From ambiguity to clarity: how IDEO's course prepared me to lead complex projects
In today's fast-paced and ever-evolving business world, leading complex projects can be a daunting challenge. Ambiguity, uncertainty, and unforeseen obstacles can arise at any moment, making it difficult to navigate and succeed in such a dynamic environment. However, by exploring complexity, enabling outcomes, designing alignment, leveraging intuition, and building resilience, leaders can effectively prepare themselves to tackle the toughest of challenges. In this blog post, we will explore how IDEO's Leading Complex Projects course helped me gain a deeper understanding of these five key themes, and how they can be applied to successfully lead complex projects with confidence and clarity.
Exploring Complexity
The concept of complexity can be framed as people plus uncertainty. We often find ourselves in situations where there are multiple individuals or groups with diverse perspectives and needs, and where the outcome of the project is uncertain or difficult to predict. Successfully managing complex projects requires a unique mindset that balances intuition with rational analysis. This mindset includes various strategies and approaches that can be adopted and experimented with. I found myself digging deeper to understand the circumstances under which I tend to resist being as flexible and adaptable. By exploring this framework of complexity I uncovered ways in which I was could adjust my strategies in response to changing circumstances and feedback from team members.
Enable Outcomes
Enabling outcomes requires knowing the purpose of the project as it allows for defining success. The purpose of the project serves as a lighthouse in the storm and guides the team through uncertainties. A clear purpose leads to successful outcomes and enables better alignment among team members. Having a shared drive also helps in building a sense of community and shared ownership among team members, leading to better collaboration and increased engagement toward achieving project goals.
Guiding principles
Guiding principles can provide a wayfinding framework and create space for more flexibility during times of uncertainty. It can be counterintuitive to loosen control when the natural reaction is to maintain it in complex situations. Principles that are flexible enough to adapt to changing circumstances but still provide a clear direction for the project can serve as a reference point and provide a sense of stability amid chaos. Note that principles should not be mistaken for a project purpose statement. For example, stating that you want to make a user journey simpler is not a purpose statement, but simplicity is an excellent design guideline that can be applied to whatever your project goal is.
There are a number of good guidelines for establishing team principle. Some key characteristics of a good guideline principle include:
Relevant: The principle should be directly relevant to the project and aligned with its overall purpose and goals.
Clear: The principle should be easy to understand and communicate clearly to all team members involved.
Measurable: The principle should be measurable so that progress towards achieving it can be tracked and evaluated.
Realistic: The principle should be achievable given the resources and constraints of the project.
Flexible: The principle should allow for flexibility in adapting to changing circumstances and new information that may arise during the course of the project.
Inclusive: The principle should be inclusive, taking into account the perspectives and needs of all team members involved.
Actionable: The principle should be actionable, providing a clear course of action for team members to follow in achieving the desired outcome.
Design Alignment
Collective knowing
Collective knowing refers to the shared understanding and knowledge that emerges from collaborative efforts and interactions between individuals in a group or team. The process of collective knowing involves active listening, respect for diverse perspectives, and a willingness to engage in constructive dialogue to arrive at a shared understanding. There are helpful tools and activities you can leverage to start moving the team toward alignment. One such activity I was introduced to is mapping the system.
System mapping
A system map is a visual representation of a complex system that illustrates the relationships and interactions between its various components. They can be created using a variety of methods, including pen and paper, sticky notes, or digital tools.
To create a map of a complex project, you can start by identifying the key stakeholders involved as nodes, and then mapping out the relationships and connections between them. This can be done by drawing connecting lines that indicate the strength of the connection, whether it's strong, weak, or non-existent. You can also use different colors or symbols to represent different types of relationships, such as partnerships, conflicts, or dependencies.
To make the map more comprehensive, you can also include other elements, such as timelines, milestones, and external factors that may impact the project. By creating a visual representation of the project's system map, you can better understand the complexities of the project, identify potential challenges, and explore opportunities for improvement. This can be a valuable tool for designing alignment between people, relationships and purpose.
Leverage Intuition
Many of us have been conditioned to believe that intuition is not a reliable or rigorous enough approach to use in business. As a result, we may have repressed our intuitive abilities, relying solely on rational analysis and data-driven decision-making. However, research has shown that intuition can be a valuable tool for leaders, especially in complex and uncertain situations where data may be incomplete or ambiguous.
Like all ideas, intuition should be tested and validated through feedback. Seeking feedback from others can help to evaluate intuitive insights and identify potential biases or blind spots. By listening to different perspectives and incorporating feedback we can absolutely leverage our intuition to help make informed choices and avoid potential pitfalls. It's important to recognize that intuition is not infallible and should always be considered in conjunction with other inputs to ensure the best possible outcome.
Takeaway
I was pleasantly surprised if not relieved how this IDEO course, Leading Complex Projects, applied instantly and directly to what was going on in my own job. The 5-week course emphasizes the importance of balancing intuition with rational analysis and feedback from others. By developing a flexible and adaptable mindset, you are better equipped to adjust your strategies and approaches in response to new information and changing dynamics. The course also provides tools and techniques for building collaborative relationships among team members and aligning around a clear purpose to enable successful outcomes. Through this course, individuals can learn to lead complex projects with confidence and navigate uncertainty with intuition combined with strategic thinking.