Projects fail for a variety of reasons. Here are some of the most common causes of failure?

• Lack of senior management support
  Initial support
  Ongoing support


• Not explaining WIIFM-What's In It for Me


• Not laying out a plan so people see steps


• Not discussing fears and uncertainty?


• Not answering
  Why are we doing this?
  What do you want from me?
  What are you going to do with this information?


• Not communicating
  Frequently
  Different forms
  (e.g., email, newsletter, mail)
  Different levels of management
  Consistent messages

Where Process-improvement Projects Go Wrong WSJ January 25, 2010

1. "...extended involvement of ...expert is required if teams are to remain motivated, continue learning and maintain gains.
2. ...performance appraisal need to be tied to successful implementation of improvement projects.
3. 3. improvement teams should have no more than six to nine members, and timelines for launching a project should be no longer than six to eight weeks.  .... bigger teams ...greater chance of members will have competing interests and harder it will be for them to agree on goals...longer it takes to implement improvements, the greater the change people and resources will be diverted to other efforts
4. executives need to directly participate in improvement projects, not just "support" them."

Call John Antos at 972-980-7407 to discover how to address the issues that cause projects to fail to enable you to achieve your goals.