As magical as the holiday season tends to be, it can also be a highly stressful period for leaders working on critical projects. Timelines accelerate while priorities compete for limited bandwidth. Amidst the flurry of seasonal events and tasks piling up at the office and at home, how do you prevent projects from spiraling out of control?
The key is proactive preparation - taking steps today to align people, processes, and planning so you can actually relax and recharge over the holidays:
Streamline Communication
As schedules accelerate leading up to the holidays, communication workflows can become disrupted, leading to misalignment. Set up weekly syncs with project teams to review priority project status, flag any blocking issues, and keep stakeholders informed. Confirm ownership coverage when team members take vacations and verify backups are cross-trained. Stay accessible without micromanaging – empower people but have them escalate when risks emerge.
Clarify Roles & Responsibilities
Formally reassign task ownership with start and end dates for periods when team members take vacations. Identify primary points of contact and decision makers for critical processes when regular leads are out. Ensure contingent resources have adequate background context and access permissions provisioned to tools/systems and align on what critical decisions they are able to make. Clearly articulate must-do priorities that cannot slip during the holidays and require continuous momentum. Beyond formal role reallocation, encourage collaboration across the organization and proactively volunteer bandwidth to support peers when you have availability. Make sure you are reasonable in your expectations, as it is a busy time of year for all employees!
Revisit Resource Requirements
Changing priorities and tighter deadlines in the final months may alter your staff and skill needs. Revalidate that project teams are still properly resourced relative to their respective project plans. Develop contingency plans if key members unexpectedly must focus elsewhere, and identify channels to source complementary bandwidth if gaps emerge. Vet the capabilities of on-demand staff augmentation partners like Acceleration Point that could rapidly deploy project managers to fill execution voids on a short- or long-term basis. Explore flexible support options that allow you to scale bandwidth up or down based on situational demands.
Crunch the Project Plan Numbers
Conduct project plan health checks with each delivery team to reassess the level of effort and durations remaining. Recalibrate bottom-up estimates if assumptions have changed, removing padding if no longer necessary. Clearly separate must-have priorities from nice-to-have items that could slip without consequence and focus energies accordingly. Develop contingency plans for schedule slippage and help teams smooth aggressive delivery curves where possible.
Build in Time Pre & Post-Holidays
Recognize projects will move slower leading up to the year-end holidays. Vendors and stakeholders will also be taking vacations, so make sure you adjust plans, tame expectations, and insert buffers appropriately. Upon returning to work, team members may also need to catch up on progress while they were away, which takes time. Ensure you have factored this ramp-up period into your planning cycle.
With some disciplined preparation, you can protect your critical projects and ensure team members can fully recharge without the stress of work weighing on them during the festive season.
Wishing you Happy Holidays filled with joy and prosperity! Let our team know if our project management and business process outsourcing teams could help alleviate your workload as we move into 2024.
Book a meeting with Evan today to get started.
Discover how Acceleration Point outsource project management can help with your team's staffing needs:
Further Reading:
Navigating Medical Affairs Staffing:
The Juggling Act
You can efficiently respond to changing priorities and skill needs by utilizing contract staff augmentation, enabling you to bridge talent gaps, invigorate your team with new perspectives, and achieve strategic goals.