who we were dealing with

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Key Takeaways

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Trade-off Scenarios

Consensus Building

Consistent Status View

Lead with the facts

Understand others

“Off The Gantt” Training Series

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• Escalations is just one piece of the

Advancing towards Program

Management

• Our “Off The Gantt” Training

Series coming up in December.

Email me for more details

• Full day interactive and engaging

session

• Followed up by 3 conference calls

- Coming in December 2014 -

Upcoming Webinars

• Thursday, November 13th @ 10am PST

• Thursday, January 18th @ 10am PST

• Thursday, February 12th @ 10am PST

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Thank You

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• Please fill out the survey and give your feedback

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