Taking Challenges Head On: How Avoidance Can Lead to Project Failure

This week, we are taking a closer look at one of our core principles: taking challenges head on. Every project will face its own challenges and they’re often an inevitable part of the process. However, it is your response to these obstacles that will make or break your project.

Avoidance and Project Failure

Some projects might present more difficulty than others, but we believe that no problem is entirely insurmountable. It is unlikely that an issue appears from nowhere. Rather, they often build up over time, quietly ignored, until it becomes critical and the project fails.

By adopting our immediate approach to problem-solving, we help ensure these small hurdles are recognised and overcome at the time, preventing a future build-up. Even if a difficulty seems unmanageable, a tenacious approach is essential. We don’t pretend that challenges are easy or particularly enjoyable, but they do need to be addressed. Avoidance rarely achieves much positive progress, but can lead to catastrophic failure.

A Learning Opportunity

Taking challenges head on is essential not only for the success of your specific project, but also for future improvement. Learning through overcoming adversity is a great skill. There will always be another project. Therefore, it’s vital that you review and learn from any issues you faced this time. This is reflected in the final crucial stage of our methodology: Review and Improve. Ignoring a problem provides no opportunity to learn from the issue itself. Instead, facing your challenge head on and finding a solution to conquer the obstacle is a productive way to grow and achieve greater project success.