Page 103 - Harvard Business Review, Sep/Oct 2018
P. 103
Questions to Ask
Before You Launch
an Initiative
Analyzing the project What Doesn’t Work
→ What problem is this initiative meant to fix? Recognizing initiative overload is an important first step—but
→ What data or other evidence tells us that this initiative leaders must then take meaningful action. Too often, though,
they resort to strategies that either have no impact or make the
will have the desired impact? problem worse. For instance:
Prioritizing by function or department. Leaders are most
Assessing resources comfortable setting priorities within their own area, because
→ What is the true human capital demand? they know that territory best, but this does not allow them to
recognize the cumulative impact of initiatives across groups.
1. What resources (time, budget, and head count) are For example, a top goal for finance might be to adopt a new
needed to design and launch the initiative? expense program across the enterprise. Even if it’s the right
decision for the company, learning the new system by trial and
2. In addition to the department that owns the initiative, error or through training places extra demands on leaders out-
what departments or functions will be tasked with side the finance function. Designated “superusers” put in even
supporting it? more time than most, coaching their colleagues on day-to-day
3. What time commitments will be asked of leaders and use and fielding questions as they arise, and that eats into the
time they can spend on their own teams’ projects. Of course,
staff members to attend meetings or develop the skills all those demands butt up against recurring processes that
needed to understand or implement the initiative? consume everyone’s time across the organization: Managers
4. What resources will be needed to sustain it? must create and manage budgets for finance, document indi-
vidual and team performance for HR, undergo ethics or sexual
harassment training for legal, and so on.
→ How does the human capital demand compare So priorities can’t be set in a vacuum. Senior leaders need to
with the potential business impact? Does the cost encourage transparent conversations across functions about
outweigh the benefit? work volume, initiative demands, and resources—this top-
down message is critical. But they must also be receptive to
→ How will the organization determine whether it has constructive feedback from bottom-up conversations, and too
the capacity to take on the initiative? often they just don’t want to hear about what people can’t do.
In such an atmosphere, employees are afraid to voice concerns
Sizing up stakeholder support about workload or to admit having limits, because of the risk
to their careers, so they keep mum. And without that input,
→ Who are the key stakeholders? leaders lack a full view of demands across the enterprise and
can’t prioritize accordingly.
→ What actions will be required to support the initiative? Establishing overall priorities without deciding what
→ How fully is that support in place? to cut. Leadership teams often engage in prioritization
exercises that define and communicate where people should
focus their energy. However, they undermine those efforts
Setting limits if they don’t also do the hard work of explicitly deciding
→ What trade-offs are we willing to make? In other what trade-offs to make and what has to stop. At a real estate
company we worked with, the leadership team decided to
words, if we do this, what won’t get done? simultaneously launch more than a dozen initiatives. Project
→ What’s the sunset schedule and process? teams were formed and expected to produce results quickly.
The desired outcomes were achieved, but at a steep cost:
Key contributors decided to exit the organization rather than
meet the escalated demands—exceedingly long hours and
overwhelming new responsibilities.
Making across-the-board initiative cuts. When leaders
ask all departments or functions to cut their budgets or
70 HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW SEPTEMBER–OCTOBER 2018
