When things go wrong, it can be scary. Downright terrifying. But there are ways to turnaround those projects. A couple of things that have helped me.

1. Figure out what the problem is and tackle it directly. What is the issue that got you here? Make the hard decision, and get agreement. Most projects are a function of effort plus deadlines. Usually, when projects go wrong, it’s because you run out of time. The only way to deal with time is 1) get an extension, or 2) cancel or defer some of the deliverables. Figure out which path you’re going to take, and get agreement with the parties who will be impacted.

2. Encourage honesty with your team and make sure you have the right team in the room with you. Everyone gets to contribute, but you’re the leader. It starts and stops with you. Don’t expect a decision from your team: expect them to provide you all the information you need to make an informed decision and to tell you if you’re wrong.

3. Now is the time to micromanage. When things are not going as expected or when the margin for error is nil, I institute morning and afternoon checkouts. A lot of things can change in a day. Everyone’s expected to be either in the room or on the call…most times, they show up. Sometimes you can’t afford to wait till the next day to get a status.

4. Communicate: if your project’s in red RAG status, say so. Keep it in red even when you think it’s amber/turning green. Yes, you’ll continue to get unwanted attention. But I never like to flipflop statuses: nothing’s worse than going to amber only to go back to red. It raises the question “Do you know what you’re doing?”

5. Be factual and simple in your updates: sometimes it’s email, sometimes it’s a presentation, sometimes both. Overcommunicate.  I often use monthly calendar slides for team updates: I’ll show the time we have left, and I’ll have what we need to do scoped out on the calendar.  I’ll put in all the major deliverable dates, buffer time (for anything that might go wrong), and most importantly, the end date.  It gives a very clear depiction of what we have to do and the time we have to do it: the two variables I need the team to focus on.

Crisis management isn’t fun. But you learn the most about how to get things done by running to the fires and knowing what to do when you get there.